The return counter is where Costco built its reputation. Members wheel back patio furniture that sat outside all summer, mattresses they slept on for years, and groceries they simply didn’t like. The posted policy is about as loose as retail gets: most items come back at any time, for any reason, and you don’t even need the receipt.
What the policy doesn’t say out loud is that every single one of those returns is attached to your membership number, and somebody is adding them up. Since early 2026, shoppers and workers have reported Costco flagging accounts with abnormal return frequency, sending written warnings and, in repeat cases, cancelling memberships. Costco has announced no such rule, but its membership terms let it end a membership at its discretion.
Your Membership Number Is a Running Tally
The reason you don’t need a paper receipt is the same reason the crackdown works. Costco logs every purchase under your membership, so the return desk can pull up the original transaction from the past two years with nothing but your card and the item. That convenience cuts both ways. The system that saves you from digging through a junk drawer also shows staff exactly what you bought, what you brought back, and how often.
The reported triggers are specific: returning items years after purchase with obvious cosmetic wear, returning the same item multiple times across different warehouses, and returning consumed perishables in bulk. One employee rule of thumb that circulates among workers is simpler than any formula. If you return more of your purchases than you keep, you get noticed.
For a normal household that brings back a bad bag of shrimp and a pair of jeans that didn’t fit, none of this will ever come up. The enforcement is aimed at the small slice of accounts treating the warehouse like a free rental counter.
The 90-Day Electronics Clock Doesn’t Pause for Anything
Televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones, cameras, camcorders, projectors, smartwatches, MP3 players, drones, and major appliances all carry a hard 90-day return window that starts on the delivery or in-store purchase date. Not 91 days. Not “but it broke on its own.” After the window closes, even a defective unit gets routed to manufacturer warranty support instead of a refund.
“Major appliance” has a specific meaning here, too. It covers refrigerators over 10 cubic feet, water heaters, washers, dryers, dishwashers, freezers, ranges, cooktops, range hoods, and over-the-range or under-counter microwaves, according to the policy. Cellphones are on the 90-day list too, though Costco says return details vary by the carrier’s service contract.
The consolation prize is Costco Concierge Technical Support, which offers free technical help long after the return window shuts. On TVs, projectors, major appliances and computers, Costco also extends the manufacturer’s warranty to two years from purchase. Call before you decide something is dead.
You Can Return a Washed Shirt, But Not a Gold Bar
Clothing, Kirkland Signature included, falls under the same no-deadline satisfaction guarantee as nearly everything else in the warehouse.
Jewelry is the opposite end of the spectrum. Diamonds of 1.00 carat or larger require the original IGI or GIA certificate plus an inspection before the refund is finalized, and precious metals cannot be returned at all.
Tires and car batteries skip the main counter entirely and go through the auto center under its own warranty, a 36-month prorated warranty on a battery and the road-hazard term on tires. Mattresses and furniture stay under the no-time-limit rule.
Watch Whose Name Is on the Payment
In the warehouse, Visa is the only credit card Costco takes, thanks to an exclusive contract, which is why American Express, Mastercard and Discover credit cards get waved off at the register. Debit cards, cash and checks all work. The chain even sells its own Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi.
The part that catches married couples is the name on the payment. Costco’s terms require a check to carry the member’s own printed name, and shoppers report cashiers holding cards to the same standard, stricter still when alcohol is in the cart. Shoppers have reported being stopped at the register when one spouse handed over the membership while the other inserted a card in their own name. The workaround is free: add an adult in the household to the account.
Only the primary holder is supposed to use the card, so handing it to your kid while you wait in the car is a violation even if nobody stops them. You can bring two guests, but guests can’t buy anything. And Costco can revoke a membership at its discretion, and theft, violence or abusive behavior is the fastest way to lose one.
The Door Scanner Is Doing More Than Letting You In
Flashing your card at the door attendant is finished. Scanners now sit at every entrance, and you place the barcode or QR code against the reader on the way in. If your card has no photo attached, you need a photo ID. You still show the card again at the register.
