A Costco customer went viral on TikTok after rebuking the store for manually checking customers’ membership cards at the self-checkout.
Koda (@qvietisviolent) filmed the short clip, in which he documented his experience in real-time. He’s seen standing and waiting in a long line that weaves through the store.
@qvietisviolent It was so tense for no reason ☠️ #costco #costcotiktok #costcomusthaves #costcodeals ♬ original sound – Reggie COUZ
“POV: You’re about to go into the Costco self-checkout since they start manually verifying membership photos,” he wrote in the text overlay.
He doubled-down on his frustration with the new policy in the comments, writing, “It was so tense for no reason.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Koda via TikTok comment and to Costco by email. As of Wednesday afternoon, Koda’s video had more than two million views.
In the comments, many users complained about their own experiences with the retail chain.
“Cashier at Costco yelled at me for using my husbands credit card despite the fact he was right there and we have the same last name,” one user revealed.
“Costco starting to feel like going through the TSA line,” another quipped.
“Seriously. I won’t be renewing my @Costco Wholesale membership. It’s not worth paying for the anxiety,” a third customer said.
At least one Costco employee added their own thoughts and explained that workers there have to abide by certain rules.
“Trust me, we hate it too,” they wrote. “Use ur own card it saves everyone time.”
But some users noted that Costco has always required customers to present their membership cards upon checkout. Costco’s membership policy states that two people can also be listed on their basic and higher-tier membership plans.
And as Costco has expanded the number of self-checkout stations, it has reportedly attracted larger numbers of non-members using improperly shared cards. As a result, some viewers said that they were sympathetic to the store’s rules.
“COSTCO has always checked the photo on membership cards in reg checkouts>seeing them doing it in self-checkouts doesn’t offend me at all,” one user said.
“Do people not remember pre Covid ? Costco never had self checkout and they always verified the photo when THEY scanned it,” another user added.