The Blubber

Per Barron's

In a move following Netflix's password sharing, Costco is adding an additional layer of identification for its self-checkout registers. This is to help avoid membership plans being shared.

This was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, which shared how customers will need to provide photo identification upon self-checkout. Despite the changes in checkout requirements, Costco's membership policy didn't change.

A company spokesperson gave an explanation to Barron's in an email. The explanation was regarding why they were imposing the new rule, and the response was because of how there needed to be differences in benefits received by members and nonmembers.

“We don’t feel it’s right that non members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members... Costco is able to keep our prices as low as possible because our membership fees help offset our operational expenses, making our membership fee and structure important to us,”

In March, it was reported that Costco would retain the price of its hotdogs at $1.50. This was despite it slightly missing its quarterly revenue.

In related news, Target said in November that organized retail crime, shoplifting, and theft has resulted in a $400 million extra gross profit loss in 2022.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

• Costco, $COST, is keeping the price of its hotdog at $1.50
• Organized retail crime, shoplifting, and theft has driven $400 million in extra profit loss this year at Target

Resources

Barron's