Costco mandating bar-code scan for shoppers in effort to crackdown on membership sharing

It’s going to get harder for Costco shoppers to share their membership cards.

The chain of warehouse-style membership stores, including its several Long Island locations, will soon require all customers to scan the bar code or QR code associated with their membership cards at store entrances, the retailer said in a statement on its website. Anyone entering a Costco store will need to be accompanied by a valid member, the company added.

Members with cards that don’t have photos will also be asked to show a valid photo ID when they enter. Costco said workers will be at store entrances to help shoppers navigate the new scanners.

Costco on Friday said it had nothing to add beyond its online post.

The move follows an announcement by the retailer last month that it was upping the price of a standard annual membership from $60 to $65 on Sept 1. The retailer's premium plan, the "Executive Membership," will increase from $120 to $130 annually.

"Membership fees help to offset costs so we can keep our prices low," said a July Costco statement announcing the fee hike.

Officials with Costco were not immediately available Sunday for comment.

To enter a Costco store, the company has long required shoppers to flash their membership cards. The new policy will make scanning mandatory. Costco, which began testing card scanners at several locations earlier this year, launched a broad effort to curb membership sharing after it noted an increase in nonmembers shopping with other people’s cards after expanding self-checkout options.

Last year, Costco announced plans to add more staff to self-checkout areas to stop nonmembers from using borrowed cards. The company also requires shoppers to show their membership cards at all checkout registers.

Some shoppers railed against the new card scanners on social media last week, complaining that the initiative is redundant because the company already verifies memberships at checkout. Others online expressed fears about longer lines at the entrance as people learn to use the scanners.

Costco, one of the largest shopping clubs in the world, had around 71 million membership accounts and 128 million cardholders at the end of 2023. Membership fees generated $4.6 billion in revenue in 2023, an 8% increase from 2022.

At the Melville Costco on Sunday, shopper Rosario Arnone, 61, of Whitestone, Queens, predicted the new scanning policy will discourage potential new customers from signing up.

"Let me ask you a question," he responded to a Newsday reporter seeking his opinion. "Don’t you want to see for yourself if [Costco] has the products you need?"

He added: "To get new customers, you want to go inside, look at the prices, see if that meets whatever shopping you do."

Officials with a rival warehouse chain, BJ's Wholesale Club, which has stores on Long Island, were not immediately available Sunday for comment on their membership policy.

In an email, a spokesperson for Walmart, which owns and operates the members-only wholesaler Sam's Club, on Long Island and nationwide, said the company has "been very intentional about introducing technology that reduces friction throughout the entire shopping trip like digital membership cards, payment with Scan & Go … We haven’t made any changes to our current processes, and we don’t have any plans to do so in the immediate future."

With Brianne Ledda