Costco Strike Could Cause Shortages as Shoppers Say 'Better Stock Up'
Costco shoppers should prepare for disruption after unionized warehouse employees affiliated with the Teamsters voted to authorize a strike. Costco has until January 31 to make a deal with the union, otherwise the strike will go into effect on February 1. "Our members have spoken loud and clear: Costco must deliver a fair contract, or they'll be held accountable," Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien said in a press release. "From day one, we've told Costco that our members won't work a day past January 31 without a historic, industry-leading agreement."
"We have a 40-year track record of dealing fairly with the Teamsters union," Costco CEO Ron Vachris said in December, via Business Insider. "And we're going to do everything we can to take care of those employees as we do all of our employees." Read on to find out how this affects you.
Goes Into Effect January 31, Potentially
If the contract runs out on January 31, up to 18,000 unionised workers may go on strike, impacting day-to-day operations at the giant warehouse chain. Costco members should expect interruptions to their usual shopping experience with fewer staff available, possible product shortages, and the possibility of having to cross a picket line to get into the store itself.
Consider Stocking Up on Essentials
Costco members might want to stock up on essentials before the end of the month, as previous strikes have caused panic-buying amongst members. When the ILA port strike happened in October 2024, some east coast Costcos said customers cleaned out the toilet paper stocks within an hour of opening.
"Almost all of the toilet paper that is sold in the U.S. is made within the country. The items are not imported from these ports," Dr. Subodha Kumar, a professor at the FOX School of Business at Temple University, previously told FOX 5 New York. "Customers have no reason to be panicked. We are not getting out of toilet paper at all because of this strike. They are two unrelated events… It's a knee-jerk reaction and unwarranted reaction because most of the items the retailers were very prepared for it and they had planned for it in advance."
Perishable Items May Be Scarce
As with the ILA strike, customers should also expect perishable items such as produce to either be unavailable or go up in price if they can't be loaded into stores in a timely manner. Of course, much of this depends on how long any potential strike could go on for. Customers can get in and out of Costco much faster if they go at store opening times during the week (not the weekend), as early as possible.
"Better Stock Up" Say Some Members
Costco shoppers on Reddit are already discussing how they will stock up on essentials such as dog food before the 31st. "Upsetting the dog's diet seems inappropriate, versus all the stuff I get at Costco I can get at Fred Meyer instead," one member said. "Better stock up on eggs and chicken!!" commented another.
One Costco employee who worked through the ILA port strikes said their store was completely unprepared for the chaos that followed. "Seemed all day all we did was go around collecting and stacking up empty pallets because we didn't have enough man power or stock to restock everything going out. We ran out of all tp before noon and almost all bottled water sold out soon after, luckily we got a [Kirkland Signature] water delivery in the afternoon and it was all hands on deck to bring the entire truck out to the floor and even then within maybe an hour and a half 20 pallets of water was gone. Had no idea what I was walking into when I clocked in in the morning."
Don't Worry Too Much as it May Not Happen. But Get Any Medications.
It's important to remember the strike may not even happen—negotiations are ongoing, but either way it's best to prepare for the worst and have a backup plan for getting essentials such as medications.
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