FOOD NEWS
The One Pantry Food Costco Will Never Let
You Return
By Arianna Endicott
When it comes to returns, Costco’s policy is pretty lenient, accepting both opened and unopened food items, as well as dissatisfactory produce. The majority of non-returnable items are electronics and other non-edible items, but the one food item the retail giant will not accept back is rice.
The reason Costco is not accepting the return of rice is to prevent messy spills on its floors. However, this policy may have started as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when customers began stocking up on bulk items during stay-at-home orders in 2020, and rice made the list of high-priority items.
This policy may have been created to deter panic buying of too many products, as well as to limit the risk of exposure during later returns. Rice typically has a long shelf life, so it doesn’t make sense to buy it in bulk, which is probably why this policy is still in effect at Costco, three years after it was implemented.