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Comment by latchkey | Hacker News Reader

I can appreciate why Costco appeals to people. I would go maybe 1-2 times a year to pick up a few items. That said, once they started hard enforcing the card sharing policy and then proceeded to literally scream at me that I couldn't use my fathers card, while in line, I decided to not give them my business ever again.

I had used his card a couple times before without any issues. It wasn't even a busy day and I really didn't get the hostility that I received. Certainly, I got some stressed out check out person, but wow... me never going back there again is going to cost them a whole lot more in the long run, than them missing out on my membership fee from my occasional visit.

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The entitlement in this comment is astonishing by any standards. Truly something to behold. I'm amazed someone lacked the self-awareness to consider posting something like this not only acceptable but even as a sort of call for sympathy. You will not be missed, neither by Costco nor by paying members.

I'm skeptical a Costco employee 'literally screamed' at you, that's grounds for getting fired. Per Occam's razor, I think it's more likely you're not used to people confronting you when you're in the wrong and this often gets misunderstood as 'hostility'.

> even as a sort of call for sympathy.

No call for sympathy, at all. At the end of the day, it is a box store. Nothing more, nothing less. It really isn't that big of a deal... I just won't go back. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

> I'm skeptical a Costco employee 'literally screamed' at you, that's grounds for getting fired.

Fine to be skeptical, but it happened.

> It really isn't that big of a deal... I just won't go back. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Why bother spending the time making a comment and subsequently replying to other comments. These actions seem to conflict with what you are saying.

I thought I was sharing an interesting story and different perspective on things. Which did generate a lot of comments and feedback. I don't take the rather negative stuff said here personally and I learn and grow from these things. The feedback, good and bad, I've gotten on HN over the years has helped me a lot at a personal level. It is part of the benefit of speaking up on this site.

Fair enough. A constantly tuned feedback-loop is certainly worth the effort. All the best.

So you were not a member and tried to use their services but they gave you a hard time? That's like getting kicked out of Disneyland using someone else's ticket and complaining that they're not taking your business. Costco makes the bulk of their profit from membership fees so you not getting to use their members-only service is exactly what they want to enforce.

> me never going back there again is going to cost them a whole lot more in the long run, than them missing out on my membership fee from my occasional visit.

That’s actually not really true for Costco. They famously break even on selling merchandise as a way to sell the memberships. It’s unfortunate but the model really doesn’t care about occasional visitors like you.

Not excusing the attitude, that sounds completely unacceptable, but blocking shared memberships is core to their approach.

I find it hard to believe that they don't profit on their products at least a bit. Certainly there are some they don't get a profit on, but it wasn't like I was in there just buying a cheap tv and walking out... I was buying regular stuff.

Its their model. Its discussed in TFA too.

> I find it hard to believe that they don’t profit on their products at least a bit.

Basically, they don’t. Over recent years, membership fees have accounted for, from what I can find, a low of 80% to a high of 110% of their net income, usually sitting right around 100%, and that’s not an accident, its their well-documented deliberate business model.

Selling stuff covers the costs associated with being able to sell the stuff, membership fees are what provides profit.

Someone above mentions: "Costco has a markup cap of 15%"

Is this true for the obnoxiously expensive ($10k+ in many cases) liquor cabinets they keep?

They sell some items at a loss.

They yelled at you because dealing with 1000 people who think they're special and can break the rules everyday and it's not a big deal is infuriating.

I honestly didn't know they were enforcing the rule because it had worked just fine before. I had no attitude or thinking I was special, I just got immediately screamed at.

So you "stole" from them many times and then were surprised by the reaction the one time you got caught. You just felt justified because you didn't understand their business model.

I usually don't tell people how they feel.

I honestly didn't know it would be a big deal that my dad didn't go with me to the store to buy things.

To be fair, your dad should have. It's in the membership agreement and has been there for a very very long time. Doesn't excuse being yelled at, but your dad should have been aware of this and warned you that they might deny you if you go alone without him.

My whole gripe isn't about getting 'caught', it is about getting literally yelled at.

Well, I think part of the reason you're getting pushback is that you still have a gripe with it. It was a one time occurrence, and despite the employee yelling, they were still correct and you were wrong and breaking the rules if you will.

For a little context, Costco recently started cracking down on the membership 'sharing' and a lot of employees are now being forced to turn away customers, of whom many turn very irate, because just like you they've been doing this for a long time. That employee that yelled at you might have very well been at the end of a shift where they themselves had been yelled at and berated multiple times. As much as we'd like to say that they should be better and not respond in kind, we both know that if you abuse someone enough, they will lash out.

Stop having a gripe with it. Chalk it up as a slightly unpleasant experience and move on.

A gripe is not unhealthy. A gripe here is justified. Sympathy for the employee does not invalidate the gripe.

This is not a situation where you should be telling people how to feel.

Constantly and frequently complaining that a single employee treated them badly is healthy? I must have the wrong understanding of what griping is.

Please look up the noun definition, not the verb definition.

