What It's Really Like To Work At Costco According To Employees
Costco is a great place to shop and eat. Where else can you enjoy a hotdog for just $1.50, even after years of inflation? But working at Costco is a whole different ball game. In the realm of retail giants, Costco Wholesale has carved out a reputation for its exceptional customer service, unbeatable deals, and unique company culture that sets it apart from other big box stores. However, behind the scenes of this wholesale machine lies a workforce of dedicated employees who bring this retail powerhouse to life.
In this exclusive glimpse into the world of Costco, we turn to the individuals who know it best — its employees. From behind the scenes in the bustling warehouses to stories of the most bizarre customer interactions, these unsung heroes offer an unfiltered account of what it truly means to work at Costco. Whether you are looking for a job, or just the inside scoop, brace yourself for an enlightening journey as we unravel the secrets, experiences, and values that make Costco.
You get a lot of perks other retailers don't offer
The number one thing people want to know from Costco employees is the real scoop on Costco benefits. Are they really all they are cracked up to be? According to an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the answer is a resounding yes. "The best part is all the perks," gushed one employee. "[We get] guaranteed hours, benefits, time and a half on Sundays, free turkeys at Thanksgiving, four free memberships, a livable wage." And the list seems to go on and on as another employee chimes in with, "The health insurance is so awesome and I am so grateful for it." This is an especially enticing perk as most retail employees are not eligible for any benefits outside their low hourly wage.
Instead, Costco employees are quick to tell outsiders that their retail company is set up more like a corporation. Both full-time and part-time workers at the retailer have access to benefits typically only enjoyed by full-time salaried employees higher up at similar stores. These readily available perks could be the reason behind Costco's long-running high score on Glassdoor, a website meant to rank employee satisfaction.
You will have a lot of fun, friendly coworkers
When you are working long days on your feet in a public-facing role, one of your saving graces is having a great team to get through the shift with. Luckily for most Costco employees, the working atmosphere in the store is supportive and fun."Many of the managers and other employees are amazing people," an employee told Business Insider. In fact, most employees see each other as much more than just amazing people, but rather a large family of coworkers. "I love how everyone is your family," another employee told the outlet. "I spend a majority of my life at work, so I see them more than my actual family."
And, just like your own family, the team at Costo sticks up for each other when someone is under attack. "They really take care of their employees and look out for them," they went on to say. "Anytime there is an abusive member, management is awesome about stepping in and taking over so we don't have to stand there and get screamed at." This sentiment is easy to find all over the web, as even users on Reddit say, "I've met some of the most excellent people in my life by working at Costco."
You automatically get a free membership to the store
For some die-hard Costco fans, qualifying for a free store membership is a great enough perk to work for the retailer. Each Costco employee qualifies for not one but three free memberships after they start work. One can be used by the employee, while the other two can be given out to the employee's family and friends.
If you start a job at Costco, you might become fairly popular once people hear you are handing out free wholesale memberships. The base-level memberships are good for one year. This means that after a year, the employee can change who has the membership. So, if you are gifted one, it's best to stay on that person's good side, just in case.
To weed out people only getting a job for the free membership, benefits only kick in after an employee has passed their 90-day probationary period. But after those first three months, you are golden.
While there are great benefits, it's still retail
The main reason many workers might choose a job with Costco over a similar position at another big box store like Walmart, Home Depot, or Kohl's, is the employee benefits. Yes, Costco offers the great perks we discussed, like regular weekly working hours, higher pay, and a Costco membership.
However, at the end of the day, it's still a retail job and comes with all the drawbacks of the field. "Costco is an incredibly stressful place to work, and you are required as full time to work for 40 hours a week," wrote one employee on Quora. This means that if you are just looking for an easy part-time gig, Costco might not be the place for you.
"[The hours are] generally during the most inconvenient times and often on weekends and evenings, giving you very little time away from work," they continued. While your friends and family who do the typical nine-to-five workday will have nights and weekends off, you could still miss out on time with them because those are your prime working hours. This is something to consider before you quit your corporate day job for Costco, as many have done. Is the change in lifestyle worth the potentially inconvenient work hours?
You need to be fit to work at Costco
We tend to get a bit winded when we are walking around Costco, and it's really no different for the people that work there. If there is one thing true fans know about Costco, it's that the stores are massive. One of the largest locations in Utah is a whopping 235,000 square feet. It tracks that to work at Costco; you need to be able to easily get around a store this size. "I walk about five to eight miles a day on average, and that's all within the confines of the store," a Costco employee told Mental Floss. You will be marathon ready after just a few shifts at Costco with all the steps you will be getting.
But having the stamina for a lot of walking isn't the only quality you will need to cut it working at Costco. According to employees, you'll also need to easily lift heavy loads to build displays. "When you see pallets stacked with 50-pound bags of flour or sugar or dog food or cat litter, a lot of that stuff had to be stacked by hand by employees," the same employee continued. "It's a lot of hard work." It sure sounds like it. We are surprised Costco doesn't have an in-house gym to prep workers for their shifts.
Employees often use the free samples as full meals
You will never leave a shift at Costco hungry, but that's not because of the amazing bites available at the food court. Instead, Costco employees share that they often use the free samples for a full meal. This practice is so common across all locations that it even has a special name: It's called "The Employee Buffet." According to former employees on Reddit, the best time to take part in the buffet is on the weekends. The food demos usually end around 5 pm, and the store closes at 6 pm, so the end of the slot is the best time to swoop in and get a free snack.
