I don’t like this new thing they implemented at Costco - at least, the stores in the Denver area.
The new thing: scan card, it shows your picture from the membership card and indicates if your membership is active.
This is to ensure people gaining entry to the store have an active membership and/or are not borrowing someone’s membership card.
I declined and worked something out with the manager. We are thinking of canceling our membership.
Is this in place at all Costco stores nationwide? How are you handling it?
They all do this. I don't give a shit - people are scamming/lending membership cards.
Most places from golf courses to even gun ranges do the picture thing.
If it was a retna scan etc I'd tell them to f off and make a huge stink about it.
I’ll draw my lines, you draw yours.
Well...ya did ask how we're handling it, so...
Hahahahahaha…. You totally got me!!!
That interaction made my day!
You gave me the best laugh :)
Not happening in my Costco ….yet
Well…. Heads up….
Out of curiosity... Are you in a red state?
I live in NC. It’s considered a purple state. We flipped out both state assembly back into a Republican Super majority and also the State Supreme is a Republican majority.
It’s gonna be a red state again when we get Mark Robinson and Hal Weatherman in as our Governor and Lt. Governor. We also need to replace our AG and our Sec of State and a couple of other state positions currently in the hands of the Dems. Hoping we can do this in Nov.
Good on you guys for taking it back!!!
FYI you can say you're not a member when you go in and you are only there to buy alcohol.
Stores are not allowed to sell alcohol to members only due to liquor laws. This works at Costco, Sam's Club and others.
Then you can use your card regularly at checkout (or not at all If you are buying only alcohol, it just needs a supervisor approval) thereby skipping the facial scan.
Oooooo, thank you!
Not at my Costco in AZ
Do you realize that facial recognition is being used in several large cities with various cameras strategically placed?
Yes. I don’t go into the city much and I am doing what I can. More to be done- for sure.
Doing it in Seattle- most Costco cards have our pics on them- my last one didnt and they hound me to get it updated- they are only scanning the card, not our faces tho-
I may not have been clear and/or used the wrong terminology - face picture from the card pops up so that they can confirm the holder is walking in. Not a scan of my face today.
Apologies for the confusion.
I don’t much care if the scanner looks at my picture or the person at the door looks at it. But to check if the membership is valid and active, they do that at checkout.
Yes, I bought this up to the manager. An expired membership can be renewed at checkout. “It causes problems for customers and workers”.
Total BS IMO….
The manager said “it causes problems for workers and customers”? I agree, total bullshit! It’s just adding another item to your order!
Yes!
The problem is people who fill a cart with items and then expect the workers to just "let it go" once they get in line and decide they don't really want to renew, thinking they'll just be let by.
It's like letting whoever wants into a private country club and assuming "I'm sure nobody will cause any problems.". It's the general public, they will cause problems.
Yes, this is what I was told.
Tell them to fuk off.
We are very close to this.
I would take a stand,but I don't have a large family to feed.....
Maybe sams Club,I don't know what they do.
We all a stand where we can. Honestly, I don't fully get why this one really bugs me.... They push so much crap.....
If it bothers you,don't give in.
Pay whatever price you need to...l
We used to go there more but have tended to find better quality elsewhere.
I swapped from Costco to BJ's at the My Pillow cancellation, years ago. BJ's never stopped carrying it. BJ's doesn't check you going in. Sure they don't have a loss-leader food court, but mine has an awesome deli and lets you use manufacturers coupons as well as their own. They have capital one Mastercard, ridiculously cheaper gas, and never bothered us about masks, unlike the screechers at commieville.
Besides BJ's, we found restaurant supply stores, over of which we go to regularly for non-gmo flour, prepper-size cans of non-gmo fruit, imported pepperoni and salami, and whole milk mozzarella. Our pizza skills are tippy-top now!
Sam's Club is super chill and was all through the whole mask nonsense. I drive an extra 20 minutes past Costco to shop at Sam's Club. It takes a big part of my day, but Sam's Club has been good to me.
I haven't stopped that much at either of them,but they seem to be similar.
Shop their instead.
The only reason I mind this is that it normalizes something the government wants to do.
As far as private companies that depend on people not sharing memberships it does make perfect sense.
I get their perspective- Costco makes money off their memberships. I enjoy the benefits of that membership, but this feels invasive to me. I see it also as a slippery slope when the world is now trending to be more invasive.
What happens if I scan my membership card at the entrance and then turn around and enter the store through the EXIT?
Ummmmm.... What?
Exactly what I said. What happens if I scan my membership card at the entrance and then enter the store through the EXIT?
Will the police department be dispatched? S.W.A.T. team in route?
You've scanned your card, they would probably be delighted.
Oh no not even close. You don't know the extreme corporate insanity I have to deal with by being a Costco member.
I’d be interested to hear!
1984 coming 40 years late.
It is just the last straw, even if it is a small straw…
It’s happening here in SoCal as well. Scan card for entry.
