Serious Costco vibe in these comments
People are rabid fans of Costco and will rush to defend any little criticism of it but I can’t stand the place personally and never could.
Yeah usually it’s very anti-corpo here, this thread is making me feel gross.
They cannot enforce this unless they remove the pharmacy. Just refuse and walk in.
This is dependent on local law. For ours, only the food court and customer service are accessible without a card, and you use a different entrance for it.
Their website states
You don’t need to be a Costco member to purchase Costco Pharmacy prescriptions online or at our warehouses. Our Pharmacy counter will accept several different forms of payment, including cash, debit/ATM cards, Costco Shop Cards, and Visa®.
You can just go in, everywhere.
Also you can get a gift card of any value and keep it forever to get in.
Or don’t be an ass to the person just trying to do their job and tell them you’re there for a prescription.
I visited a local Costco and they have started scanning memeberships, I forgot what the person told me but I think they have been doing it for a couple of weeks, not sure though.
I wonder how they will get around the alcohol only non-members.
While this legal side-step is great news for state residents hoping to save money on alcohol, it’s not as simple as merely walking into the store and heading to the liquor section. Since greeters often check for membership cards at the door, someone hoping to take advantage of this loophole will likely need to tell the greeter they are there to purchase alcohol. Once inside, they will typically be given a temporary number by the membership desk, but will not be allowed to grab extra grocery items or hit the food court for a snack during their shopping spree; aside from the pharmacy and liquor, everything else at Costco is out of bounds.
In states where this alcohol loophole exists, additional limitations may apply. According to My Bartender, Costco stores in Delaware, Indiana, Texas, and New York are only allowed to sell wine and beer; other states permit the sale of hard liquor, while the state of Vermont insists that club stores sell their spirits to members only. Consumer Reports notes that these same policies apply to other club stores including BJ’s Wholesale Club — but not to Sam’s Club stores, which already have a nationwide policy of allowing non-members to purchase alcohol.[1]
Costco Wholesale is installing membership scanners at the entrances of all of its locations to discourage non-members from shopping at the stores.
Guests must also be accompanied by a valid member in order to enter a store, Costco added.
The discount retailer began testing the technology earlier this year, with Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti relaying that more people had been sharing memberships since the pandemic in 2020.
Costco earlier in the year cracked down on who uses its food court to ensure that only members can capitalize on its famous $1.50 wiener-and-soda deal.
Costco said last month it was hiking its basic membership fee for the first time since 2017, increasing the annual charge to $65 from $60. The roughly 8% cost increase takes effect on September 1, the warehouse club announced. The cost of a premium membership is rising to $130 from $120. Costco also said the maximum annual 2% reward for its executive membership will rise to $1,250 from $1,000.
Did they change the rules? I thought there were two things you could access without membership:
-Food court -Alcohol
Pharmacy is accessible to public in some states as well.
-Pharmacy too
Food court rules have depended on the location for years now. Where I live the rule is typically, if the food court is outside you’re good, but if it’s inside you need a membership. Never knew about the booze rules.
Oh that makes another comment I made sound ill informed 😅All of the states I have shopped at Costco have allowed non members to access food courts no matter where they were located, inside or out.
Huh. Maybe it was just the one I went to in SoCal. I called ahead and was told it would be fine, only to be stopped at the door and told I needed to buy a membership to access the food court. Guy made a big deal out of it. Like dude, I just want to buy a slice of pizza and a Pepsi, chill.
Velcome to Costco. Your papers, please.
It’s a paid membership system. What makes you think you have the right to go in without a membership?
Do you bust into private gyms and demand to work out without paying?
Get outta here
You cannot have alcohol or pharmacy locked behind memberships. So they have to let you in.
Well sure, but they don’t have to sell you anything (except prescription meds and alcohol) if you don’t have a membership.
Because browsing isn’t buying. You absolutely can go into a gym and check it out without a membership.
Edit: Expecting me to buy a Costco membership before I can see things like whether or not they’re keeping the place clean and their produce fresh is unreasonable in my opinion,
You can go as a guest with someone who has a membership. As far as I know, if someone gives you a Costco gift card you can go in without a membership. If you tell them you are there to consider a membership, they at least used to let you in. But you can’t buy anything without signing up.
