Costco Cracks Down on Unauthorized Membership Sharing to Maintain Profitability

Costco is instituting stricter enforcement of members-only benefits by checking membership cards and IDs at self-checkout to curb non-members receiving members-only pricing and benefits
Costco's membership fees comprise a significant portion of their revenue and help offset operational costs to keep prices low for members
Costco has seen an increase in non-members attempting to use other members' cards to shop at Costco, undermining their business model
Costco's crackdown comes as other subscription-based companies like Netflix also tighten sharing policies to shore up revenue
Costco plans to increase membership fees in the coming years to account for inflation, relying even more heavily on membership revenue going forward