Costco Might Be Trying Out A New Membership Card Scan System

Costco seems intent on continuing its efforts to bring various forms of automation to its warehouses. Recently, a customer spotted a scanner at the entrance of the Costco in Issaquah, Washington, with an attendant and a sign reading, "You will be asked to scan your membership card before entering the warehouse." The scanner is connected to a tablet, which brings up the photo on the membership card for the employee to check.

A photo of the scanning station was posted to the r/Costco Subreddit, and the thread received a decent amount of attention. The prevailing theory among commenters is that this may be a beta test for Costco's American warehouses as another way for Costco to crack down on unsanctioned membership sharing or shoppers trying to slip by with an expired card. By catching so-called perpetrators at the door before they even set foot inside, the store can avoid having to restock after turning away people caught with someone else's membership at (or before) checkout.

A self-identified Costco employee commented in full support, "Too many people coming in with cards that don't belong to them clogging up the lines/self-checkout/etc. then they raise a whole fuss when they get caught ... it's just a mess." By scanning the card first, Costco can diffuse these kinds of situations before they escalate.

Surprisingly (for the Internet, at least), most folks with upvoted comments on the Reddit thread seem to be on board with this move from Costco. In general, shoppers seem more than willing to take the extra 30 seconds or so to scan their cards at the door if it helps deter checkout issues, membership fraud, and shoplifting. Many people know that Costco makes most of its money from memberships, not product sales, and they hope that implementing this will help keep the membership fee stable at $60 for a little longer.

There is some concern that this system will cause even more of a bottleneck at the entrance, with unprepared shoppers fumbling for their cards. A few Redditors consider the extra step an affront, but other commenters in the thread have quickly shot this reaction down.

Costco already usually has employees standing at the entrance checking for membership cards; it shouldn't take that much longer (in theory) to scan them. Costco also requires receipt checks at the exit, which has been standard Costco practice since its inception. Moreover, according to customers from countries like Iceland, the U.K., and Japan posting on the thread, it appears that international Costco locations have been scanning cards at the door for a while. They've managed to figure it out; perhaps there's hope for American Costcos, too.