Costco's Kiosk-Order-And-Line-Up System Is Laughably Inefficient

The low prices of Costco's food court items can result in massive lines as famished shoppers queue up for pizza slices and hot dogs after a long day of bulk buying. Introduced in 2018, Costco food court kiosks were implemented to decrease wait times and boost efficiency in the retail warehouse chain's popular food court. One person, however, shared their Costco food court experience on Reddit and revealed that the system is seemingly only good at generating inefficiency.

As the shopper explained, "Instead of them calling out numbers, you pay [at a kiosk] then wait in a single line to pick up your food." Issues arose when customers in front of the Reddit poster had more substantial orders consisting of multiple items, which resulted in a longer wait than if the store had used a traditional number-calling system.

Other Costco members chimed in with their kiosk experiences, with one stating, "Seems weirdly inefficient, but I guess they have their reasons." Another person said, "It's crazy how big [the line] can get; just a bunch of people staring with their arms crossed. Must suck for the workers."

Costco food court staff members have to follow some weird rules, such as not wearing nail polish due to supposed hygiene issues. Food court patrons are equally beset by curious practices, including the fact that it's often more efficient to use cash, which defeats the purpose of the kiosks altogether. According to one Redditor, "Occasionally someone walks up and orders at the counter and almost always gets their order right away." It should be noted that not all Costco food courts allow cash sales, which means some patrons may not be able to use this method.

Another Reddit thread illustrated that food court kiosks were most frustrating for customers with smaller orders, such as a lone hot dog (keep in mind that Costco apparently sold approximately 200 million hot dog combos in 2023 alone). In fact, this inefficiency caused one shopper to swear off the food court completely, stating, "I stopped patronizing the Costco food court beginning a year or so ago ... I used to get a hot dog every time I visited Costco."

A poster on X, formerly known as Twitter, also showed the limits of technology by sharing a picture of a Costco kiosk with an error message stating that the device was out of paper and that the customer should visit a staff member to complete their order. While the new technology has been met with much criticism, it remains in place at many locations.