My Costco online account has only been used a few times by my mother and my daughter. They used their own shipping addresses and own credit cards. We do not have the same last name. Never an issue.
I thought that was the OP’s question. I’ve never tried letting someone else use my Costco card for in person purchases so can’t answer to that.
My D graduates this year and is moving to a city. When she is home next, I am adding her as an additional user of my Costco executive membership. She never needed this before because her college is in a rural area, but we think she will utilize it in her post-grad urban location.
For my city, the only people who would consider Sam’s vs Costco are in the suburbs. I’m in the city so a trek to a Sam’s would not make sense, whereas I have 2 Costcos in 15-20 minutes (without traffic). I haven’t been in a Sam’s Club in 15+ years, but at that time I felt Costco offered better quality for the price. Things may have changed with offerings, but I doubt enough to justify an inconvenient drive in my circumstances.
All this to say, there is no clear cut answer to the question.
To be transparent I am not against the occasional bringing a family member to Costco and let them ride their items in my shopping cart.
I’ve not thought about sharing online rules/orders so can’t comment on what is or isn’t allowed.
Our Costco seems to be somewhat strict. I tried to put my daughter (at the time grad student) on my membership as an authorized user but because she was in another city (therefore another address) couldn’t do it. Or that would also kick my husband off!
I think the issue is that you can only have two users per membership. Granted, I believe all users are required to share a household, but if your H were not a member, you might be able to add your D.
I have toggled back and forth between my two sons, depending on who is more likely to use the membership. I cannot recall the process involved in changing the member, but it does result in a new Costco CC being issued.
I’ve brought my parents to Costco many times. I pay and they reimburse me. They live 150+ miles from a Costco (or Sam’s) so it makes no sense for them to have a membership at either. But I am accompanying them on these visits.
I bought all of my kids Costco memberships when they went off to college. It is part of their yearly Christmas gifts now as they love their memberships.
My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I think that Sam’s Clubs originally had limited classifications of people who could belong. The main target was small business owners, but I feel like teachers and maybe state employees could also get memberships? My recollection was that it was not initially open to anyone and everyone. Back then, they definitely checked cards upon entry into the club.
I’ve never even seen a Sam’s Club, so it’s a moot point for me! Not sure where they are, but not near me. I’d have to drive to another county to find a Walmart, for that matter.
I recall when I was in college or grad school and staying with my family over the summer that my mom had sent me with her card to Sam’s Club to pick up some items for her. The cashier made a big deal about how they weren’t supposed to let people use someone else’s card (I think they checked my license), but she would make an exception this time, but in the future that my mom would need to be present for the card to be used.
Obviously this was many moons ago, but Sam’s can also be a stickler about who gets to use a card. Perhaps it’s a policy that’s changed over the years or perhaps it’s dependent on the specific warehouse (i.e. not necessarily just a Sam’s vs. Costco issue).
Sam’s definitely changed that rule to keep competitive with Costco. They stopped putting pictures on the membership cards and don’t check cards at the entrance just a couple years ago. All they do now is ask for “a” card to scan at checkout.
I suspect you are thinking of Price Club / Costco. The company’s original target audience was business owners owners buying in bulk . The company previously limited membership to business owners. The first year was a disaster. After mounting losses, Sal expanded membership to government employees as well… then finance, utility, and hospital employees. The latter groups were perceived as being more reliable than general public due to 3rd party screening with their job including being less likely to have bad checks (no credit card payment allowed to avoid fess charged by CC company, as well as Sal not wanting to encourage debt), shoplift, or be unemployed during recessions.
This business-only model wasn’t especially successful. Business owners had other systems for buying the products, and purchasing at Costco wasn’t appealing for most. It wasn’t until later that Costco had extreme success, when Costco began allowing regular consumers to join. While typical business owners weren’t enthusiastic about buying discounted items in bulk at Costco, there was a large interested group among non-business owner consumers. This consumer-focused model was far more successful and led to the Costco we know today.
Okay, another question. If I took my H off and put on another family member, I’m assuming H couldn’t get hearing aids from them–anyone know if that’s correct? It’s one of the reasons we joined, and he has zero interest in going otherwise. Thanks, I know I should just ask them but keep forgetting to, and thought maybe someone here might have intel.
I got hearing aids at Costco. The evaluation and payment takes one visit (with an extra one for me because I had wax in one ear that needed to be removed first). Then you can switch the second membership to someone else.
Adding that although my husband and I are the account owners for our Costco membership, I’ve never had any issue getting glasses/contacts for my kid, even when I ask the Optical Dept to ship her contacts to her NY address when we are in California.
I think their issue is really having people use other people’s membership cards in the store. Never had an issue bringing as many people as you want in the store with you as long as one person is a Costco member which makes sense to me.
I love Costco, especially for how well they treat their employees. TBH, not everything is cheaper there - some items are definitely more expensive but worth it to me to patronize their stores b/c they are a great company.
When our kids were little, we always bought them glasses at Costco—never an issue. We got my folks hearing aids and servicing on them after they were no longer Costco members. I agree they don’t let folks use the cards without the member being present in stores. I’ve seen that at checkouts several times.