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

[Hekate]

26. The honor system works until it doesn't. We bought our first Costco electronics right after they...

….tightened up the return policy considerably. The reason we were given? College students “renting” a computer (or TV or whatever) for a semester, then returning it for a full refund as they were packing up to leave town after their papers were submitted. Lots and lots and lots of college students.

So, people have definitely abused their privileges — and now this. I have no problem whatsoever with an extra ID check. I also have no problem taking a friend in and running their purchases thru first. But I’m present, and I’m on the hook for the charges until my friend pays me directly later on.

Someone asked why would Costco do this — isn’t a sale a sale? Well, yes and no. They have a very favorable business model. Their markup is low and their product line is excellent. All us members chip in a pretty low fee per year, which they count on in their profit margin. Their return policy is unbeatable. Their employees get benefits — yes they do.

Basically, no one is forcing anyone to be a customer. They don’t base their business model on driving out every mom and pop store in the county, selling dreck, and hiring people for such low wages that they have to apply for food stamps and other government assistance. Anyone who actually prefers Walmart — well, ouch. If Von’s or Ralph’s is where you like to get your groceries, fine. (Personally, I like Trader Joe’s because the quantities are smaller and there’s only 2 of us at home.) If you can get a better deal on appliances at Lowe’s, by all means — we found our dishwasher and fridge at Lowe’s.

I realize I’m responding to another poster as well as you, so didn’t mean to go on too long.