COST - Costco Cracks Down On Membership Card Sharing Tests New Entry System | Benzinga
In a bid to curb unauthorized access to its stores, retail giant Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is implementing new measures, including a trial of a scanning system at store entrances.
What Happened: Costco is taking action against non-members who have been using membership cards that do not belong to them to gain entry, particularly since the introduction of self-checkout, reported CNN Business.
The company has begun requiring shoppers to present their membership cards and a photo ID at self-checkout registers, similar to the policy at regular checkout lanes.
Costco is now piloting a system that necessitates members to scan their membership cards at the store entrance, rather than simply showing the card to employees. This new system is being tested at a store in Washington State. The company is also testing the scanners at a few other stores to assess their effectiveness.
Richard Galanti, Costco’s finance chief, noted that membership sharing has increased since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The company is exploring whether the new scanners can help address this issue. The scanners ...