In Costco's defense, they deliberately keep food court prices low as a perk for members. Making their money off the memberships is what allows for a lot of their pricing in several departments, including food courts. Disclaimer: I'm a Costco fan - I think they are one of the more ethical companies out there (although every time I post that I'm afraid someone is going to prove me wrong and break my heart).
this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2024
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That and they have an executive who would literally rather open his wrists than break the $1.50 hotdog deal.
"In 2018, Jelinek revealed he approached the company's co-founder Jim Sinegal saying: "Jim, we can't sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends."
Sinegal replied: "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.""
How do you lose money selling one hotdog for what a 10 pack of cheap hotdogs cost?
Mostly man power and the power it takes to prepare the hot dog.
It's not losing money, it's losing a percentage of profit.
Say 10 hot dogs cost 1 dollarydoo.
1 hot dog sells for 1 dollarydoo that's a 10% food cost.
Enter bullshit inflation, hot dogs now cost 2 dollarydoos, so each one sold at 1 dollarydoo is now at 20% food cost.
that 10% comes out of profit margin unless your labor & fixed costs are 0.
this is a full change in policy not a cracking down. before this you didn't need to be a member to buy from the food court. I've done it many times, you just tell the card checker you're going to the food court. one location near me has the food court outside the main building just so anyone could use it.
Yup, they'll probably have to add membership card scanner to food court and do exclusive self-order only on the touchscreens if they really want to "crack down" on this since you may still be allowed in if you say you're going to the pharmacy.
Been to a few Costco's in US/Mexico with outside food courts too, so that would be about the only way, unless they build walls around them.
The Scanners are the same for Credit Cards - it's just a software change to make it required at the Food Scanners in the same way it's required at the Checkout.
This has been the case near me for awhile. Had to scan membership, and now it's exclusively the self order kiosks that won't let you order until you scan membership at my nearby costcos. There is no window ordering just pickup.
I used to live near a Costco that would check membership cards even if you just wanted the food court. It's the only one in the area that did that and it's the worst one too.