Costco has a devoted following, and with good reason. But you don't want your next trip to Costco to be ruined by one of these myths, do you? Buckle up and get your notepad ready! It's mythbusters time!
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00:00Costco has a devoted following, and with good reason.
00:04But you don't want your next trip to Costco to be ruined by one of these myths, do you?
00:08Buckle up and get your notepad ready.
00:11It's MythBusters time!
00:13Costco's checkout procedure can be overwhelming when you have several heavy items packed into
00:18your cart and a common claim is you shouldn't take anything out of the cart for the cashier.
00:23However, according to Insider, this is mostly a myth.
00:27Just like you would at any regular grocery store, you should take items out and place
00:31them on the belt.
00:32The one exception is anything large or very heavy.
00:35That, to both you and your cashier's relief, can stay in the cart.
00:39Unfortunately, this policy isn't always enforced, which, as one Costco worker explains, makes
00:44work way more difficult for cashiers when customers won't place items on the belt.
00:50Costco's own customer service website calls its return policy a risk-free 100% satisfaction
00:56guarantee.
00:57The store is notorious for accepting some very odd returns.
01:01A thread on Reddit went into detail on just how weird some of Costco's returns were.
01:05The details included people returning a mattress with urine stains, a 10-year-old boombox,
01:16and even a 13-year-old frozen fish.
01:19While these are just anecdotes, there are enough to show that Costco's return policy
01:23is extremely generous.
01:25In practice, it certainly looks like you can return anything and everything.
01:29However, Costco itself is clear that there are some items that must be returned sooner
01:34than others, and some items that can't even be returned at all.
01:38For example, most electronic returns must be received within 90 days of the date the
01:42customer originally received the item.
01:45Diamonds over one carat can be returned if the customer provides the gemology paperwork
01:49for the diamond, and the item will go through an additional check by a gemologist.
01:54As for items that can't be returned at all, cigarettes and alcohol were prohibited by
01:58law and custom products made to order for the customer.
02:02For example, in California, you typically can't return alcohol unless it was deemed
02:06unfit for consumption, is spoiled, or was not supposed to be purchased, according to
02:10Total Wine.
02:12During the COVID pandemic, the laws in these states were relaxed, but the prohibitions
02:16on alcohol returns have since been reinstated.
02:20Showing your receipt to someone on the way out of a store isn't unusual.
02:23Some stores practice this policy to keep an eye out for customers walking out with
02:27products that aren't on their receipt.
02:29Costco uses their exit greeters a little differently than other stores, though.
02:33According to Costco's customer service site, those employees are there and marking your
02:37receipts to ensure that you were charged properly and not overcharged.
02:41The explanation also mentions that it's a way to maintain a, quote, accuracy in inventory
02:46control, which is vague enough to be interpreted as looking for shoplifting.
02:50However, the general manager of a San Francisco Costco location told SFGate that shoplifting
02:55wasn't really a problem.
02:56As the article mentions, it's kind of hard to sneak a 75-inch TV out of the store.
03:01A thread on Reddit also confirmed that while the exit greeters occasionally catch items
03:05that weren't paid for, a lot of the checks are made to ensure the prices are correct
03:09and that you have everything that you paid for.
03:12As one Redditor wrote, the receipt checkers also look for things like gift cards or anything
03:16that you have to pick up at a location other than the cashier's lane.
03:19Keep in mind that, according to Costco Insider, if you buy a membership at Costco, you're
03:24agreeing to unconditional consent regarding searches.
03:27Unfortunately, people unaware of this agreement have refused to show receipts at the door,
03:32and that does allow Costco to revoke your membership, according to Oregon Live.
03:36This used to be somewhat true, but as of 2020, unfortunately, it's become a Costco myth.
03:46You used to be able to eat at Costco food courts regardless of whether you had a membership
03:50or not, something that was especially easy to do when the food court was located outside.
03:56However, Costco started requiring proof of membership to eat at any of their food courts,
04:01inside or out, in March 2020.
04:03The Instagram account Costco Deals first broke the news in February 2020 with a picture of
04:08a sign warning customers that they would need a membership to eat at the food court starting
04:13on March 16, 2020.
