Costco to start scanning membership cards at the entrance of all its stores
Costco to start scanning membership cards at the entrance of all its stores
www.cbsnews.com
Costco to start scanning membership cards at the entrance of all its stores
92 comments
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I am confused, don't they scan your card before you check out?
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Yes, but you're more likely to run into an irate person when you turn them away with a cart full of groceries then you are if you turn them away at the door. Plus it reduces the wasted time of employees who have to unload said cart.
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Yep, I think this is part of the answer.
I'm guessing another is identifying which members are primarily using membership card and cash, membership attached to an alternative FOP from their in-house charge (Citi currently), and digital native customers who are all in on the ecosystem.
Those data points can be used in several manners as Costco can glean valuable marketing insights into their customer base, their shopping habits, and their frequency. More than likely it will be used in ongoing in-house charge provider negotiations to ensure favorable terms for offering their services exclusively.
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Makes more profit to let them through than to refuse them at that point.
Also, let them through and they may get a membership for next time, refuse them and they are never coming back.
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Apparently the issue is cheaters using the self-checkouts according to the employee I talked to.
So now we all have to jump through more hoops instead of having another cashier or two. Ironically, there were extra staff at the door enforcing the scanning.
The scanning is also supposed to bring up your picture for identification.
They don't have a picture for me on file and gave me crap when I scanned. I just showed them my license and went on my way. I don't need my face linked to my name all over the internet when they get hacked next year.
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They don’t have a picture for me on file and gave me crap when I scanned. I just showed them my license and went on my way. I don’t my face linked to my name all over the internet when they get hacked next year.
I get that, but its a private club. If its part of their membership rules your choices are comply or not be in the private club.
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The article makes it sound like they are doing this to speed up check out, and also to stop people from abusing the cheap hot dogs.
The only other thing I can think of is the possibility that people are getting in with expired cards to bypass the single guest per member limit, and then pooling their purchases once they're inside at the self checkout. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but it could happen.
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It’s just a person standing there glancing at your card as you enter.
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They do at the register, yes
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Hot dogs aren't wrapped anymore and buns got smaller. Fuck the new guy.
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still a really good deal imo. changing the price is absolutely off the table but it's still a solid price for what you get given the current state of fast food prices.
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It's 1000% a bellwether of the general state of approaching enshitification at Costco. Light justify all you need, the hot dog and the rotisserie chicken are sacred idols in that space and frankly, maintaining the exact experience and price of those, COMPLETELY in tact, should be factored in indefinitely as the basic cost of doing business for Costco - they know that. There is no way they do this unless they have decided that they want to send a clear, "fuck you, we're the new guys and we'll do what we want to boil you fucking frogs in the pot!"
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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...
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You scan your card before you purchase any items, so that's how that works. It's not facial recognition.
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Did you read the quoted text that provides context that makes your response not helpful?
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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.
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Same way all the other stores do? With your card number
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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
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They really gonna make me paint up like a juggalo to shop at Target??
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Are they changing policy that the food court and pharmacy are accessible to everyone? That’s in my membership agreement.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Anyone can go in to buy liquor too, if your Costco sells it.
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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.
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Is the real play here to try and make account sharing more difficult? Encourage more membership purchases?
Been a shopper there for 30 years - they're not a company that makes changes willy nilly. Even if you can get into the store without a card, you can't buy anything without one. Surely the cost of sneaky samplers isn't the main thrust of this.
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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.
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Velcome to Costco. Your papers, please.
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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
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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,
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You cannot have alcohol or pharmacy locked behind memberships. So they have to let you in.
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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.
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They cannot enforce this unless they remove the pharmacy. Just refuse and walk in.
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Or don’t be an ass to the person just trying to do their job and tell them you’re there for a prescription.
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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.
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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.
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They've already been doing it for a month up here in Ottawa, Canada
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I wonder if this is a way to get rid of the two greeters at the door.
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what... they have been doing this for quite a while already
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Probably depends on the store. The one near me scans them some days but not others. I've never understood what the policy is.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Don't they scan the card at the register?
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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
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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.
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92 comments
I shop at Costco. I don’t mind scanning my card. I suspect anyone who shops at Costco does not care one way one another. This isn’t news, and anyone getting irate about this should find a new topic.
Agreed. The only change is a machine scanning your card rather than a pair of eyeballs.
Doesn't the card go into a machine at the checkout anyways? They're just changing the location of the machine, really, not introducing something new.
I literally don't see the difference. My card gets checked by a person up front anyway. Who cares if it's now digitally scanned?
Now give me the option to skip the line by scanning and paying for my stuff via phone and the only person I absolutely have to interact with is the one who checks my cart as I'm leaving.
I do. It will be a massive annoyance for me because instead of just flashing my card as I walk in and starting shopping, I'm probably going to have to queue up and wait to be scanned if there's any kind of a rush.
I try to get there near open because it's less crowded over all and I don't want to deal with shoulder to shoulder shopping, but that means I'm going to have to get in line with 40 other people before I can get to shopping.
If you want that option, try Sam's Club.
Ohhh shit now there’s a good idea. Those eagle eyes at the door would totally catch of you didn’t scan something. Win win.
The other day I paid for pizza, and they didn't have any ready. I had a 10 minute wait so I took my groceries to the car and then returned to pick up my pizza I'd already paid for. I was literally outside the store for 2-3 minutes. On my way back in, I ignored the receipt signers like I always have since I'm going to the food court and they literally shouted at me for walking past them because they forgot I'd just left the building. They made a big stink about me not showing my membership card when I exited the second time. I guess you can't access the food court without a membership anymore?
Or because they see hundreds of people leaving and don't bother trying to remember faces? Why on earth would you expect them to remember you haha
I hated that shit when I worked in food service
"What can I get you?"
"I'll have my usual haha"
"... Idk what that is"
"What?! I'm here every week!"
As if I didn't see a hundred people who were there every week lol
No, I think you just got a jerk employee. It’s rare at Costco, but maybe they were having a bad day.