Costco members are worried that a change in store rules could make it hard for them to do their shopping. Costco has been tightening the rules on its membership-based experience over the past few years.
Extra steps have been added to make sure that people who buy groceries at Costco are real members and not just trying to share cards to get free stuff. If you have ever borrowed a family member or friend’s card to do some quick shopping, this new method could make it harder for you.
You can join Costco as a personal or a company, and there are two membership levels to choose from.
The Gold Star Membership is the first choice. It costs $65 a year and lets two people in a home shop in-store and online.
People can also pay $130 for the Executive Membership, which has all the same benefits plus special deals, a 2% annual prize, and a few other things.
How to enter Costco from now on
In the past, all a customer had to do to get into the store was show their membership card to a worker at the door.
Several sources say that earlier this year, Costco began trying a new system at some stores. In this system, membership cards are scanned and verified instead of just being flashed.
In the past, you had to show a worker your Costco card. If your registration card did not have a picture of you on it, you had to show an ID from the government to prove who you were.
Costco wanted to make sure that only paying members got the perks, so this change stopped people from borrowing other people’s cards.
Do not worry if you have not seen this change at your local Costco yet; it will be made soon. Next time you go shopping, get ready to scan your card or show ID.
Queues to enter Costco
The extra security measure is meant to make sure that only subscribers are in the store, but some members are worried that it will be too much trouble for no reason.
One Costco customer who has been a member for a long time said that scanning their membership card again at the door might just make things more difficult.
“To pay, you already need to scan your card,” they wrote on X, which used to be Twitter.
“This will make things even worse and make lines longer to get into the store.”
The member also said that lines are already long at Costco because it is so popular, and adding more steps could make trips even slower, so they “limited” how often they went to the store.
They said, “I already try to only go to Costco once a month because I hate all the crowds.” Another member said, “This is NOT going to make my customer experience better.”
At the same time, other Costco stores are trying out new ways for members to prove they are members when they enter the store.
Costco’s obligatory app
A customer said that their Costco “required” all members to download the store’s mobile app so that they could be scanned digitally at the door.
Some members had similar experiences; one said that workers “tried to push them to get the app, make an account, and so on.”
Costco’s app does have a tool that lets you scan your digital membership card, but there is no proof that they actually do. Costco members have also said that they were recently overpaid for some items.
One customer said they paid more than ten times the amount they owed for groceries because of a mistake and told others to “check their statements.” They said they were charged at least 78% more when they bought meat at the store.
Costco is not the only store making it harder to share accounts. Costco’s new membership verification system follows a larger trend in the business, even though it does not use facial scanning.
In Europe, for example, Makro, a warehouse for businesses, already scans customers’ digital membership cards and even uses face recognition to keep people who are not supposed to be there from getting in.