11 Things Customers Hate About Shopping At Costco

With food prices reaching a high of nearly 24% more in 2024 than they were in 2020 (according to the USDA), it's understandable that bulk item warehouses such as Costco are popular. Advertising itself as a cost-effective grocery solution that offers brand-name items to its members, the Costco brand certainly has its allure. Since the opening day of its first Costco warehouse location in Seattle in 1983, the company has developed a devoted following of customers who swear by the convenience of the store. With perks like the ever popular $1.50 hotdog and drink deal, access to clothing, electronics, as well as groceries, from the outside investing in a Costco membership truly seems like a responsible decision for many consumers. 

It may surprise you to learn, though, that there are quite a few gripes that shoppers have with this warehouse despite the intention for it to be the pinnacle of the all-in-one shopping convenience experience. These complaints range from dealing with crowds, lines, discontinued products, and even fighting tooth and nail for a parking spot. For this laundry list of hair-pulling reasons, some people are actually avoiding Costco entirely and simply heading to other stores for their needs. So, before going through the hassle of having your picture taken and paying the membership fee, it might be worth it to check out the downsides of committing to the Costco experience.

Costco has countless perks, but unfortunately, these perks are exactly what attract mobs of customers to flock to the store, bringing with them a chaotic shopping energy. If you were hoping for a leisurely grocery shopping experience, rethink whether Costco would be the right decision for you. Current members complain of jam-packed spaces, despite the huge warehouse building. Some customers mention even trying to beat the crowds by heading to their local Costco early, only to be met with a long line of people who thought the exact same thing. 

If you're still set on becoming a Costco member and don't mind plunging into theme-park-esque crowds for your grocery items, there are some things to keep in mind. Morning to night on weekends and between the hours of 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays are some of the absolute worst days and times to shop at Costco. And don't assume that if you appear during your work lunch hour during weekdays, it's going to be any better, because that's a common workaround idea that has become just as bad. It's during these times that you're going to need a true battering ram mentality to get the items you need. The best times to head into the warehouse are right at opening time and an hour before closing time. Even if you still witness the odd crowd here and there, trying this out is your best bet. 

At a store selling bulk-sized everything, having large shopping carts available to customers seems to only make sense. Besides the psychology of a bigger shopping cart leading to a higher willingness to shell out your hard-earned money while grocery shopping, bulk items simply wouldn't fit comfortably in smaller carts. For this reason, Costco offers one of the largest shopping carts on the market. The main basket of the cart is impressive in size, with a volume of nearly 14,000 cubic inches. This is excellent for the person using it who is looking to cram their weekly shopping inside, but only leads to an obstacle course for everyone else.

Even though the aisles are fairly spacious at Costco, customers mention that the shopping cart etiquette leaves something to be desired at many locations; the massive size of the cart only makes this more obvious. Groups of people will halt in the middle of the aisle, blocking those behind from passing to examine an item or to try samples. When those behind ask them to move, this doesn't always work either. Some customers have resorted to asking with increasing volume, or even moving other carts out of their way so they can pass. Overall, this does not make for a stress-free experience or embody the convenience that Costco aims for, only adding to aggravation. 

Wherever mobs of people are found, a parking lot jam-packed with cars is sure to be there as well, and your local Costco will be no exception to this rule. Unfortunately from the feedback, driving in the Costco parking lot sounds akin to a Russian-roulette-like experience that has even been compared to driving in Boston, the fifth most congested in the U.S., according to the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard. If that doesn't warn you of the undertaking that finding a spot at Costco truly is, then nothing will. 

No one is sure what magic takes place when people pull into the parking lot of a Costco, but the consensus is that all civilized nature seems to fly out the window. Customers complain of being cut off, nearly rammed by other cars, or even having to circle the parking lot to find spaces. When parking, just keep in mind that the closer to the building the spot, the higher the competition, and the more stressful the parking situation. For this reason, customers mention parking as far from the store as possible to save the headache and simply walk the extra couple of minutes into the store. Or, if your local Costco also features a gas station, it may help to use the entry and exit there and park at the back of the building to avoid the masses.

With the store crafted like a maze, customers are encouraged to spend more time wandering through aisles, making it much harder to zip in and out here than it is with smaller stores. This can lead to a variety of impulse buys, the hazard of shopping like this, some of which are far heftier in price than what they had planned to walk in with. In fact, this is part of the clever reason that Costco doesn't label its aisles. After all, no signs means more time wondering to find that bag of Parmesan cheese you glimpsed last time, and more chances for additional purchases to make their way into your cart.

The thing to keep in mind here, though, is that at Costco, everything is sold in bulk. This includes the impulse buys, which means instead of grabbing one cheeky little pack of gum, you're walking away with a carton of gum. This is a clear gripe that some customers have with the store, with some mentioning that the impulse buys negate any savings. Customers mention impulse buying anything from pet products to scooters. One customer even references a time they were sent to the store for groceries and came home with a kayak instead. Whatever the case, it's clear that Costco has a way of enticing shoppers with impulse buys that they could never see coming.

Costco aims to make the shopping experience exciting by switching up stock, carrying limited-time items, and keeping inventory fresh. This means that items at Costco are constantly rotating and being swapped out for other products. Although this might make the shopping experience more exciting for customers in some instances since this means that there are always new items to try at Costco, it spells disaster and heartbreak for customers who become attached or loyal to a certain product only for it to disappear from shelves by the next shopping trip.

