The Most Annoying Things About Shopping At Costco

In 1983, the doors opened on the very first Costco in the United States. Since then, it has expanded internationally, with millions of people stepping over its threshold to stock up on everyday essentials (and the occasional garden furniture set). In the U.S., there's hot competition among customers over which is the best outlet, but as regular shoppers know, there are lots of good reasons to hop in the car and head to Costco.

The iconic $1.50 hot dog combo and $4.99 rotisserie chicken are two major draws for foodies, but they're not the only ones. There are incredible bargains to be had on meat and frozen veggies, not to mention the top-drawer Kirkland Signature range of branded goods. On the face of it, being a member of Costco certainly has its benefits, especially if you sidestep some of the many pitfalls shoppers can face.

However, as so often happens with relationships (even with grocery stores), the longer they go on, the more they can get on our nerves. Costco quirks we once barely noticed suddenly become inconvenient: At best they irritate us, at worst they force us to grab our bags and shop elsewhere. From being badgered by salespeople to our favorite products being yanked from shelves, here are the most annoying things about shopping at Costco.

Most kids in the United States are in class by 8:30 a.m. Many workers are ready to go a half-hour before that. As for supermarkets? Depending on the brand and location, shoppers can start filling their carts from as early as 6 a.m. Sadly, that ain't the case at Costco. Although the company warns of "slight variations" in opening and closing times between its outlets, don't expect to buy anything before 10 a.m.

There are good reasons for Costco opening later than many of its competitors. Insiders claim the decision is a deliberate one, and while it irks shoppers, it is helpful for the warehouse club's employees. Not only does it give them a better work-life balance, it allows them to prepare ahead of the customer rush. Some staff members are on hand as early as 4 a.m. to receive delivery trucks, while others are making fresh products, or cleaning the store.

If you haven't decided which is the best time to shop at Costco for you, there is a way around the later opening. In June 2025, the company unveiled exclusive, new hours for their Executive Members. Shoppers holding the $130-per-year accounts can now enter their local Costco between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., Sunday to Friday. The time slot is halved for Saturdays, understandably Costco's busiest day, ending at 9:30 a.m.

There are lots of locations in the United States that are on many people's bucket lists: Times Square, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Costco's food court, to name but a few. Okay, so tourists might raise a brow at the last one, but card-carrying members know it is a must-visit spot. It is, of course, home to the legendary $1.50 hot dog combo, and has spawned several social media-friendly food hacks.

Unlike the price of Costco's combo, the food court has seen a few changes recently and not all of them have been warmly welcomed. The internet was divided in late 2024 when a major soda brand was switched, but the decision to stop calling out order numbers has caused all kinds of online outrage.

The move has been described as everything from "not great" to "dumb," with stories of customers not only clueless about whether their food is ready, but some going hungry when their orders are taken by other shoppers. But the situation in some places is even worse. Others have complained that their Costco food courts don't even start preparing orders until they have seen a receipt. One poster on X called the revamped system, "Slow and stupid. Change it back."

First-time Costco shoppers face a bevy of must-buy items, but it's a rare member who comes away from the warehouse club empty handed. There isn't as much stock to choose from as other supermarkets, yet even those who browse with the most open of minds (and wallets) know they can freely choose what to pick up and what to pass on. However, that decision-making process is being increasingly disrupted by a particular group of people inside the store: third-party sellers.

Pretty much everyone loves the free sample stations. They're a brilliant way to discover new products and fill up empty tummies if you're spending several hours wandering the aisles. While there is an etiquette that must be respected when taking samples, there are no rules when it comes to customers being pestered by independent salespeople inside the store. They can be hawking everything from cell phones to solar panels  — and card-carrying members do not like them.

One Redditor wrote, "I'm never rude to employees but salespeople are an exception," adding they had begun actively avoiding sections of the store because of aggressive sales tactics. Another was so fed up that they refused to speak to them, while a commenter claiming to work at Costco complained the over-enthusiastic phone kiosk sales staff targeted them, too.

Every year in the United States, roughly 15,000 new food products hit shelves, per Kansas State University. Only a fraction of them will be successful but shoppers still get all the fun of trying out something different. Under normal circumstances, investing a few cents in a small jar of this or a single box of that is no big deal if it turns out nobody likes it. But when Costco floats something new, chances are it's more of a longer-term investment than people might think.

Whether it's a box of copycat canned cocktails or a dreamy dessert from the bakery section, everything in Costco comes in hefty portions. For lots of members, it's the reason they shop there: Working out the unit price of hidden gems like olive oil or butter is their jam. However, when it comes to trying something new, bulk buying can be an economic minefield, and some customers are already over it.

Unwanted jars of sauce or cans of food can be shoved to the back of the pantry for a few months and then palmed off onto neighbors or relatives, but not so perishable items. Watching fresh fruit go bad is annoying enough, but having to throw away entire packs of food is infuriating. One social media user complained about ditching tubs of uneaten dip, while another revealed they had to use a similar product — costing almost $10 — in multiple meals to get value for money.

