My college days are coming back, it seems, as my local club is going to start having the bouncer check IDs at the door.
Costco BB #:150902 started quietly rolling out membership scanning technology at the door earlier this year, much to the annoyance of the People of the Internet. I’ve seen countless posts about it on social media, from Reddit to TikTok.
Well, it finally hit my neighborhood’s Facebook page, where an employee who lives among us gave us the heads-up that our local warehouse will start scanning memberships on Oct. 15.
They apologized ahead of time and asked for grace.
Costco has a landing page about the initiative, but it doesn’t really explain the “why” behind the move.
Membership sharing can be a pretty big business for these club stores. Costco makes more than $4 million a year on membership fees. I’m not surprised they’re cracking down further on card sharing, but the majority of complaints I’m seeing are from members, annoyed about the inconvenience.
Adding a layer to the shopping experience is risky, especially at a time when Costco’s primary competitor, Sam’s Club BB #:140368, is making it easier for its members to shop.
When I see the Costco scanning controversy pop up on social media, the comments section usually has a fair percentage of people praising Sam’s for its Scan & Go technology, that allows them to pay as they go.
And Sam’s is working to make that even easier. A new club is opening in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that is “completely without checkout lines.” (Noteworthy: there is a customer service option for complicated transactions, obviously.)
A CNBC article introducing the new club notes that it also will display online-only items for “showrooming,” is equipped with a larger area for e-commerce fulfillment, curbside pickup, and home delivery fulfillment.
This is Sam’s Club working to differentiate through technology.
And a club store is a great place to do it. Only members are allowed to shop, so everything is easily tracked and identifiable.
The new features at Sam’s come at a time when Costco is making the shopping experience more complicated. The optics aren’t great, and it makes me wonder what Costco might have in the works to streamline its own in-club experience.