Bad news if you’re mooching off of someone else’s Costco membership: The retail giant is cracking down.
When you enter Costco, you need to show your membership card to an employee to shop. Costco membership cards are non-transferable, but the company allows members to give a second household card to one other person in their home. Anyone with a card can bring up to two guests to the club during each visit, the company stipulates.
But Costco has noticed that non-members have been sneaking in with membership cards that don’t belong to them — particularly since Costco expanded self-checkout.
Costco recently started asking for shoppers’ membership cards along with a photo ID at the self-checkout registers, the same policy as regular checkout lanes, to crack down. “We don’t feel it’s right that non-members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members,” Costco said in announcing the change.
And now, Costco is testing out a system that requires members to scan their membership cards at the store entrance — instead of just flashing the card to employees. Shoppers have spotted the new scanners at a store in Washington State and posted photos on Reddit.
Makes sense, Costco makes its money from the memberships, not selling you stuff at wholesale prices after you’ve got one
Does it? What I get in rewards from shopping and refueling there more than makes up for my membership.
The money you’re saving doesn’t necessarily have to have any relation to the profit they make.
Last year 72% of their profit was membership fees
Impressive. I wouldn’t have guessed.
Yes, but most users don’t. That’s where they make their money.
I don’t know about that. Everyone I know that has a membership gets enough rewards to pay for it. It’s really not that hard, especially if you drive to work and fuel using their much cheaper gasoline.
That’s still just anecdotal. The vast majority of Costco memberships don’t, whether you know them personally or not.
Of course it’s anecdotal, the burden of proof is yours.
No it’s not. Someone else already provided membership cost and revenue data. You’re the one arguing it’s not true because you and “everyone you know” don’t have the same experience.