There is no secret hack to getting more than one sample; the employees share on Reddit that you just have to ask. "I used to be a demonstrator at Costco. We're actually allowed to give you as many free samples as you want. Yes, we are very bored all the time. Please talk to us, please!" Both customers and employees alike can enjoy the buffet, so if spending $1.50 on a hotdog seems a little steep, wander through the aisles near closing time for some completely free grub.
Costco workers can't fight even the wildest of returns
One of the strangest parts of being a Costco employee is seeing the returns customers will try to sneak in under the radar. "Members return couches that are over 5 years old, and interestingly enough, they still have the receipt," Costco employee Rachael told Mental Floss. "My guess is that they buy that couch with the intention of returning it someday, so they tape the receipt to the bottom of the couch so they don't lose it. Then, when they've worn it out and want something new, they bring it back and get a full refund."
And the wild part is, unless you purchase one of the few items named on the Costo return policy exceptions list, employees must process the return, even if it's obviously some sort of scam.
"If a return was over $100 we had to call a supervisor to sign off on it. If it was over $300 we had to call a manager," said one worker on Reddit. "The supes and managers were so busy though and got so tired of this rule that they literally only came down to sign the receipt. They would ask us 'Do you think it's okay?' and if we said we were okay with it then they would sign it."
Working the front door can really impact your mental health
Working long hours in a customer-facing role can be tough. One of the hardest positions for this is the Costco employees placed at the front doors. If this is your job, you are on the front line and often interact with rude and aggressive customers. This can be draining on your mental health, as it can feel like you are constantly in defense mode against the never-ending stream of people.
According to one employee the worst part is that you have to turn away angry customers who are not even Costco members. They might beg and plead for you to let them shop in the store just this one time, but you can't make any exceptions.
Other workers mention that the front door position is often treated as invisible by many customers. Even Costco members with cards to prove it will try to walk straight past you without showing their ID, making eye contact, or saying hello. Hours and hours of this, plus standing in one spot, can take its toll on a person.
You'll spend a lot of time moving items around just for the heck of it
One of the weirdest things that Costco employees have to do is random remerchandising. Workers move displays around the store all the time. This sneaky retail tactic is said to drive up sales, as it keeps customers in the store longer as they search for what they want. If you came into Costco for some hamburger meat, but now the frozen beef is in a different aisle, you are more likely to notice the new puff pastries and ice cream offerings in the store. You might even add them to your cart, which means you've fallen into the retail trap.
Just like most other retail giants, Costco might even have one or two workers per shift whose sole purpose is to rearrange the store to encourage more shopping. So if you swore the flip flops used to be on aisle 12, but now you can't find them, you are not imagining things. The employees are making you lost on purpose.
You might get frustrated by the low-tech experience
Even though there are great perks to working as a Costco employee, a lot of the day-to-day operations are low-tech and must be completed manually. Some employees worry that other companies like Amazon might easily overtake Costco one day because most of the machines and systems are not user-friendly and slow to change.
Others mention that things like time off requests and schedule changes are still done the old-fashion way with actual paper requests instead of online. This can be frustrating for employees because they actually have to go to work to process any adjustments instead of taking care of them remotely.
Doing inventory this way can also be frustrating, as employees say it takes longer and feels more tedious than if it was completed electronically. The overall consensus is that by resisting tech upgrades, Costco can keep its food prices lower. However, employees seem to agree that it comes at the cost of convenience for them.
Costco employees have to jump on the registers at any given moment
At other large retail stores, you might only be trained to serve guests in one department. If you work in women's clothing, you stay there and would never cross over to grocery or tech to help out in a big rush. However, this doesn't happen at Costco. All employees are cross-trained on the cash register. This means that if you are unloading frozen meat and there are long lines up front, you will be pulled from the floor to ring up guests until the rush is over. The meat can wait.
"They know that for a certain amount of people entering the store, within a certain amount of time. There should be a certain amount of registers open to accommodate those shoppers who are ready to check out," an employee told Mental Floss. By training employees this way, Costco management can reduce wait times for guests. Shorter wait times mean happier shoppers, which translates to an easier day at work for all staff.
You might witness wild and unpredictable behavior from shoppers
You spend a lot of time with the general public as a Costco employee, so you witness some interesting behavior from the people who shop there. For instance, kids running wild in the store and guests paying with sweaty money from inside their shirts. An employee told Business Insider that it's one of the worst parts of the job. "Quit letting your kids jump around in the basket," they warned would-be shoppers. "It's dangerous."
Another employee shared the most disgusting habit shoppers have that actually leaves them fearing for their health. "I hate when they have their membership card in their mouth and then hand it to me," they told Business Insider. "Ew." No word on whether point-of-sale employees can wear gloves during their shifts, but if they are taking cards right out of people's mouths, we certainly hope so. Especially since only about half of American adults wash their hands after using the restroom, according to YouGov.
Costco employees spent a lot of time putting things back
When interviewed by Business Insider, Costco employees didn't hold back on their pet peeves. One of the biggest ones is customers who don't put things back when they change their minds. The right thing to do in these situations is to hand the item directly to an employee or wait until you get to the checkout to set it aside. This way, the item can be reshelved quickly — especially if it's a food item that might go to waste. But this isn't usually what happens, so Costco employees do spend a lot of time searching the store for misplaced items and putting them back where they belong.
One horrified employee recalled when they kept finding "sandwiches under clothing tables," while another remembered finding a completely melted bag of frozen food someone decided they didn't want to bring home. On occasion, people have also taken apart entire pallets to get to the freshest product on the bottom, so employees must then spend the majority of their shift rearranging the displays so they look presentable once again.