Costco cracks down on sharing membership cards
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Costco is taking a page from Netflix's book.
The retailer is cracking down on people sneaking into its clubs and trying to shop with other people's membership cards, it said Tuesday.
Costco said it has always asked shoppers for their membership cards at the cash registers when they check out. Now, it is also requesting to see cards with a photo at self-checkout registers — and to view a photo ID if a shopper's membership card has no picture.
"We don't feel it's right that non members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members," the company said in a statement.
The membership-based warehouse club said it has noticed more abuse of card sharing since it expanded self-checkout to more of its stores.
The stepped-up enforcement was previously reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Costco stands apart from other retailers because of its business model. The bulk of its earnings come from membership fees, which help cover company expenses and keep prices low. It charges $60 for annual memberships and $120 a year for its higher-tier plan, called Executive Membership.
Membership-based warehouse clubs have attracted more customers and won more of their wallets over the past three years. Shoppers who turned to the clubs to help with pantry loading of toilet paper and hand sanitizer during the Covid pandemic are now going there for cheaper gas and bulk-sized food during a period of inflation.
Walmart-owned Sam's Club has seen a similar lift in business. Its membership count has hit a record high.
Yet even the clubs have felt pressured as consumers pull back because of inflation, or spend on experiences like travel and dining out instead. In the past two quarters, Costco has reported a heavier mix of sales coming from food as demand slows for pricier merchandise and popular pandemic categories like furniture andelectronics.
Its net sales rose year over year by about 2% to $52.6 billion, including the impact of inflation during the quarter that ended May 7.
"It rains on all of us during these tougher times, particularly with bigger ticket, discretionary items," Costco's chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, said on an earnings call in December.
Shares of Costco have risen nearly 16% so far this year, outpacing the approximately 14% gain of the S&P 500. The stock closed Monday at $523.42.
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Interesting, but I rarely ever use self checkout anywhere.
I remember when I first started seeing self-checkout in grocery stores. They had an employee who asked me to try it and I declined. I told him that the job that I'm saving is likely to be his.
It's not like we're getting a price break to use them either.
Last year I went into a local WalMart for the first time in a couple years (covid) and when I had picked out my items looked for a checkout lane without many people. It gradually dawned on me that there werent any checkout lanes. Well, there was ONE. All of the checking out was self serve. Instead of a dozen human manned checkout lanes there was an area where there a dozens stations where the customer scanned and bagged their own stuff.
The humans werent entirely gone though, there were still a half dozen or so young people standing by to help people who had problems with the scanning. These young people were pretty busy.
Walmart should give a 5% discount everytime some one uses self checkout
There are too many stories online of Walmart accusing people of stealing when they go through the self checkout. I'll stand in line on the rare occasions I have to traverse their hellhole.
If they don't want people stealing, they should open up all the checkout lanes with real people
Yeah, it's the stores fault. Just like Walgreens putting products behind security cases that can be melted with blowtorches. Of course people are going to steal in that situation
I am thankful that where I live, when you go into stores, you can just go and pick up what you want directly from the shelves!
The one time in years that I used the checkout line with a real person was because I had to close my Credit Union account due to potential fraud and I had to cancel my credit card and debit/credit card for that reason - (it took almost two months to get my new cards, I learned from my best friend who is the VP at my Credit Union that the new cards were coming from the Ukraine). I never thought to just go the CU and get cash, I was so out of sorts with the fraud that I used the check out lane with a person so that I could use a check, and it ended up that they denied my check, and I never found out why, I was so pissed off. Anway, I use my own bags - insulated for my frozen and refrigerated items and the regular ones for the non-perishables. Right away she started putting the items in the wrong bags and it pissed me off, I said I'll bag them.
Now they have this new bullshit in the self checkout lanes, they say it's to prevent stealing, how dickish is that to say right to customers? Anyway, you have to put your groceries to the right of the register and once you've scanned them, put them in the bagging area, to the left of the register, and if you didn't know that just right, a Giant employee has to clear it and then you continue. Now that I know that,it's not so annoying, but I refuse to go the lanes with a person because they usually don't get it right.
It's kind of a lose-lose situation, for the employees mostly.
That sucks about your debit card. I had that happen to me but I got a new card that day. Probably because the credit union is just right down the street from where I work.
I know you're supposed to park your buggy to the left of the register and then proceed left to right. Here's my thing with the self checkout. You can't use cash or a check. It has to be a debit/credit card. I really hate using my debit card for a 2 dollar item
Helping people scanning isn't their job. Their job is watching you to make sure you scan everything.
I don't like to but sometimes I don't have a choice, like when I have 3 items and I don't want to stand behind someone who's doing their monthly shopping
Yeah... I've used it in the grocery store when there are really long lines and I have 1 or 2 things and the wife is waiting in the car. I refuse to use it in Walmart unless I'm picking up 1 thing I'm expensing for work on my lunch break. I once tried to use the Walmart "curbside" pickup and it took way too long. I had to call the store twice while I was sitting there waiting to have it come out. So much for time savings...
Self checkout is quick and easy. Usually much smaller lines, too.
I hate self checkout
Costco stands apart from other retailers because of its business model. The bulk of its earnings come from membership fees, which help cover company expenses and keep prices low.
It is kind of shocking that customers haven’t figured out that it’s a wash. It’s barely cheaper to shop at than non-membership stores and you’ve already spent the balance on a membership.
It might be a wash financially, but I can find products at Costco that I can't find elsewhere. And they tend to have quality meat and produce more consistently than my local supermarkets.
I buy my dry bulk products on Amazon and don’t even have to leave the house. While meats at Costco and Sams club do look good I find them consistently more expensive than Food Lion. I’m that guy that fills the cart with a ton of double or triple marked down meats to stick right in the freezer.
We don't have a Costco around here, only a Sam's club. Last time I went in there was about six months ago, was not really impressed. I remember them being better than I what I saw that day, or maybe I had this idea that they were.
We used to go to Sam's on Saturdays and get the free samples and call it lunch. Sometimes they have decent lobster tails
We have a Walmart supercenter, a Walmart neighborhood market, Publix, and Bravo markers all within about 5 miles of us. All have self check out with the neighborhood market usually only having 2 live checkouts the rest are self check out the Walmart Super Center has a large number of both types of checkout. Publix is high-end/expensive with most all lanes being maned by check-out people and a person bagging the groceries. They will also take them to your car for you. Bravo Markets has a huge Hispanic selection and Pacific Island/Polynesian food to choose from with mostly live check out.
I shop at all but the Walmart Supercenter, it's just too big and busy. Publix has the best meat by far. I love going to Bravo for the ethnic foods and conservations with indigenous folks mostly Mayan.
I also have certain mail-order foods. Real wild rice (manoomin) maple syrup, and various jams and jellies. You can't buy any of those items (all natural) no processing and of course Indigenous. I order buffalo meat from one place in SD it is the best meat around.
I love Publix.
Me, too. When go to FLA to see the boy we have to make several trips there. They have a great deli make great sandwiches