I am a big Costco fan. I love their products, their food court, and their prices. There are only two things about Costco that I could complain about: their long checkout lines and their parking lot, which is essentially a Trader Joe’s parking lot on steroids. Last year, the company tried to solve both of these issues by opening up an hour earlier for Executive-level members. I can’t always get there at 9:00 a.m., but on the occasions that I have been able to do so, it’s been an absolutely glorious experience.
Costco’s executives have heard the complaints about the long lines and are working to catch up to some of their warehouse competitors. Over the last year, Costco has been rolling out a new pre-scan checkout system in which employees will come around and scan the items in your cart while you’re in line. They do it for both self and regular checkout. Then, when you get to the register, you just scan your membership card. Your purchase shows up and you pay right away. During a recent earnings call, Costco CEO Ron Vachris said that this new method has reduced the checkout time to mere seconds.
How does Costco’s pre-scan technology work? The idea behind Costco’s new pre-scan pilot is simple. As you’re waiting in line, a Costco employee will scan your member card and then all of the items in your cart. Once you reach the register, you simply scan your member card again. Your items automatically appear on the register, and you can swipe or tap your credit card. In theory, this reduces wait time because shoppers don’t have to take everything out of their cart to scan it, only to load it back in. You still have to wait your turn to pay, but if everything runs smoothly, skipping this step should make the line move significantly faster than it normally does.
My experience with Costco’s pre-scan system: The first time I used pre-scan, it didn’t work. The Costco employee scanned everything in my cart, but when I got to the register, the system hadn’t logged anything. The employee didn’t know how to fix it, so I had to take everything out of my cart, scan it, and pay. It didn’t add any time to my normal check-out experience, but certainly didn’t take anything away. The second time using pre-scan, though, worked beautifully. My warehouse still uses self-checkout, and even on a busy Saturday, I’d say 10 of us checked out in under 10 minutes. The Costco employee would scan a cart and quickly move down the line, making it a breeze to finish check-out and be on my way.
What customers and Costco employees are saying: The new pre-scan system has received mixed reviews, with employees reporting that the scanning guns often malfunction and that lines have worsened since the technology was implemented. Customers have also cited concerns, saying that when employees focus on pre-scanning the first couple of carts, they’re still scanning when a self-checkout opens up. Others have reported that items have been scanned twice, adding time and annoyance as they navigate the refund process.
Still, the program is in its pilot phase, so the kinks may be getting worked out. Costco is notoriously slow when it comes to adopting new technology (it only recently rolled out online cake ordering), but it’s promising to see some effort behind the cause. While it’s unlikely that your total wait time will be eight seconds, it is possible that your line will move a little bit faster the next time you go shopping.
My Costco has been using the pre-scanning technology for months now, and I’ve noticed that it’s made a huge difference in the length of time that you’re waiting in line. I like that they’ve included employees in the program rather than come up with a system that eliminated them completely. We alternate on self-checkout and employee-checkout based on the line length, but the new system has made checkout faster for us across the board. Thankfully, we haven’t run into any technology issues, either. The only time we had a snafu was when we visited a San Diego Costco last July during Comic-Con. Our purchase included alcohol, but they couldn’t check our ID with the pre-scan so we had to wait until we went up to the register. I haven’t tried it at my home Costco, though, so I don’t know if that’s still an issue. It’s been pretty smooth sailing otherwise.
Photos credit: Pedro Mexicano and Natalia S on Pexels and via Instagram