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.
They started this here months ago. My wife kept her maiden name when we got married. I’m sure you can figure out why our 2 hour customer service call ended in cancellation. FUCK Costco
In a decade you’re the first person I’ve ever met who had a problem with Costco.
Did you not bother to get your wife her own card?
My wife never changed her name, but she’s got her own card under her name, on my membership.
We tried to get me one, but we had issues getting the marriage certificate promptly, and customer service really wanted me to pay for my own account.
That makes zero sense. You don’t have to be married to get the household card, just have to live in the same house.
Exactly! They did a great job ignoring that and talking us out of the membership. All I really miss are the muffins.