Costco wants non-members to stop dining at its outdoor food courts, which for years have allowed customers without a membership card to roll up and order the retailer’s popular $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.
According to a photo sign posted outside of Costco’s al fresco food court in Orlando, Fla., and posted to Reddit, the company has quietly begun cracking down on who can dine at its popular outdoor food courts, located at 18 locations of the wholesaler.
“Effective April 8, 2024, an active Costco membership card will be required to purchase items from our food court,” the sign read, notifying customers that they can join today at the “membership counter.”
Previously, Costco staffers were only strict at checking membership cards when people entered their stores, meaning only members dine at indoor food courts.
However, workers were known to almost never check membership status at outdoor food courts, The Hill earlier reported.
Representatives from several Costco locations confirmed to the outlet that they plan to more strictly enforce its membership policy moving forward, with multiple confirming the use of new signage at the food courts.
One company rep claimed that all 18 Costco locations with outdoor food courts, specifically, had been instructed to ask food-court customers to verify their membership status, per The Hill.
In another move to ensure Costco members maintain their elite status, the company is testing autonomous membership card scanners in the outpost next door to its headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., to ensure the photo on the card matches the person scanning it as they enter the store.
Costco Insider, a website that says it gets its tips from readers, shared news of the new tech earlier this year, which drew mixed responses from the retailer’s loyal shoppers.
“Great for all of us with legit memberships,” one Costco shopper responded on X, while a Facebook user added: “I think that will cause long lines to enter and frustrate people!”
In better news, Costco said earlier this month that it was keeping its membership fees at their current prices.
Costco charges either $60 or $120 annually for its basic or executive membership, respectively, though former finance chief Richard Galanti did not rule out a future price hike.
“It’s when, not if, still,” Galanti said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, when Costco reported that its total cardholders increased to 132 million as of the end of the second quarter, a 7.3% increase over the same period a year ago.
Speaking further on forthcoming membership price increases, Galanti quipped that Costco “will at some point, I’m sure, do it,” and joked it will “be on [Gary Millerchip’s] watch, not mine.
In his final act at Costco, Galanti was lauded for retaining the $1.50 price tag on the company’s famous hot dog and soda deal — which has been the same price since 1985, the same year Galanti was named CFO.
Former Kroger CFO Gary Millerchip succeeded Galanti on March 15, when he retired after nearly 40 years.
Its membership is a primary source of revenue for the retailer, though it hasn’t increased since 2017.
Costco rakes in around $4 billion-plus per year from the fees associated with its membership cards, whose official policy allow anyone with a membership card to bring up to two guests with them on each visit.
Representatives for Costco — which operates 871 warehouses across the US and Puerto Rico — did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.