The retailer's move came after it says it noticed an increase in shoppers using membership cards that don't belong to them. But rather than use IP addresses and device tracking to reduce the number of unauthorized users, Costco has begun assigning staff to manually check IDs of shoppers queuing for self-service.
What's less obvious is that Costco really doesn't keep that much money in terms of profit from the stuff it sells, when compared with typical retailers. Meanwhile, membership fees are about as close to pure profit as a company can get, and Costco raked in over $4.2 billion in fees from 54 million households and 11.8 million businesses.
So long as renewals and new signups held steady, neither company seemed too worried, but rising costs have pushed both companies to go hunting for ways to shore up their profits.