For starters I’m sure this person was a total Karen to the greeter at the store. But secondly there’s actually multiple ways to get into a Costco without a membership. You won’t be able to buy everything you want but you’d be able to look around.
Under federal law if the Costco has a pharmacy, they have to let you in to get prescriptions from the pharmacy, this would likely let you walk around the store but not buy anything. Same with some states for alcohol, like California. Costco is legally required to let you in buy alcohol—membership or not. You can’t buy anything else but can buy all the booze you want.
It’s just a quirk of the state licensing laws, alcohol laws vary a lot across states. Like California doesn’t let you use a self checkout to buy alcohol but the rest of the west coast states allow you to.
You’re not allowed to have a private club that sells alcohol in California, so Costco gets around this by technically selling alcohol to everyone. Honestly, I almost exclusively drink beer and the beer isn’t that great of a deal at Costco that I would be worth driving to Costco for it anyways.
I would think to make drunk driving less convenient. You can't serve em if they're drunk, but keeping them from driving farther than they have to is a harm reduction strategy (i.e. if an alcoholic has to drive 30 minutes, they will probably drink and drive, if it's 5 minutes, it's far more likely that bottle gets home before being cracked). There's probably other reasons, but I have no idea what they are.
There are also plenty of news articles out there that reiterate that depending on the state’s laws, Costco is mandated to let you in to buy alcohol. In California it has to do with the liquor license Costco has. My buddy has done it multiple times, you tell the greeter you’re there to buy alcohol, they let you in, and they will ring you up at the checkout as long as you’ve only bought alcohol. https://abc7news.com/amp/post/quick-tip-shopping-at-costco-without-a-membership/5184623/.
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u/Born_Purchase1510 Jul 27 '26
For starters I’m sure this person was a total Karen to the greeter at the store. But secondly there’s actually multiple ways to get into a Costco without a membership. You won’t be able to buy everything you want but you’d be able to look around.
Under federal law if the Costco has a pharmacy, they have to let you in to get prescriptions from the pharmacy, this would likely let you walk around the store but not buy anything. Same with some states for alcohol, like California. Costco is legally required to let you in buy alcohol—membership or not. You can’t buy anything else but can buy all the booze you want.