I'd Never Heard of "Membership Cheating" or "Membership Sharing" at Costco until today. [View all]

[Oopsie Daisy]

I'd Never Heard of "Membership Cheating" or "Membership Sharing" at Costco until today. Apparently people are loaning their membership cards to their friends and neighbors in order to shopping at Costco. It's not simply a matter of bringing your neighbor shopping with you and letting them add some items to your cart. Apparently, people are simply handing over their cards to non-members.

For as long as I've had a Costco membership, I've just "flashed" my card to enter the door (apparently that was just a courtesy-check to make sure you didn't forget and leave it at home before loading up with frozen goods.) But now I notice that they're looking at the photo on the card and checking the expiration date.

At self-serve checkout, it used to be scan-and-go ... now, positive ID and examination of the card is necessary.

What a hassle. The abuse must have been pretty bad and cutting into Costco's profit if they've started with these strict checks. Times are hard for everyone, I guess. That's a strong motivator to try and cheat-the-system.