This isn't only something that customers hate about Costco; it's actually considered one of the shady things that Costco does to make you spend more money. Due to this type of shopping model, when people find an item they love, they know that they may not be able to purchase it on the next shopping trip, so they stock up on the product. But for those who have shopping anxiety when at Costco because of this, there is a little trick you can use to check if something is going out of stock. Look for an asterisk in the top right-hand corner of the price tag. If there is an asterisk on the price tag, you may want to act fast by buying a couple extra, as this means the product has been flagged as soon-to-be discontinued.

Nearly every loyal Costco customer will have the pivotal moment when they head to the last area they saw an item, only to realize it's not there. Questioning your own memory, and potentially sanity, just seems to be part of the Costco experience when you head to the aisle where you previously found a product, only to realize that it's nowhere to be found; it's not just you. But what may seem like an attempt at h Costco actually does this on purpose to create a shopping experience where shoppers are forced to hunt for the good deals. It also encourages shoppers to notice new items that may not have crossed their paths otherwise. The downside to this is that it makes popping into your local Costco similar to a treasure hunt, one of Costco's worst secrets.

This seems to be a phenomenon that customers are not fond of, with mentions of items from soy milk to even the reading glasses being moved to a new location throughout the store on each visit. Even employees have seemed to chime in to say it's frustrating, as many times they themselves are unsure where the products have ended up. The only workaround that people seem to say has been helpful is calling the warehouse and asking the employee who answers to find the product, as opposed to hunting for an employee to usher over, but even that takes up more precious time.

Sure, buying in bulk sounds great in theory. It's supposed to cost less in the long run, with the per-item price discount of buying this way. Plus, you're going to need that toilet paper, or those paper towel rolls, no matter where you shop, so you may as well buy enough for three months in one shot. The benefits are easy for shoppers to see. But loading up on bulk purchase items poses a problem once you make it back home, and that problem is storage space. 

If you think fitting all those Costco purchases into the trunk of your car or into your cart is bad, just wait until you manage to lug them all into the house. Suddenly, you're playing advanced level Tetris with your pantry area, or stuffing the excess into spaces where you don't normally keep these items. Those big bulk purchases eat up all the available space in not only your pantry, but also your freezer, and this means it can be hard to keep them organized. This could mean that in the blink of an eye, your pantry goes from order to madness, and suddenly you're stuffing toilet paper rolls underneath your bed just to keep them stored. This often leads to people building custom shelves in basements, adding shelving units to spare bedrooms, or even using up shelving space above the washing machine. 

Costco shopping can be similar to a theme park in a lot of ways, with all of the crowds, the parking, and the long lines. But another way that its similar is that people seem to be constantly assembling the entire family, sometimes even extended, to head out on their shopping journey. And when the Costco shopping experience is stressful enough, this mentality of only visiting in packs only adds to the frustration, creating even less elbow room and chaos in the store. 

The problem seems to stem from some people using Costco as simply a grocery store, where they want to head in and pop out in record time with a list of products, and some treating it as a nice afternoon out while bringing their entire families with them. Customers complain of blocked aisles, which lead to traffic jams, and unmonitored children creating chaos by darting in front of carts. Whether due to the allure of the Costco food court and free samples, so that other family members can benefit from the membership, or because it's just a way to get out of the house, it seems bringing the entire family on the trip seems to be a practice that is widely disliked.

Everyone knows that you need to have a membership to purchase at Costco. You pay a fee, you fill out your information, and you get your picture taken when signing up so that you can have an iron-clad claim to membership for shopping within the store. But there seems to be a huge controversy with members being asked to show it at the door when you also have to use it when purchasing. Members feel that because they are required to use the membership card when paying for their purchases, it seems redundant to have to show it on the way in as well. With Costco cracking down on membership rules such as those borrowing memberships cards to shop, proving a membership has become an inconvenience to many shoppers.

Some also question if this is a necessary pain-in-the-keister because if a customer says they are heading to the pharmacy, a membership isn't required for entry, as pharmacy prescriptions are available to both members and non-members. In this way, non-members can still easily enter the store, though if they try to purchase items at the cash register, their plans will be thwarted without a membership card. The employees, the unfortunate souls who have to enforce this rule, also seem to hate it, as they are the ones who receive the backlash from members.

It's pretty discouraging if you've managed to navigate the warehouse to find the items on your shopping list, only to be stuck in a massive line at the checkout counter before making it to the exit. But the reality is that the equation of a parking lot full of cars and a warehouse packed to the brim with customers only leads to these massive lines, and along with them, aggravating wait times at the checkout counter. As this is one of the last stops you will make on your journey, if you've already encountered the other issues during your Costco visit, your patience may be left in tatters by the time you make it to that fateful scanner.

This is definitely a part of the Costco experience that is hated, with customers getting vocal on social media about their encounters at the checkout. Some customers even claim to face lines that run to the back of the store, or that could take up to two hours, a line so daunting that they feel the only answer is to abandon their cart and exit the store. And even when you get through the checkout line your not home free just yet because you have to face the exit line where employees scan each receipt, checking for double charges,

If you have finally defeated the hours-long line-up only to have your go-to Mastercard declined as soon as it's tapped on the screen, you're not alone. No matter what Mastercard you try, or how low a balance you have on it, it will never go through at Costco. No, this is not a hallucination caused by your stressful shopping endeavor; it's actually because only one type of credit card is accepted at Costco, and that is Visa.

This, of course, begs the question of why only Visa cards are accepted. The answer is that in a money-saving effort, Costco has constructed a deal with Visa so that it is charged less in fees than it would normally pay. This means that Costco only pays 0.4% in fees as opposed to the regular percentage, which can range from 1.3% to over 3% in some cases. However, it's only a source of annoyance to their clientele who don't always have a Visa at the ready. Costco does accept debit, but this means those points you were hoping to gain on your Mastercard of choice go out the window.