Costco's Price-Checking Feature Somehow Ruffled Feathers

While Costco has some of the best deals in the grocery game, it can also be difficult to remember what an item's price was once you load it into your cart. You could always trek back to the area where you got it and check the shelf, but given that Costco stores vary in size from 80,000 to 230,000 square feet, that strategy usually isn't very practical. As such, in-store price-checking machines seem like a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, many customers don't see it that way.

On an Instagram post showing the newly added price checker, one commenter asked, "Why would you need this? Are employees not pricing things correctly that they need to add these?" Another Costco customer wrote, "It would be nice if they would have a hand scanner on these also, for the bigger items that are so heavy. There a very few stores that have price checkers, and the stores that do, don't have a hand scanner with them. It would be helpful for everyone, especially seniors."

The consensus seems to be that a price checker is a great idea for places like Target, Walmart, or regular grocery stores. For places like Costco, however, where many items are bulky, the process of heaving a large, heavy box out of your cart and holding it up to a wall scanner can be frustrating.

Customers' frustration with the price checkers' placement is legitimate, but worth keeping in mind is the reason many people shop at Costco: to find deals and save money on pantry staples. As one Costco employee pointed out in an Instagram comment, items in the store move around and may not be anywhere near their price tags. "You'd be surprised at how many people ask me to look up a price for them. Many times, members will find random items on the floor that are not in their original location," they said. Others pointed to human error — employees occasionally miss markdowns on Costco price tags.

Regardless of whether or not customers like the price checkers, not every state will be getting them. Only eight have mandatory item pricing, and these are where Costco shoppers will most likely see the new scanners. "They are only in warehouses that are required by law," an employee pointed out in a Reddit thread. "The local laws require price checkers [to be] provided for customer use, or every single item in the store has to have an individual price sticker."

As many Costco shoppers use the chain's app, some may struggle to understand the point of price scanners, but fortunately, no one is required to use them. If you don't want to use a price checker, or if you have a cumbersome item, just ask an employee for help.