Google says "a minor complaint".

Merriam-Webster says "grievance, complaint".

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't recall the last time I used it as a noun and the completely opposite meaning from the verb and it had slipped my mind. The potentially ambiguous sentence structure combines with that to have me treat it as the verb definition.

So if you take what I said the GP comment there, then I think it's fair, if maybe a little harsh. Of course, assuming the OP meant a minor complaint as they probably did, then your response is warranted.

So perhaps let me restate then -- having a gripe about that kind of treatment is warranted. Griping about it, probably best to just move on and forget about it, less stress.

They can move on and choose not to shop at Costco at the same time. Two wrongs don't make a right and I would be frustrated by that experience.

Frustrated, sure. I wouldn't be griping about it though, I'd move on.

(I also wouldn't stop shopping somewhere just because one employee had an outburst about something that they're being forced to do and is causing negative interactions with customers. Sure, I won't feel good about it, I might complain to management, but at the end of the day that one short interaction has so little bearing on my life that it's not worth constantly remembering and bringing it up.)

Ehh, a gripe online years later isn't the same as it living rent free in your head. I think that's our contrast here. I doubt that commenter's history is full of commenting about Costco. You have random events happen and certain topics can remind you, even decades later if you've otherwise forgotten.

> I might complain to management, but at the end of the day that one short interaction has so little bearing on my life that it's not worth constantly remembering and bringing it up.

Might not have much bearing, but it would be memorable. Experience varies but people simply don't yell at me. If the town is small enough you may simply want to avoid that interaction ever again and not bother stepping on eggshells.

> Ehh, a gripe online years later isn't the same as it living rent free in your head.

I was misunderstanding the OP's usage of gripe, and with my understanding being corrected, I largely agree.

> Might not have much bearing, but it would be memorable. Experience varies but people simply don't yell at me. If the town is small enough you may simply want to avoid that interaction ever again and not bother stepping on eggshells.

From my experience living in a small town, unless it was a constant occurrence it would still be pretty quickly forgotten; As you said, experience varies -- I grew up in a place where cordiality and hospitality from retail workers was not the expectation, and having a worker be mildly rude or sarcastic to you would be a common occurrence. So I've kind of internalized being able to just brush that kind of stuff aside...mostly.

You aren't "giving them" your business. They don't want your business if you don't have a membership.

It would be like saying I'm not giving Netflix anymore of my business since they won't let me use my dad's password.

Different with Netflix, you don't buy actual products that they also profit on.

Not with their new advertiser supported plan ;)

> Different with Netflix, you don’t buy actual products that they also profit on.

You don’t do that at Costco either, except by accident: Costco by design breaks even (there’s some variability because planning and reality diverge) on everything else and makes money on membership fees. That’s the value proposition: you pay for a membership, and you get stuff at what it costs Costco to get it to you.

Costco electronics are often times priced very similarly to Best Buy and any other major retailer (see for example Apple MacBook and iPad, which are items that I regularly happen to buy every few years so I actively keep an eye on their price trends). If Costco is breaking even on them, are you implying that also the other retailers are? Otherwise, are they not, actually, just breaking even on every item? Tons of people buy their Apple electronics at Costco, so I have to assume it is a significant percentage of their revenue.

Can't speak for all tech, but I think Apple has very careful price controlling on their products. I wouldn't be surprised if retailers don't make as much on them but keep them to draw shoppers in.

For other tech, it's up in the air. Maybe Costco does make a profit but not as many people buy tech at Costco than at Best buy, for instance.

> Costco electronics are often times priced very similarly to Best Buy [...] If Costco is breaking even on them, are you implying that also the other retailers are?

They break even in aggregate across everything that isn't memberships, but there is a bit of variability in margin, so, maybe, maybe not.

OTOH, brick and mortar electronics retailers have for quite a while had narrow margins and pushed things like high margin extended warranties to make profit (or, for the vast majority of them, just gone out of business.) Costco includes an extended warranty with purchase.

> Tons of people buy their Apple electronics at Costco, so I have to assume it is a significant percentage of their revenue.

Probably not. Apple electronics are big ticket items, but people aren't buying new iPhones or MacBooks all that frequently. The revenue from a person buying a MacBook and iPhone every other year is dwarfed by that of a person buying groceries every week.

The slide deck talks about how they break even on sales, and make their profit only on the membership fees.

Interestingly, there was a bit in there about (deck dated 2018) "27% of all US households are cardholders".

But I don't know why the employee screamed at you. I can understand you not wanting to return to a store where that happened.

> Interestingly, there was a bit in there about (deck dated 2018) "27% of all US households are cardholders".

That is hard to believe.

Not acceptable that you got yelled at, but it's a bit like using someone else's ski pass; you'd get kicked off the mountain (and probably yelled at).

Their business is the membership, not profits on merchandise.

>then proceeded to literally scream at me that I couldn't use my fathers card

https://tenor.com/view/doubt-press-x-press-la-noire-gif-1871...

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