If I don’t know anyone with a membership, I can’t do that. But maybe they’ll agree if I say I’m considering. It doesn’t sound like it.
They certainly did before. Maybe that policy is changing
How will it work in Michigan where you can get alcohol without a membership?
When they ask for my membership at the entrance I tell them that I’m just buying alcohol
Don’t they scan the card at the register?
If you are only getting alcohol they can scan something else, and I think it’s the same for medicines
I do have a membership, but I hate having to maneuver the cart and pulling out my wallet and look for my membership card at the entrance. It’s one of the small inconveniences in life that I can’t stand
I’m with ya. I’d at least prefer that the increased security came with some extra privileges, like scan and go.
When in Rome, I guess. And I’ll try not to be a grump about it.
The same as other states where you can buy alcohol without a membership, like Kentucky. They have you wait while a supervisor comes over to override the membership scan.
I used to be a cashier for Sam’s Club in Missouri. Same thing here.
We had this guy who was a semi-regular. He didn’t have a membership, he’d just come every once in a while and buy a shitload of alcohol. One time he went through my line for it, so I hit the button to call my supervisor over and we’re waiting there while she’s finishing up talking to another customer. We’re sitting there for maybe 15 seconds before he walks his ass all the way to where they’re standing and tries to get my supervisor to come over immediately. They both come back after a little bit, she puts in her thing, and I start scanning. I scan each bottle like I’m supposed to, then I tell him his total; and he starts acting like I must have messed up and scanned some a couple extra times.
This motherfucker watched me like a hawk the entire time, my supervisor was standing there the whole time, and to top it off he tried to come behind my register to look at my screen and “make sure” I scanned it correctly. Both of us had to tell him to back off, and he finally had me remove some of the bottles I scanned so he didn’t have to pay as much.
It was a whole thing, and the dude was insufferable and entitled to the max.
I’m in Kentucky, where you can buy alcohol without a membership. My local Costco has a separate entrance for the booze, no card needed.
They’ve already been doing it for a month up here in Ottawa, Canada
The scanners also spare Costco employees from having to ask shoppers for membership cards at registers and self-checkout, speeding up the process of entering and checking out, the Galanti told CNN.
Wait, one of the things is that Costco has is that it actually stores purchases on your account (this is especially useful for returns).
How do they connect purchase with your account?
Does this mean that they will use facial recognition? That’s not that cool…
Same way all the other stores do? With your card number
You scan your card before you purchase any items, so that’s how that works. It’s not facial recognition.
But if you’re not scanning your card with the checkout, how do they know what you purchased? Scanning on entrance just confirms that you entered the store, while scanning with checkout was used to confirm what you purchased on that trip.
Unless you’re using a Costco-issued card at checkout, too, I would have same question. And if you are still scanning at checkout, then this isn’t the time-saver they’re purporting.
The only things you can get without a membership card are prescription medications and alcohol. Someone would have to approve the purchase in order for it to be made in the first place. You have to scan your card at checkout, otherwise.
It may not be a timesaver, but whenever I go to Costco I just keep the card in my pocket, outside of my wallet, anyway. Also they check your receipts and count your items before you leave.
You really aren’t paying attention. The new policy may not require scanning at checkout because they’re scanning on entering. We aren’t talking about the current policy. The person knows how it works now. If you don’t scan at checkout though, and only when entering, then how do they link purchases to accounts?
Yeah this is interesting. I might ask a manager about this on my next trip.
Did you read the quoted text that provides context that makes your response not helpful?
I mean. Target already did/does facial recognition. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/shoppers-hit-target-with-privacy-suit-over-facial-recognition
They really gonna make me paint up like a juggalo to shop at Target??
Costco in the UK have been scanning cards since covid. It started as a way to limit numbers in store then someone probably went and looked at the data.
Boo. I’d been using an expired card to get in to buy pizza.
Food court and pharmacy are areas of the store you do not need a Costco membership to get to.
At the moment.
Living in Canada, by law the pharmacy needs to be accessible to non members.
Down-voting because you don’t live in Canada? Eh
They’re are two stores close to me, and I’ve been to both of them this week. One of them had the scanner, the other didn’t. I’m not really sure how it helps them, but it didn’t hold me up any either.
I wonder if this is a way to get rid of the two greeters at the door.
