Costco introduces strict rules: you will no longer be able to get into the store with someone else's card

Costco has announced that it will install membership scanners at the entrance doors of each of its branches. Before entering the store, customers will need to scan a barcode on a regular membership card or a QR code on a Costco digital ID, according to Global News.

Photo: IStock

It's no longer possible to sneak a counterfeit membership card that doesn't have a photo on it: Costco has instructed its employees to ask customers for photo ID. In either case, Costco attendants "will encourage you to come to the membership counter to have your photo taken for your card," it says. website.

Costco guests must be accompanied by a current member. And yes, that includes the food court with its famous $1,50 hot dogs.

Company representatives said that scanners at entrances will appear in the coming months.

On the subject: Costco membership will become more expensive: how much you will have to pay for the right to buy goods at wholesale prices

Although the company has not yet officially commented on a clear timeline for introducing the new rules, Canadian Costco fans are writing on social networks that the scanners have already appeared in several stores in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

In the US they have already been spotted in San Francisco.

The company first began testing membership scanners in January. Costco CFO Richard Galanti said scanning membership cards at the door will eliminate the need to do so at regular and self-checkout counters.

“This makes it easier to enter stores and speeds up the checkout process,” Galanti noted.

He clarified that since 2020, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Costco customers are sharing their membership cards with family and friends.

According to Costco's 2023 annual report, the wholesale company generated a whopping $4,6 billion ($6,3 billion CAD) in revenue from membership fees paid by 128 million cardholders last year.

Costco members will face higher fees next month when the company increases the cost of annual memberships by $5 to $65, depending on the form of membership. The increase will affect Canadians with individual, corporate or business memberships.

Those with executive memberships will see dues increase by $10, to $130. However, maximum annual rewards will also increase.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple — read it all on ForumDaily New Y

The annual fee was last increased in June 2017.

Costco isn't the only company trying to get rid of freeloaders. Several major entertainment streamers, including Netflix and Disney+, have introduced restrictions on password sharing, banning some non-paying viewers from their platforms.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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