With tens of millions of members worldwide, Costco has undeniable perks. The wholesale retailer provides benefits like cash back, lower prices on bulk goods, cheaper gas, and affordable, high-quality, member-only foods.
With those member privileges, however, also come some strict rules. One mom recently discovered what can happen when you break a lesser-known one: trying to leave without a receipt.
What Happens If You Lose Your Costco Receipt In-Store?
In a recent clip, which has garnered over 318,900 views, TikTok creator Molly (@mollyy_graceee) shares what happened on her latest trip to Costco.
“In case you’re wondering what happens if you don’t show your receipt when you’re leaving Costco,” she begins. “You’re staying.”
Molly explains that she was doing her monthly grocery shopping with her baby and toddler in tow. They checked out and decided to grab pizza before leaving the store.
“My baby then was ripping up one of the receipts,” she says. “I didn’t look at which receipt it was.”
She prefaces the rest of the story by acknowledging that she was in the wrong. “I didn’t know their policy. I didn’t check the receipt,” she says. “I didn’t pay close enough attention.”
Molly then continues the story, saying that because they were all starving, she didn’t think much of the receipt her baby was ripping up.
After finishing their pizza, she planned to let her kids nap in the car as she drove home and enjoy some alone time.
“Go to show our receipt to leave,” she says. “I’m expecting a smiley face.
My daughter loves it.”
(It’s a long-held tradition for Costco employees to draw a smiley face on a customer’s receipt as they leave.)
No Smiley Face This Time
“He goes, ‘Ma’am, this isn’t the right receipt,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’”
When she looked at it, she realized she had handed him the pizza receipt.
Then she says she asked him, “What do you need? What do I need to do?”
She says the man “vaguely” pointed toward the direction she needed to go. “He was like, checked out. He was… not having it with me,” she says.
Molly says she then headed toward customer service, but they informed her she needed to go to the manager instead.
“She’s not having it either. She’s not about it,” Molly remembers. “I’m sure that a lot of people complain when they’re in these situations, and they check them out, do what they’re supposed to do and get them out of there.”
She says the manager bluntly asked her to hand her Costco membership card over, left for a few minutes, and came back with her printed receipt. At that point, they were free to leave.
“But just so you know, if you don’t have your receipt, you’re not leaving,” Molly concludes. “Membership status, how often you shop there, nothing matters. No receipt, no leave.”
Why Does Costco Check Receipts?
According to the retailer, this rule is “standard practice” at all their warehouse locations to verify purchases.
It’s seemingly not just to make sure a customer has checked out properly, but also to make sure all the items have been correctly processed by cashiers. “It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control,” the company wrote.
Commenters React
In the comments, some viewers complained about the rule, while others said they prefer Sam’s Club’s approach.
“They tried this with me and I looked them dead in the eye and said ‘absolutely not, I’m walking out that door bc I don’t have time for this.’ & that’s exactly what I did,” shared one user. “The worst that they can do is accuse you of stealing and call the cops. They ultimately didn’t but even if they did, I would’ve just showed them my card notification for payment. I don’t have time for their weird rules and they’re not gonna do anything about it anyways.”
“Sam’s Scan and Go and Pick-Up are the only two reasons I haven’t switched to Costco,” wrote another.
“If you download the Costco app and sign into your account it will have all your receipts loaded on there,” advised a third.
@mollyy_graceee Always learning something new #fyp #costco #costcotiktok #costco
BroBible has reached out to Costco via contact form and Molly via email for comment.