04:15Fox Business News confirmed this with Costco and was told by their customer service department
04:20that the company already required membership to eat at the food court.
04:23They just hadn't enforced it because so many courts were outside.
04:27Both Fox Business News and the Los Angeles Times reported mixed reactions from Costco
04:31members on social media.
04:33Responses ranged from sadness that a low-cost source of food was being taken away from non-members
04:38to glee at the anticipated shorter lines.
04:41The Los Angeles Times pointed out that non-members would still be able to purchase alcohol and
04:45medications.
04:47Costco's non-grocery departments often allow non-members to make use of those services,
04:52making it seem like anything outside the food areas is open to anyone.
04:56Many of the services that non-members can access are medical or health-related, including
05:00getting prescriptions filled and, before the COVID-19 pandemic, attending free health screenings.
05:06Sir, I can fix those glasses.
05:09You can?
05:10Well, here, fix those suckers!
05:15If you're a non-member, you can get your eyes checked by an optometrist at a Costco location.
05:21But the one service you can't access without a membership is buying glasses and contacts.
05:25For that, you need to be a member.
05:27You can't even purchase contacts through the company's website without a membership, even
05:31though the company normally lets non-members use their online store with a surcharge tacked
05:36onto those purchases.
05:38So why the difference if you can purchase other things, like prescriptions, without
05:41a membership?
05:42According to All About Vision, the optometrists you see are independent rather than Costco
05:47employees.
05:48You pay them and not Costco for the exam, so you don't need a membership.
05:52However, Costco owns the optical centers, making the frames and lenses Costco products
05:57that require a membership for purchase.
06:00It is true that if a price tag has an asterisk, the product is on its way out, but this Costco
06:05secret is often discussed as if the appearance of an asterisk alone is the final warning,
06:11and that's not exactly the case.
06:13The asterisk indicates the product is in one of two stages of being discontinued.
06:17So how do you really tell if an item is on its way out?
06:21Check the price.
06:22It's the price of the item that truly shows if the product is about to leave stores.
06:26In an Instagram reel, Las Vegas real estate agent Greg Chin shows that the last digit
06:31of the price is the clue.
06:32You wanna know a secret about Costco?"
06:34He says that if the price tag has an asterisk and ends with an 8, the product is in the
06:39first markdown stage.
06:41A tag with an asterisk and a price ending with a 7 means the product is at its lowest
06:45price and that Costco is taking a loss just to move the product off its shelves.
06:50It's a good idea to keep an eye on how the pricing works, even if you think you know
06:54all the secrets, though.
06:55The Sun says that a Costco spokesperson not only previously confirmed that pricing is
07:00meant to move inventory along, but they also said that the whole process can change over
07:04time.
07:05When asked for further clarification, the spokesperson declined to give The Sun more
07:09information.
07:11When you buy in bulk, you typically pay more up front for products that end up costing
07:15less per unit than they would if you bought them in smaller quantities.
07:19Over time, you save money that way, because you spend less per unit.
07:23While that's true, it's not always helpful for everyone.
07:27If individual shoppers aren't splitting the bulk buys with others or using everything
07:31they buy, then this normally money-saving tactic is a real loser and a myth.
07:36When you buy too much of an item and can't use it all, you lose the money you spent on
07:40the items you have to discard.
07:42Then you have to buy more later on, and the cycle repeats itself.
07:46CNBC says to avoid buying perishable foods at Costco for this reason, and also because
07:51some of these foods are available for similar prices at grocery stores.
07:55One example CNBC uses is eggs, which are often available for maybe one cent more at
08:00a grocery store in more reasonable quantities.
08:03If you think you can avoid this problem by buying only shelf-stable goods, think again.
08:08Sapling says buying items like cereal in bulk can lead to waste because the amount of cereal
08:13is so great, it could go stale before you can finish it.
08:16That makes it harder to make up for the price of the membership, too.
08:20If you've ever made a meal out of the free food samples at Costco, the idea of not being
08:25able to get unlimited free samples doesn't sound right, does it?
08:29Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true.
08:32While the vendors handing out samples are allowed to give out as many free samples as
08:35customers want, and according to CBS News, Costco encourages it, there's one group of
08:40people who can't get any samples, for a very smart reason.
