I don’t know about you, but Costco is one of my favorite
places to shop. In fact, I need to make a Costco run and my list is a mile long
right now. I can’t remember a time when my family were not Costco members. My
mom had been for as long as I can remember, once I got old enough, she put me
on her account so I could do the shopping for her. Now I have my own account
and everything. The smells when you walk through those rolling doors, the cheap
rotisserie chicken in the back, to the cheapest hotdog drink combo you can
find.
Costco has always been known for their high quality at low
prices. What really sets them apart from other competitors is their impeccable
return policy. I have heard of people returning
moldy food because they left it out and didn’t eat it on time, as well as a 12-year-old
grill that hasn’t turned on in years and had been sitting outside in the
weather since they purchased it, and Costco accepted the return. I also just
recently bought a laptop and the guy said I had 90 days if I didn’t end up liking
it, or found a better laptop cheaper when schools sales, I could return it no
questions asked and get a new one. They offer promotions all the time, letting
you know about them through constant emails and in mail flyers. The best part
is there are so many options. Costco has almost everything you can think of,
appliances, clothes, groceries, gas, medication, cars, travel discounts, home
product installations and so much more.
Having the same prices for memberships since 2017 there are two options, regular ($60) and executive ($120). With an extremely high renewal rate at 93% memberships numbers keep increasing. Having membership fees helps keep their costs of supplies they sell at lower prices for their memberships. It has always been an unspoken thing to go to Costco with friends/family who have cards, you get to use those low prices without paying the full membership price. Yet in the last few years many people have taken advantage of that by just borrowing other’s cards without the original cardholder being with them. With the installation of self-checkout stands it’s easier to get away with it as employees do not see your picture when you are checking out.
Is sharing memberships hurting Costco’s bottom line, well
they are about to find out. Costco is cracking down on their membership policies,
they will be starting to check ID’s if you use the self-checkout. Time will
tell if this solution will be more profitable in the long run. It might mean
that you just bring your friend along again or more people may purchase memberships
increasing profits and helping keep costs down.
Thinking in business terms I can understand where Costco is
coming from by enforcing this rule. It has always been said that you need a
membership to shop there, but as they recently put in self-checkout stands it’s
a new concept Costco is still trying to work the kinks out of their system. It used
to be the cashier held your card, which has your picture on it, at the stand
until you paid for your items. This marketing approach is just enforcing an old
one. They are hoping to get new memberships, which in turn will bring more
people to buy products. If you pay for a membership, you will use it more often,
except the gym, that’s the exception.
https://www.costco.com/company-information.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/28/business/costco-member-card-sharing/index.html
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