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.

  • cdf12345@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The free shipping on the Sam’s plus destroys the Costco mail order services.

      • LrdThndr@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Our local Sam’s is disgusting. I was considering joining a while back during a $10 membership sale.

        Everything was a mess, the employees all looked like they wanted to kill themselves, and the was a literal pile of human shit in the middle of the bathroom floor - not even in a stall or near a toilet - just a big ol dookie right in the middle of the bathroom.

        Did not join. Wasn’t even worth $10 to me.

    • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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      10 months ago

      Fuck yea Sam’s club unite! You’re being downvoted because this thread is an advertisement.

      • cdf12345@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I mean I have both Costco and Sam’s memberships both have pluses and minuses

        The clothes at Costco are amazing at times Sam’s has better paper products imo (TP, Kleenex)

        Costco has a better food court

        Costco parking designs are maddening, everyone I’ve been to have this diagonal entrance that is awful.

        I think the Costco frozen section is a bit better than Sam’s.

        Cat litter is way way cheaper st Costco

        I’ve gotten $500 airfare gift cards for $429. Which is like getting free $ when you need to fly anyways.

        Sam’s bulk candy isle is superior.

        I think the Costco pharmacy has better pricing but no drive thru and it can be extremely slow.

        I keep both memberships but I recently moved away from my Sam’s so it kinda out of the way, but with the plus membership I can usually get staple items delivered for free, something Costco doesn’t really do.

        I guess we’ll see if I keep them both next year.