Costco members have a 2025 wish list of improvements they’d like to see

Costco members on social media have highlighted some things about the warehouse retailer that they believe could be improved.

While there are a lot of things to love about Costco, members in Costco-dedicated subreddits have identified the retailer’s crowds, layout and website as at times being painpoints in their shopping experience. 

In a Reddit thread last month focused on the positives and negatives of Costco, multiple people pointed to crowds at the retailer’s warehouses, with one user describing them as “nuts.” 

“I love Costco and I know the products are good and the politics are good but i seriously cannot do the parking lot space wait and the long lines every time I need a quick item,” another Reddit user said. 

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“Whenever I go to Costco, regardless of the day or time, I run into enormous crowds, with the checkout line averaging midway toward the back of the store,” a Costco member said in a separate thread three months ago. “Each aisle is packed with people, and the situation is made worse by the free sample folks creating artificial traffic jams at each intersection.” 

Some users said they encountered less people when they visited at certain times, such as soon after opening or near closing time. 

The layout of Costco warehouses, as well as the retailer’s practice of changing the location of items and frequently switching offerings, came up in Costco subreddit threads. 

One user suggested the retailer having a map or adding signs above aisles to its warehouses could be helpful, saying they spent “a lot of time going back and forth up and down each aisle” in search of items.  

“You can’t rely on an item you like/need to stay in stock, as Costco continually changes up their inventory,” another said. “But that also means they have new stuff all the time.”

Other criticisms of the layout focused on traffic inside Costcos near entrances and the checkout areas.

Costco could also bring updates to its website, according to fans on Reddit. Some opined about its functionality and appearance. 

Meanwhile, others suggested Costco should bring “scan and go” technology to its shopping experience. 

FOX Business reached out to the warehouse retailer for comment.

In its most recent annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said its concept focuses “offering our members low prices on a limited selection of nationally-branded and private-label products in a wide range of categories” that will “produce high sales volume and rapid inventory turnover.” It typically offers under 4,000 different products at its warehouses at a given time. 

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Costco noted on its website that it has a “treasure hunt atmosphere” at its nearly 900 warehouses. 

“One of the most exciting things about shopping in our warehouses is you never know the kind of incredible deals you’ll find from one visit to the next,” a page on the company’s website said. “And, because we rotate out and introduce new merchandise all the time, we encourage you to purchase items that interest you sooner rather than later to avoid missing out.” 

With its layout, Costco is seeking “economy and efficiency in the use of selling space, the handling of merchandise, and the control of inventory,” according to its most-recent annual report. Its control of entrances and its use of memberships helps keep theft at lower levels than other retailers, according to the company. 

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
COST	COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP.	943.19	+23.44	+2.55%

Asked about “scan and go” during Costco’s earnings call last month, CEO Ron Vachris told analysts and investors the company does hear about the technology occasionally.

He said self-checkout “has been a great option for our members and we focus on that.” Costco “will continue to keep an eye on technology and how we can improve that front-end experience that is the one pinch point,” according to Vachris.  

The company began rolling out membership card scanners at the front of its U.S. warehouses over the summer last year. 

The scanners “took a lot of pressure off of the cashiers and moving lines through and saw some nice productivity enhancements when we did that,” Vachris said last month. 

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During the earnings call prior to that, the CEO said they have helped Costco with its ability to “adjust front-end lines that we need to open and close lines based on fluctuations of business” and made the checkout process faster by removing the “friction of membership verification” at registers, among other benefits. 

The company has been working on both its website and app. 

In September, for instance, Costco executives said the company had improved the “native search function” for the U.S. version of its app. More recently, in December, CFO Gary Millership said Costco “continue[s] to make progress with our technology roadmap and enhancements made to the member experience,” such as adding the feature to check warehouse inventory through its app. 

Some 138.8 million people have Costco membership cards, according to Costco.