Millions of people head to the grocery store every day to pick up everything from a carton of milk to a month's shopping. The majority of them know that, the moment they set foot inside, their senses will come under persuasive attack from all directions, as the shop owner tries every trick in the book to get them to spend more money. Costco is no stranger to this game, but it takes it to a whole other — annoying — level.

Where standard supermarkets use signs and displays to nudge customers in particular directions, the aisles and their products pretty much stay put. Costco, however, adopts an "Etch-a-Sketch" approach. From one week to the next, products are shifted around the store, apparently at random, and not a single aisle is labelled. That leaves shoppers endlessly traipsing around, searching for items they bought the last time.

Punters grudgingly acknowledge it's a way for the store to squeeze more money out of shoppers by forcing them to search for what they want, as well as things they don't, but they are increasingly wise to the ploy. Across social media, Costco members shared strategies on how to navigate the so-called "treasure hunt," from creating spreadsheets to stay organized, to memorizing the locations of products in the store. Whether it will prevent Costco from regularly shuffling its products around remains to be seen.

Retail is a fiercely competitive industry and if something doesn't sell, it has to make way for a product that will. That sums up the approach of many supermarkets to what stays on their shelves — but Costco is often more ruthless than its rivals. Because it only stocks about 4,000 products at any given time, there's no room for complacency when it comes to ensuring a healthy bottom line.

If it means cutting a baking essential from its line-up, or ditching the wildly popular pretzel rolls, so be it. While some Costco favorites do make a welcome return, shoppers are regularly wrong-footed by some of the discontinued decisions. The asterisk of doom (also known as the "Death Star") gives buyers a chance to stock up on items before they vanish, but not everything goes out with a bang. In 2025, Costco quietly removed the Kirkland Signature Sweet Mesquite seasoning, to the chagrin of social media users.

One Redditor grumbled, "I wish I had a backup seasoning. We used it a lot. I can't believe they stopped making it." In other instances, Costco replaces a popular product with something that falls wide of the mark. Kirkland Signature soy milk is a case in point. Social media users were unimpressed with the alternative, but their misery was short-lived as the OG soy milk made a welcome return. Such is the rollercoaster of Costco's discontinuation policy.

Costco's bakery section is renowned for serving up some mega hits, from the range of cookies to the iconic tuxedo cake bar. Although not all the bakery items are as fresh as customers might think, there is no disputing the popularity of the store's custom cakes. Hand decorated and huge, the bakery section's sheet cakes are perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, and even this important life event. The only problem? The outdated way of getting your hands on one.

There's a lot to know about ordering a Costco custom cake, and one of the most important is arguably the most annoying for customers: It was — until 2025 — a uniquely paper-based system. Social media is full of posts and comments about customers navigating the antiquated, analogue process of filling in a form and dropping it in a slot at the in-store kiosk. Hopes were high then, when the custom cake ordering service was launched as part of the Costco app.

Initially, members were delighted by the news, with one Redditor quipping, "Will save me from an extra $200 shopping trip when I go to drop off the order form." But, there have been teething troubles. Weeks after the roll-out, customers were still waiting for the feature to be added to their app, while others couldn't add a crucial bit of information to their order: The date the custom cake was required. For the moment at least, the paper way is still the most reliable way.

For decades, supermarket customers paid for their shopping by going to a cashier who would add up our total spend. Leaps in technology have automated a lot of that process, but a seismic change came in in the early 2000s with the boom in self-checkout terminals. At first, shoppers were thrilled at being able to scan their own items and — potentially — get out of the store faster. The reality of the experience, especially at Costco, is teeth-grinding frustration.

Putting a pin in the "hack" that can result in a store ban, using the self-checkout service can be an exercise in misery for some customers. One Redditor recounted how they had seen a self checkout employee "Yelling at people like they're cattle to go there with no waiting," while two traditional registers were open and both had long lines. "I really don't understand the logic," they said. Rude staff members weren't the only issue annoying Costco shoppers.

Not being able to use the hand-held scanners themselves was a gripe for many, as were the weight limits on the scale, while others were astonished to learn about the "secret" item limit rule, which seems to be based on a Costco manager's whim. One commenter described the self checkout restrictions "incredibly annoying," but added they were all a direct consequence of increased theft.

So, you've sidestepped the salespeople, avoided splashing out on a swimming pool, and emerged from the self-checkout (relatively) unscathed — there's nothing left to annoy Costco shoppers, right? Wrong. There's one more step before customers are free to go: the receipt check. The company says it's a way to "double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers," and helps them keep an eye on inventory. It's also a way to crack down on shoplifting.

Employees at Costco (and lots of other supermarkets) check customers' receipts to make sure they were actually printed that day, the item count is correct, any expensive purchases, such as electrical, are initialed by a supervisor, and larger products are accounted for. It's also an opportunity to look in the bottom of a cart or basket, to make sure there are no items lurking that haven't been scanned.

Social media is full of posts from disgruntled shoppers trying to flout the receipt check, while some locations do it twice, increasing the frustration for customers whi just want to go home. Fundamentally, the store is quite within its rights to make the request. The situation changes if you leave the premises, but — no matter how annoying it is — legal experts recommend showing your receipt as the simplest solution.