Someone else mentioned it isn't implemented at their Costco yet. Makes me wonder if there is a red state/blue state thing going on here...
I read they are rolling it out to all Costcos. I'm due for renewal but will not be renewing because the only way it works is if they use facial recognition to match the picture on the card to the person. In the good old days, the person at the door would look at the card and picture.
The Costco scan of your card shows your picture on the card to the door clerk who verifies the picture looks like the person on the card. It is NOT sophisticated at all. It is not a facial scan, it because they have found many people paying with credit and debit cards of people not matching the card presented. The Costco business model is of a private membership with dues and theft protection (one checked door in, one checked door out.). These non-members using other peoples cards have been a problem and Costco does NOT like dealing wtih problems publicly at the check out. Anyone reading more than that into it has a wandering mind...
Came here to say this. When you shop at Costco you get rewards back. We get on average 850-$1000 a year on our account. People who lend out their cards stack the deck and get way more in rewards without shopping there. Costco is protecting their brand and want to prevent non members who pay zero dollars in dues to shop and add cash back rewards to the account holder.
What does that even mean? If they sold that product, a member would get cash back regardless, so there's no money savings to Costco with this. THEY'RE STILL SELLING THE PRODUCT FOR PROFIT. I've gone with friends before to buy collectively, it just saves the trip. Now, I haven't been a member in years, but my mother insists on maintaining her membership. What happens if she's sick but needs stuff from there? I can't get her prescription now?
They do delivery I think at this Costco, but when we tried it awhile back, the credit card number was stolen and used fraudulently before an hour had passed.
The door people used to look at the picture on our cards without the use of technology. The last decade or so they stopped looking at our cards. If you flashed a card they just nodded. Why do they now need technology to compare our happy smiling faces to the ones on the cards?
They were unable to process compare the tiny picture fast enough to matter with multiple people entering. Look, quit them if you want. Costco is a very liberal, but fair company and they want to protect their business model and non members using other peoples cards is a problem for them and is unfair to the people who actually pay their dues. Plus the people letting others use their cards profited from the increased rebates the other peoples use of their card generated. Again, unfair to the paying members.
As a paying member since the early 1990's I agree that it is unfair for people to lend out their cards but they have to be using facial recognition in order to speed up the process. Especially given we don't take new pictures for our cards at renewal time. I think that's the point the OP is making. If you're fine with facial recognition being used then that's your choice.
They are not using “facial recognition” other than door clerk visually comparing pic to your face. Ask them, I did...
Sounds like the paying members did just fine! If you get stuck with buying stuff for the office, as I once did, by all means, collect the rewards! And the coke codes, I got some decent giftable swag back then. The rebates would have been paid out REGARDLESS of who used the cards.
I handed my card to them to confirm my identity rather than scan- this was not sufficient.
I’m super not into the scan.
Why is this a problem?
Seems like if we ever got full voter id they would do something similar.
I don’t need another thing. I also don’t want it normalized. I also don’t want to go to the store someday and provide them the opportunity to say “TPTB don’t like something you said, you cannot enter”
For sure we are gone if they mandate.
They can refuse you for any reason anyway.
I do understand your point......its the POTENTIAL for abuse that concerns you though I dont see how we can demand id on one hand and then complain when its implemented on the other.
Making sure future laws prevent abuse of the scanning system is something to keep and eye on.
Voting is different than grocery shopping.
Potential is the right word, but i see this as turning up the heat and I’m the frog
Im talking any type of "membership" that would have a valid reason to id and scan.
Also even though though voting and grocery are diffferent it doesnt mean the same type of potential abuse couldnt exist......you COULD be denied a vote just as well you could be denied entry at Costco for some "thought crime"
I guess that could happen, I hadn't thought about being deniey the right to vote.... But who knows these days....
Please tell me what information they are getting from you scanning your Costco card at the door to come in that they are not getting from you at checkout. Cash, card, Apple Pay, whatever you use they still no you were there, what you bought, and when you bought it.
My wife complained the same as you but if you stop and think about it you are giving them nothing with this new policy that you weren’t already giving being a customer.
Oh, I completely recognize this. So why do they need to do it? And what this one more thing to be compliant about? Just not interested.
Costco is a private membership shopping club. YOU agreed to abide by their rules when YOU joined., They made a new rule. You have the ability to quit. I did when they wanted me to wear a mask. I didn’t shop there while the rule was in effect. You too can quit. Why don’t you to support your position and quit then. Have you actually asked them if they are using what you say they are? I did...
I asked them what the published privacy policy was regarding what they do with this data - there isn’t one.
I didn’t go to Costco when masks were mandated. And at my regular grocery I didn’t wear one.
I totally understand that I’m poking at something insignificant compared to the data they collect from my card usage. It is just that “one more thing”… a little bit here, a little bit there…
Fair enough. Keep on poking...