Business
Should Costco Require Members to Show ID?
Should Costco Require Members to Show ID?
Here’s The Scoop
Costco, the wholesale giant, is reportedly testing a digital ID scanning station at the entrance of one of its warehouses. This development was spotted by shoppers near the company’s corporate headquarters in Issaquah, Washington.
The new system requires members to scan their IDs at the station, displaying a large version of their member photo, rather than the traditional method of showing their ID to the entrance staff.
The Issaquah location is known to be a testing ground for new concepts before they are rolled out more broadly. However, Costco employees in California and Texas confirmed that their locations did not have the tech in place.
This move is seen as a small tweak that could have a large financial impact for the company. Costco began manually checking member IDs in self-checkout lanes last year, after noticing an increase in shoppers using cards that don’t belong to them.
CFO Richard Galanti stated that even a small percentage of improper ID sharing can have a significant effect when dealing with millions of transactions.
With 2.1 million new memberships added last year, and membership fees representing nearly three-quarters of Costco’s net income, tighter enforcement of its membership policy could boost the company’s revenue without raising the annual fee.
What do you think? Let us know by participating in our poll, or join the discussion in the comment section below!
charles cole
January 20, 2024 at 7:24 am
The implication is that more money is made by selling membership than sales in the store.Loss leaders, like chicken and hotdogs, are meant to attract customers into the store to buy the other goods, If that’s the case, eliminate membership. If not, eliminate sales and just sell memberships, ha ha.
Tarheel
January 20, 2024 at 9:01 am
If places like Costco require an ID, along with hospitals, doctors offices, airports, federal buildings, then shouldn’t our voting be secure by the same? Everyone now has ID. It’s ridiculous to use this as an excuse for voter suppression.
Jerry C.
January 20, 2024 at 5:08 pm
+^
Andtea
January 21, 2024 at 11:44 am
You don’t show you ID when you come in now all you do is show the Costco card they don’t look at the other side
Rob Schuler
February 1, 2024 at 12:05 pm
No I have a picture on my card look at it!!!