Costco shoppers have taken to the internet to vent their frustrations over the wholesale retailer’s new policies aimed at cracking down on membership sharing.
Some members are likening the changes to having their rights taken away from them, with one woman comparing her experience to the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The timing of the new policies seems to be aligned with the 2024 election when reproductive rights were on the line in many states.
In September, Costco began to roll out its new membership card scanning mandate and double verification, which led many furious customers to cancel their subscriptions altogether.
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Recently, Costco has been cracking down on membership sharing, but some members feel they are the ones being “penalized” by the crackdown. In August 2024, the retailer implemented a new policy which involves a membership card scanning system in which the shopper’s photo pops up on a screen as an employee validates their identity, sometimes requiring a photo ID for double verification.
Last week, one woman tweeted the company directly, writing, “Dear @Costco You picked the wrong week to implement a new policy,” alluding to the election that just passed.
She went on to explain: “For convenience I carry a digital membership card. I don’t know why when I login [with] MY email my husband’s photo appears,” likening the glitch to losing equal rights as she went on to claim: “I can’t shop unless my husband is [with] me gives serious Handsmaid’s Tale [sic] vibes.”
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood was published in 1985 and adapted into a Hulu series in 2017. It is set in a dystopian patriarchal society in which women are stripped of their individual rights. Women cannot have bank accounts or own property, and fertile women are forced into child-bearing slavery.
Some shoppers are frustrated with the fact that they need photo ID to shop at the big box store but not to vote in the presidential election, while others complained of being treated like criminals when asked to prove their identity when shopping for toilet paper in bulk.
Costco maintains that the policies are there to ensure fairness and that non-members do not have access to the same perks as paying members.
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