Costco piloted the scanners in January 2024 and announced the national rollout that August, and some warehouses didn’t switch them on until late 2025.
Card sharing is not a small leak. Membership fee revenue hit $4.8 billion in fiscal 2024, roughly 65% of the company’s net income for the year, and climbed to $5.323 billion in 2025. That money is what keeps the rotisserie chicken cheap, which is the trade members keep accepting: the U.S. and Canada renewal rate was 92.3% at the end of fiscal 2025.
Gold Star Members Can’t Walk In at 9 A.M.
Executive members got their own shopping hour starting June 30, 2025: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturdays, with everyone else waiting until 10. The grace period ended August 31, 2025, and enforcement began the next day. Gold Star members who try the doors early are regularly turned away.
The math behind it is blunt. Executive members account for roughly three-quarters of Costco’s net sales. Retail analyst Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData’s retail division, wrote in May 2025 that the earlier hours “add another benefit to the Executive tier” and that the change “may cause a little confusion (and even resentment) but it may also encourage some people to trade up to a higher tier.”
It worked. CEO Ron Vachris told Wall Street analysts on the company’s fourth quarter call that the extended hours had “added about 1% to weekly U.S. sales since implementation.”
The $1.50 Hot Dog Is a Members-Only Hot Dog
Signs went up telling shoppers that as of April 8, 2024, an active membership card would be required to buy anything from the food court. Then-CFO Richard Galanti told Axios in March 2024 that “one of the challenges is that some of the food courts have gotten so busy, particularly if it’s near some office buildings or construction sites,” and that “we were getting member complaints.” Sam’s Club says non-members can still use its cafes.
In 2026 the enforcement got hardware. Warehouses around the country are adding membership scanners at the food court itself, so you prove you’re a member before you get a slice or a chicken bake. Shoppers in Southern California have had them for years; indoor and outdoor courts elsewhere are catching up, and lines are reportedly moving faster for it.
The combo price has not budged since 1985. Costco sold more than 245 million hot dog combos in 2025, and Vachris has said the $1.50 price won’t change while he’s running the company. One new wrinkle for 2026: some locations now let you swap the 20-ounce refillable soda for a 16.9-ounce bottle of Kirkland water, which matters in soda-tax cities where the drink was pushing the total past $1.50. The fountain switched back from Pepsi to Coca-Cola in mid-2025.
The Price Tag Is Telling You Something Costco Never Explains
Shoppers and employees decoded the pricing conventions decades ago, and the company has never officially confirmed them. A price ending in .99 is full regular price. A .97 means it’s been marked down, usually by a store manager, and the original price never appears on the tag, so the ending is the only clue you get. Endings like .49, .79 and .89 point to a temporary manufacturer promotion or a new-item trial, and .00 or .88 is the final closeout.
The asterisk in the top-right corner is the one worth memorizing. It means the item will not be reordered. When stock runs out, it’s gone from that assortment for good. A .97 price next to an asterisk is a discontinued product at its lowest price, which is why regulars buy multiples instead of planning to come back.
Markdowns are often warehouse-specific, so a $299.99 item might sit at $249.97 at your store while the club across town still has it at full price.
You Get 30 Days to Ask for the Lower Price
If something you bought drops in price within 30 days, you can request the difference at the membership counter or through the app. The catch is that the channels don’t talk to each other. An online order can’t be adjusted in the warehouse, and an in-store purchase can’t be adjusted online.
The Costco app saves a digital copy of every in-store and online receipt tied to your card, which cuts the counter lookup time on returns and keeps warranty paperwork in one place. For anyone returning more than once a year, installing it is the single easiest upgrade to the whole process.
The membership fee itself is refundable in full if you decide the warehouse isn’t for you. Make a habit of buying and refunding it, though, and you won’t be allowed to sign up again. That’s the thread running through all of it: the policies stay generous because almost nobody pushes them, and the people who push hardest are the ones Costco has quietly started counting.