08:44Children who are not tall enough to see the foods being handed out are not allowed to
08:48get samples on their own.
08:50The reason, according to a former sample vendor who spoke with Mental Floss, is that the people
08:54working the sample stations don't want to aggravate food allergies or sensitivities.
08:59Jim, the former vendor, said the rule is not official, but the risk is a real concern.
09:04He noted that if the child is unaccompanied but can see the samples, they'll let the
09:08child take them, because most kids with food restrictions are aware of what they can't
09:12have.
09:13If a kid is shorter and can't see what's on the table, the chances that the child is too
09:17young to understand what they're eating are greater.
09:20He said they use the height of the child to decide because it's difficult to judge the
09:24age of many children.
09:26This is another one of those myths that is based on a true event, the idea that Costco
09:30employees hide products so that customers have to search through the store to find them.
09:35The key word here is hide.
09:38According to Paige Saunders, an employee at a Canadian Costco location, products really
09:42are moved around, but they're not hidden.
09:45This is kind of half true, kind of not true.
09:49She discussed the problem in a YouTube video posted in 2020, saying the company has merchandising
09:54teams that go into Costco locations overnight and move products around as a corporate strategy,
10:00so the products are in plain sight, just in a different part of the store.
10:04Saunders expressed frustration at the policy because the teams don't warn the retail employees
10:09ahead of time, so even the employees have trouble finding items they saw the day before.
10:14Costco puts a less-frustrated spin on the practice, calling it a treasure hunt atmosphere.
10:20In the company's eyes, it's a way for customers to discover new products each time they come
10:24to the warehouse to shop, similar to how regular grocery stores rearrange their entire layout
10:29to get people to spot new products as they wander the aisles.
10:33Snopes, a fact-checking website, investigated claims in March 2022 that Costco would stop
10:39selling their beloved rotisserie chickens.
10:41The culprit?
10:42A fake advertisement.
10:44The advert claimed Costco would stop selling 24 specific items with the picture of Costco's
10:49rotisserie chickens.
10:50When clicked on, the ad led to an article claiming that Costco would stop selling either
10:5524 or 21 items with no mention of the rotisserie chickens in the picture in the ad.
11:01Snopes was unable to find anything about Costco discontinuing their chickens because, as the
11:06website noted, the company never made the claim to begin with.
11:10The rotisserie chickens obviously aren't sold online, but you can bet that if the company
11:14did stop selling the rotisserie chickens, the news would be everywhere, not just in
11:19one online advertisement.
11:21Forbes did report in April 2022 that Costco's chicken operations in Nebraska were hit by
11:26bird flu and thus at risk.
11:28However, the article noted that losses were not that big, and so far there have been no
11:33hints that anything might disrupt the company's ability to continue selling the chickens.
11:38This is probably one of the most widespread myths about Costco.
11:42The $1.50 hot dog and drink combo is not increasing in price, and if former Costco CEO and founder
11:48Jim Senegal has anything to say about it, which he has, you will not see this price
11:53go up.
11:54What started this outcry, according to VerifyThis, was a viral tweet from a Twitter account calling
11:59itself Breaking911, but actually using the handle JohnWRichKid.
12:04In other words, it wasn't the actual Breaking911 news account.
12:08However, that didn't stop several Verified Twitter accounts from retweeting the… news.
12:13Even the HouseGOP Twitter account quote-tweeted it and blamed bite inflation for the beloved
12:19hot dog combo's price raise.
12:20However, the rumor is just a rumor.
12:23The $1.50 hot dog deal is not increasing in price, and as Costco CEO Craig Jelinek told
12:28425 Business in 2018, the cost will never go up, lest Senegal kill him.
12:34As the story goes, Jelinek told Senegal that the low price of the combo was not sustainable,
12:40and Senegal responded with an order to Jelinek to figure out a way to not raise the price.
12:45This is when, according to Jelinek, Senegal said,
12:48"...if you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you."
12:51Jelinek noted that the $1.50 price is so closely linked to Costco that it's become a mindset.
13:00His solution was to have Costco build its own hot dog processing plant and to use those
13:04hot dogs for the combo instead of the previous non-House brand.