Costco’s Biggest Change in Decades Will Impact Tri-Cities Members

You know the phrase "Membership Has It's Privileges".  American Express made it the theme of their advertising campaign in 1987.  That phrase became as associated with the credit card company as the green card itself.  The point of it was to emphasize that if you carried "AmEx" in your wallet, you had a whole other world opened to you.

Costco has taken the essence of that line and ran with it, arguably better than their competition in the bulk retail market.  The Issaquah based company boasts north of 125 million members worldwide.  Sam's Club, their closest rival, has slightly more than half of that membership number.  Recently Costco has noticed that it's membership may be providing non-members with benefits.

It Started With Netflix

In the spring of 2023, Netflix announced it was cracking down on the practice of 'password sharing'.  For the longest time you could share your password with friends and family who didn't want to subscribe to the mega-streamer, but still wanted to watch Stranger Things.

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The company realized how much revenue they were losing and began the crackdown,  It didn't take long for other streaming services, like Disney +, to follow.  Costco has found themselves in a similar situation.

I don't know about your experience, but when I walk in to Costco I flash my card and put it away.  The person at the front clicks their counter and I move on.  They don't verify if I'm the cardholder and then at the register, more often than not, they simply scan the barcode and give me back my card.  Apparently Costco has been tracking how many members have been sharing their cards with non-members and are instituting a crackdown of their own.  It really became an issue during and after the pandemic.

You Will Now Have To Use A Card Scanner To Enter Costco

The announcement came a couple weeks ago and without much fanfare until recently.  The company will be installing membership card scanners at all locations to ensure that the cardholder, and a maximum or one guest, is coming in to shop.  No longer will you be able to flash your card, you will have to use a scanner (maybe like the one pictured below, and you may also have to produce a picture ID.

Costco's website describes the significant shift like this:

Over the coming months, membership scanning devices will be used at the entrance door of your local warehouse. Once deployed, prior to entering, all members must scan their physical or digital membership card by placing the barcode or QR Code against the scanner

The company did reveal there will be a benefit to members for the additional hoops to jump through to enter.  Once your card is scanned and acknowledged you won't have to produce it again at checkout.  That way you aren't waiting in line as long to checkout.

How Will Members Respond?

Good question.  Sam's Club had a mini revolt when they announced changes (coming August 17th) to free shipping for online shoppers.  On the other hand, Netflix saw a gain of 8 million subscribers worldwide after they cracked down on free sharing.

In Tri-Cities, your options are limited if the change makes you unhappy.  You have non-membership options like URM in Kennewick and Chef'Store in Richland, but they really don't compare to Costco.  It will be interesting to see how long it will take to get IN to Costco once the scanners are implemented vs getting out.