7 Costco Secrets From an Employee That Will Save You Time and Money
One of the best things about social media is how it allows grocery store workers to spill the beans about their jobs—like this morning merch employee at Costco, who said they were "feeling chatty", and encouraged people to ask questions about her work. "I work morning merch, 4am to 12:30pm at our warehouse, after we open, I move to the food court," the Redditor said. Costco members can't resist an opportunity to find out more about their favorite retail warehouse, and frankly neither can I. Here are 7 Costco secrets revealed by an employee.
How To Request Items
If you want your local Costco to stock certain products, there is a way! "Each warehouse is in a regional district, and each district has a group of buyers, they are the ones that are making contracts with companies and such," the employee said. "About the only thing we can do on our level is look at old items and see if they're pending delete or on order. My recommendation would be to find out what regional district your warehouse is in, and then find the names of the buyers and see if you can contact them via email or phone!"
Merchandise Moving Around
Turns out there's a reason stuff gets moved around in stores so it's suddenly difficult to find. "We hate moving stuff all the time just as much as you, maybe more!" the Costco employee shares. "A few reasons – some items are 'mandatories'. This means the vendor or company has paid for a spot on an end cap for a certain amount of time. Management gets the updated list of mandatories on Fridays, and we generally do the moves on Mondays. Another reason is because we get items called 'hots'. Usually these are new products, so that means we probably don't have a place in the steel to put them, so we have to shuffle things around to make room."
No More Books
Costco is removing the book sections from stores because people simply aren't buying, another employee said. "Former (retired) employee here. I interviewed our book buyer several years ago (Penny I.), who was one of the most powerful people in the industry at the time. She told me then that books are dying, becoming a niche item. It's all about digital readers and audiobooks now. The sales have dried up."
Returned Clothes
Returned clothing makes its way back to shelves, the employee says. "Most of the time, the clothing gets put back on the floor if it's an item we still carry. You can usually tell if it's something in season. If someone were to return say a fluffy winter jacket, we take it in back to the RTV (return to vendor) clerk, and they send it back for credit!"
Food Court Payment
Food court workers do not like handling cash. "The FC is notoriously understaffed, which usually you can see from the floor. If there's 3-4 employees back there, that's not enough," the Costco employee shares. "Having patience with us and maybe planning ahead to potentially wait longer than usual. Just saying please and thank you and being genuinely nice goes a long way Also, don't pay with cash. It's really really annoying. We have to stop what we are doing, change gloves, help you, change gloves again…then usually it's a chain reaction and then other people want to pay with cash and sigh it sucks."
Why Popular Items Get Discontinued
Popular items getting yanked from the shelves is a real sore spot with shoppers, but there is a method to the madness. "There's a ton of different reasons – but generally it's because the item itself is changing…the packaging, the size, etc," the Costco employee says. "For example, in HABA (my home dept), we had Gillette Mach 3 disposable razors get the death star. A couple of months later, we got the same item back in, but the packaging was different and there was a new item number. Sometimes things are seasonal, sometimes contracts change with products, and sometimes we have no idea lmao."
Food Court Chopped Onions
If you're missing the chopped onions from your Costco food court, there might be a solution. "Our food court has them, we put them out next to the croutons and seasoning packets!" the employee shares. "I would ask someone about them at your warehouse! Could also be a staffing / priority issue, not enough time to do them, etc."
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