Costco has gone through a few changes in the past year and a half or so. Now, a big change that they started to roll out earlier this year has officially hit our Costco store in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Big Changes at Costco

Lots of things have changed at Costcos across the country that has now affected how we shop.

First, they announced that they were cracking down on membership sharing in June of 2023.

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Then, in order to make sure people weren't sharing memberships at self-checkout, they put an employee there to check all membership cards.

Just recently, employees started scanning membership cards at self-checkout before you even got to the register.

Costco Raises Membership Fees For First Time Since 2017
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But that's not all! Also this year, Costco announced an increase in membership pricing. A regular membership went from $60 to $65 per year and an executive from $120 to $130.

Costco Raises Membership Fees For First Time Since 2017
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And now, we've got another big change that has come to many Costcos across the US but just now has hit Rochester.

Big Change Has Come to Rochester, MN's Costco

I went to Costco earlier today and it happened. And I had just been there maybe a handful of days ago so this is super new. Our Costco in Rochester is now scanning membership cards at the entrance to the store.

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This is something that the company was testing at the beginning of this year.

Slowly, it started popping up in other stores and now it has made it's way to Rochester.

I don't mind that they're scanning membership cards at the entrance now, as long as it doesn't cause a huge line of people trying to get in.

Also, I hope this will eventually get rid of cards getting scanned at a self-checkout. I know it's not a huge deal, you need to have your card out to scan at the register anyway, but it feels kind of gate-keep-y. To have someone scan your card at the entrance, AND while you're in line, AND when you get to the register seems too much.

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