The Decline of Costco

Like many millenials, I have been shopping at Costco for years. I have been a consistent member, annually renewing my membership, and upgrading to the Executive membership. I have noticed over the years is the slow decline of quality at Costco. Not just their products, but their service and practices. What triggered this post for me was the recent shift to treating their customers like criminals, requiring ID scans on entry, and increasingly slow exit lines due to higher levels of scrutiny of cart contents.

I first noticed the declining quality a few years ago around some of their products. As they moved items to their in-house Kirkland brand the quality felt comparable or even better than the name brands. But I have found the quality of some of their items decrease in quality over time. This includes things like their deli meats, precooked bacon, and their fresh meats like the chicken. That said, the quality change is minimal especially as compared with other major and store brands.

Another area they have been cost-cutting seems to be packaging. This is a minor but noticeable hit to the Costco experience. Rotisserie chickens moving to bags, like Wal-Mart; Kirkland nuts moving to using bags rather than the nice and easy containers. Even the manufacturing process not being well tuned leading to packaging that tears rather than opens nicely. Again, this isn’t major but it is indicative of the overall slow decline in the quality of the Costco brand as a whole.

Finally, one area which is less in their immediate control but more indicative of the decaying quality of their merchandising and warehouse teams are the problems with the quality of goods on the shelves. Costco quality and care used to inspire confidence when shopping. Now I often have to spend time sifting through product. I frequently encounter damaged packaging and expired goods in basically every aisle. The ready-to-cook meals are often short on toppings and have best-by dates for the same day whereas as recently as a year ago they would be fresh enough to have 24-48 hours to prepare and consume.

I know that all of these are minor issues and very much first-world problems, but the net effect is I am no longer willing to trust Costco to give me a good shopping experience. When my membership is up for renewal this year I will have to consider whether the cost is worth experience.