Costco Is Cracking Down on Membership Rules, Changing How Members and Guests Enter Warehouses Costco is planning to add card scanners at the entrance of all of its stores.
By Emily Rella Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Costco will now scan membership cards and check photo IDs for members without images on their cards.
- Guests must be accompanied by a member with a valid card and ID.
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As Costco continues to make sweeping changes across its membership clubs, the company is now cracking down on how members and guests enter its warehouses.
The chain began testing entry card scanners at select locations in January, and now the retailer is bringing the technology to all stores. The new system is a way for the warehouse chain to crack down on non-members from using cards that don't belong to them.
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"Over the coming months, membership scanning devices will be used at the entrance door of your local warehouse," an update on Costco's website says. "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."
During a fiscal Q3 earnings call in May, Costco CEO Ron Vachris spoke about rolling out scanners across warehouses to make the checkout experience more seamless.
"We're testing some front-door scanners that are going to start speeding up our registers significantly," Vachris said. "When we get all the scanners and memberships are verified at the front door, it has shown a significant improvement in our register speed, and that in turn turns over parking spaces much quicker ... there are several different levers that we'll continue to pull on so we can best serve the member in that building."
Related: Costco Increases Membership Fees Days After Announcing Hourly Employees Are Getting a Raise
New door policies also include members needing to bring a matching photo ID if there is no image on their membership card — and guests must be accompanied by a member to get in. Inactive and expired membership cards will be flagged and denied entry.
Costco revealed last month that it would be increasing membership fees for the first time since 2017, which is estimated to affect 52 million memberships.
Costco was up nearly 46% as of Wednesday afternoon.
