Shop at Costco Without a Costco Membership

Costco is a warehouse club where you pay a membership fee to access their bulk deals, but what most people do not realize is that you can shop at Costco without a Costco membership. 

I have been a member of warehouse clubs before and the one thing that always bothered me is that the savings I did find were mostly eaten up by the membership fee.

For this reason I rarely shop at Costco, Sams Club, or BJ’s.  The opportunity to shop at any of these stores for free has always intrigued me but the only methods I had found in the past was having a family member work there or happening on a one year free event.

While Sams Club and BJ’s have continued to make it hard to game the system but there are actually several ways to shop at Costco for free.

No Costco Membership Needed at the Pharmacy

The Pharmacy at Costco does not require that you be a member.  The beauty to this is that it gives you one more pharmacy where you may be able to get your generic prescription drugs at a deep discount.

So if you live close to Costco this may be a great option for you.   They have a price checker on their pharmacy page so you can get an idea if there are any savings for you.

Gift Cards Can Act as your Costco Membership

This was a shocker to me but if you have a Costco gift card you can walk in and shop without a Costco membership.  This is a great opportunity for people that do not need to frequent Costco on a regular basis or live far enough a way.

The real problem comes in how to actually purchase these gift cards.  If you try to purchase a card on the Costco website you have to have a Costco membership.  So you will have to resort to either having a friend or family member who is willing to pay for a membership buy one for you or to purchase one from a third party site.

Your best bets at purchasing gift cards third party are the sites that specialize in gift cards and you may even get a discount.  The top services for buying gift cards are CardPool, Gift Card Granny, and Ebay.  I will tell you these are rare in comparison to other gift cards so your best bet may be to work a deal with a family member.

Go with a Friend

Members of Costco can take up to two friends with them whenever they go shopping. Only members can make a purchase, but you can easily take your discounted Costco gift card and pay for whatever you need on that trip.

Use the Business Membership

Businesses frequently take out accounts at Costco in order to purchase items for the facilities and food for employees. If you work at such at a business with a membership, there is a good chance you can use the business membership to get in and do your shopping.

Shop Online

You can shop at Costco.com without a membership. Unfortunately that means you will have to pay a 5% upcharge for non-members. However, if you consider the cost of a membership is $60, you would have to spend $1,200 before you cover the cost of a Gold Star membership.

Go for the Alcohol

There are several states that do not allow membership clubs to restrict the sale of alcohol only to members. You do need to be wary, that employees may not be aware of the law for your state.

The states that I could find that require alcohol sales are:

• Arizona
• California
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Indiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• New York
• Texas

Food Court

You can get a hot dog and coke at Costco for $1.50 and that price is available to both members and non-members. There are plenty of other deals to be had there. My favorite is the extra large pizza for $10.50.

While this probably will not help a ton if you want to make Costco the main store in your shopping.  If you are only interested in going there for specific purchases, for clearance shopping,  or for infrequent visits you could save a bunch by avoiding the Costco membership.