Look, we all love Costco. The $1.50 hot dog combo, the free samples, the 48-pack of toilet paper that lasts until next spring. But Costco has been quietly dropping the hammer on members who break a very specific rule at checkout — and people are losing their memberships over it. Not suspended. Canceled. Done.
If you’ve been sharing your membership card with someone who isn’t on your account, you need to stop doing that immediately. Costco is now actively enforcing its membership policy at checkout, and they’re not playing around anymore.
What Exactly Is Getting People Banned
Here’s the deal: Costco memberships are non-transferable. That means your card is your card. Your spouse or household member can get a free additional card on your account, but that’s it. You can’t hand your card to your buddy, your neighbor, your adult kid who lives across town, or your coworker and tell them to go pick up some stuff for you.
People have been doing this forever, and Costco mostly looked the other way. Not anymore. Shoppers are being turned away at checkout when the photo on the membership card doesn’t match the person presenting it. And some are finding out the hard way that repeated violations can get your entire membership revoked.
One guy posted online about how his wife tried to use his card while he waited in the car. They wouldn’t let her check out. He was furious — said “We’re done here” and wanted to cancel on principle. But think about that for a second. His wife wasn’t on the account. That’s literally the rule. You don’t have to like it, but that’s the rule.
Self-Checkout Is Where They’re Cracking Down Hardest
This is the part that’s catching a lot of people off guard. For years, self-checkout was the loophole. You’d scan your card, bag your stuff, and nobody asked questions. Those days are over.
Costco has added employees stationed at self-checkout who are specifically checking that the person scanning the card matches the photo on the account. Some locations are even using screens that display your membership photo when you scan, making it obvious to staff if something doesn’t match up. Reports are coming in that Costco is threatening corporate-level blocks on memberships if you’re caught doing this more than once.
A corporate block means it’s not just your local warehouse saying no. It means your membership number is flagged system-wide. You can’t just drive to the Costco two towns over and pretend nothing happened.
Why Costco Is Doing This Now
Money. That’s always the answer, right? But here’s the specific math. A Costco Gold Star membership costs $65 a year. The Executive membership is $130. Costco made over $4.8 billion in membership fees in their last fiscal year. That’s not from selling rotisserie chickens — that’s just from people paying to walk in the door.
Every person who uses someone else’s card is a person who isn’t paying their own $65. Multiply that by millions of “borrowers” and you’re talking about real money Costco is leaving on the table. So they’re tightening things up.
The other reason? Costco rolled out a digital membership card through their app, and it’s tied directly to your account with your photo. That makes verification faster and easier for employees. The app-based system isn’t perfect — plenty of people complain about having to open it every single time — but it does make card sharing a lot harder to pull off.
How To Avoid Getting Your Membership Canceled
This seems obvious, but let me spell it out because people are still getting tripped up:
Add your spouse or household member to your account for free. Every Costco membership comes with one free household card. That person has to live at the same address as you. Go to the membership desk, bring a photo ID, and get it set up. Takes five minutes. There’s zero reason not to do this.
Don’t lend your card. Period. Not to your mom, not to your roommate, not to your best friend who “just needs one thing.” If they want to shop at Costco, they can get their own membership or you can go with them as a guest. Guests are allowed — they just can’t make purchases on a separate transaction without the member present.
Update your membership photo. If your card photo is from 2009 and you look completely different now, that could cause problems even if you’re the actual member. Go to the membership desk and ask them to take a new photo. Free, takes 30 seconds.
Keep the app updated. If you’re using the digital card, make sure your app is current. An outdated app can sometimes cause scanning issues that flag your account, and the last thing you want is a surprise cancellation showing up on your account because of a tech glitch.
What About Instacart And Delivery Services
This is where things get messy. If you order Costco stuff through Instacart, the shopper uses a business membership or Instacart’s own Costco account to check out. But sometimes the system kicks back an order, and the shopper gets stuck at checkout with a cart full of your groceries and no way to pay.
This doesn’t affect your personal membership directly, but it’s good to know that if your Instacart Costco order gets canceled, it might be a membership verification issue on their end — not yours. You don’t need to worry about your own account getting flagged because of an Instacart order.
Same goes for buying Costco gift cards (called Shop Cards). You can give a $25 Shop Card to anyone, and they can use it to shop at Costco without a membership. But they can only spend the amount on the card — they can’t add more items and pay the difference with their own money. Or at least, that’s the official policy. Enforcement on that one varies by location.
Other Checkout Behaviors That Can Get You In Trouble
While we’re on the topic, membership sharing isn’t the only thing Costco is watching for at the registers.
Returning too much stuff. Costco has one of the most generous return policies in retail. You can return almost anything at almost any time with no questions asked. But if you’re regularly buying stuff, using it for a while, and returning it — like that guy who returned a Christmas tree in January — they will flag your account. Enough returns and they’ll cancel your membership. They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again.
Buying to resell. If you’re grabbing 50 units of a hot item and flipping them online, Costco can and will shut that down. They reserve the right to limit quantities, and repeated reselling behavior is grounds for membership revocation.
Being rude to staff. I know this sounds like common sense, but apparently it needs to be said. Costco employees are trained to enforce policies, and screaming at the 19-year-old at the door because they asked to see your card is not going to end well for you. Multiple reports of hostile behavior can lead to membership cancellation. Just be a normal human being.
Is A Costco Membership Even Worth It Anymore
With all these restrictions tightening up, some people are asking whether the $65 annual fee is worth it. Honestly? For most families, yes. The savings on gas alone can cover your membership cost within a few months if you fill up regularly. Costco gas is typically 20-40 cents cheaper per gallon than nearby stations.
But if you’re a single person living in a small apartment, do the math. Are you really saving $65 worth of money buying everything in bulk? Maybe. Maybe not. A pack of 36 eggs at Costco runs around $7-8 depending on your area. That same quantity at Walmart might cost you $10-12 buying three dozen individually. The savings are real but they add up slowly.
Where the membership really pays for itself: tires (seriously, Costco tire prices are hard to beat, and installation is included), prescription drugs (you technically don’t need a membership for the pharmacy in most states, but having one gives you access to better pricing), and electronics. A 75-inch TV at Costco often beats the same model at Best Buy by $100-200, and you get an automatic extended warranty.
The Smart Way To Handle This Going Forward
If you’ve been lending your card out, stop today. It’s not worth losing your membership over. Get your household member set up on your account if you haven’t already. And if your friend really wants to shop at Costco, buy them a $25 Shop Card as a gift and let them see if they like it enough to get their own membership.
Also, keep your membership card and app handy when you walk in. The door checkers are scanning more carefully now, and fumbling around for your card while 30 people wait behind you isn’t making anyone’s day better.
Costco isn’t trying to be the bad guy here. They’re a business, and their entire model depends on membership revenue. They keep prices low because they know every single person in the building paid to be there. When people cheat the system, it threatens the thing that makes Costco work in the first place.
So yeah — use your own card, don’t share it, and keep shopping. The $4.99 rotisserie chicken isn’t going anywhere.