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Are they changing policy that the food court and pharmacy are accessible to everyone? That’s in my membership agreement.
Anyone can go in to buy liquor too, if your Costco sells it.
Saddest day of my life not being able to get a hotdog without a card. Woman literally laughed in my face and said well if you’re too cheap… I wanted to go home and sic my wife on her. But I’m petty like that. A month a ago and I’m still so but hurt. Like why insult me and my finances?
That’s a shitty way to treat someone, sorry that happened to you.
If you have storage space though and look for good deals, ironically a Costco membership could help with your finances, and you could have cheap hotdogs again.
The trick to Costco is that, while everything they sell is normally of very good quality, only some of it is a good deal. I’ve yet to encounter particularly bad deals at Costco, something where I feel like I’ve been ripped off. That said, some things are a better bargain than others.
If you happen to have storage space, which isn’t the case for everyone, you might find that by purchasing some items in bulk and storing them that you end up saving more than the membership costs.
Some items that I find Costco normally has stable good pricing on that you can easily calculate out if it would make the membership worthwhile
- eggs
- milk
- toilet paper
- paper towels
- soda
- beer (depending on brand, there’s normally something that’s a good deal but it might change month to month)
- fruit
- meat (depending on cut, ground beef is normally a pretty good deal if you have freezer space for a few pounds)
Although if your bad experience with the food court person put you off that’s reasonable too. Anyways, just thought I’d share what I’ve found having a Costco membership for like a decade, I didn’t really want to pay upfront to go to a store but when I sat down and ran the numbers I came out ahead. But I have enough budget flexibility and storage space to make that viable and so I’m in a privileged position in that way so your mileage may vary.
Anyways still sucks that the person decided to belittle you, no one deserves to be treated like that. Hope your days ahead are filled with nicer people.
Actually saying “you’re too cheap” to your face is incredibly unprofessional and insulting. I would have immediately told them to get their manager over to talk to them.
I don’t think they are allowed to change the policy in the pharmacy. Pretty sure it’s a legal thing, you can’t charge a membership fee to access one kinda thing.
Food court is up to them though.
what… they have been doing this for quite a while already
Probably depends on the store. The one near me scans them some days but not others. I’ve never understood what the policy is.
Wait you guys got conned into paying to go shopping?!?
All those leaded petrol fumes really did a number didn’t they lol
Wait you got conned into enabling the exploitation of your grocery store’s employees for the profits of a corporation?!?
I guess you don’t know how wholesale club stores work, eh?
I guess you don’t realise when someone’s profiting off you left, right and centre lol
Think about it; what does the membership fee actually cover?
Employee benefits and wages, mostly. The membership fees are the primary profit of Costco. Without that wages would go down, and prices would rise. You do know that businesses need to turn a profit to stay in business, right?
The fee might be an upfront cost, and if you don’t buy enough goods during the year it may not be worth it, but I can tell you from my experience of just my wife and I being empty nesters, we have an “Executive” membership which costs even more than a regular membership (gasp!)with the added benefit of getting a small percentage of our annual spending coming back to us as essentially a gift certificate. That gift certificate pays for our membership, so, yeah, it’s worth it.
Dear god.
So you think that your paying the employee benefits and wages should be in advance, regardless of whether you shop there?!? They actually convinced you of that?
They blackmailed you into thinking that prices would rise and wages would go down… Yes, by approximately the fees you pay for membership, whether you shop there or not
Then you actually, genuinely think that you’re getting a “gift certificate” without any idea that you already paid for it
Holy shit 😂
It’s honestly scary how gullible the average consumer is
They didn’t “convince” me of that. I’ve looked at their earnings report and could see that their profits are roughly the same as their membership revenue. They convinced me to buy a membership by having lower prices than other retailers so I buy most of my dry goods, electronics, and other sundry goods from them
My wife and I saw how much we were spending there annually and realized that an executive membership would pay for our annual fees in the rebate we’d get each year, so it made the membership essentially free. I’m not a sucker who got tricked into some “scheme”. I’m maximizing my purchase power, you dolt.
☝️The capitalist’s wet dream 😂
The normal supermarkets gouge you for every penny, so you now believe that you’re being gouged less by paying an annual fee
Fuckin hell mate 😅
Ah. I see now. You’re a tankie. Well that explains why you’re an obtuse moron. Blocking you now
