Creative Ways to Enjoy Costco Deals Without Even Having a Membership

Wholesale warehouses are a favorite among many, and places such as Costco and Sam’s Club capitalize on that with some amazing deals. These warehouse stores offer memberships to the public and do not allow anyone without a membership to shop in the store. However, there are always ways around that. Sam’s Club, for example, will allow you to shop if you are in the presence of a card-carrying member of the store. Whether or not Costco allows that, I’m not positive. We don’t have Costco near our home, but we do have a Sam’s Club. I’ve been a member for years, splitting the membership free with a girlfriend every year so that it’s a little bit less ridiculous (even though $45 per year to be a member is not a lot).

I’ll go ahead and say it now; I’ve only used my membership one time and even then I did not buy much. The items I thought I might use in bulk (baby formula) were actually more expensive at Sam’s than they were if I had just gone to Publix or ordered it straight through Enfamil. After fighting the madness of the store and realizing that I simply do not, in fact, need 39 gallons of ketchup – ever – I never went back. However, some people swear by this store. They are certain that it is everything that they’ve ever wanted, and they shop there with regularity. And that’s just fine. If you are one of the millions of people who love to have a store like this at your disposal, I can tell you how you can shop at Costco and get deals without a membership, which will save you $55 per year.

Go with a Friend

If you are out shopping with someone who has a Costco account, shop with them. You can provide them with cash or your American Express card and they can purchase your items for you while you are in the store. It might work if you have a close friend or relative that has a membership and frequents the shopping location. It’s an easy way for you to take advantage of shopping here without a membership. However, not everyone is willing to pay for their own membership and then let you come and go with them as you please, free of charge. Many people might ask you to go in on a membership with them.

Go the Pharmacy

There is one thing that the store cannot hold back from you, and that’s a trip to the pharmacy. Since everyone is allowed access to medication, Costco has to allow you into the store to pick up your prescriptions if you have them called into this location. It’s a way to get in and make some purchases by default, and that makes your ability to shop here a bit easier and a bit more likely.

Buy a Cash Card

Costco offers cash cards to their members, so ask one to buy one for you. This is how it works; a friend with a Costco membership buys you a cash card. You go into the store to shop. They have to allow you in since you have a cash card. Even if the card has all of $1 on it, you can still come in, use it and shop and then use your cash or AmEx card to pay for the rest of your purchases. It’s very simple, and your friends or family who are members can buy this particular item for you right online. You can’t buy your own without a membership, but a friend can.

Shop the Website

Did you even know that this was allowed? If you don’t have a Costco card, you can still shop online and find some amazing deals. There is one catch, however. You have to pay a 5% fee on your purchases when you shop online without a membership. It works out, though, so long as your purchase is under $1100. If you exceed that amount, your 5% fee for shopping without a card will exceed the amount that you’d pay for a membership in the first place, which means it would just be so much better for you to apply for membership, pay the $55 fee and move on with your life.

However, purchases under that will still cost you less in fees than an actual membership, so it might be worth it to check out what the online site has to offer in terms of shopping with Costco.

Check out the Optical Services

You can get into Costco without a membership if you are able to see the optometrist in the building. You will first want to make an appointment, and that means checking to see if the Costco closest to you even offers this service. It’s not available everywhere, but it is available in many locations. The catch is that you are free to use the doctor as often as you want, but to purchase contacts or glasses from the office in the store, you have to have a membership in or a cash card. So, really, this is just a good way to gain access to the store to see if you have any desire to want a cash card or a membership.

Remember, not all warehouse store prices are better than your local supermarkets. It seems that way because people say it is that way, but sometimes it’s not. I mentioned earlier that formula was not less expensive for me to buy in bulk – I could have purchased the same amount in individual packages in the supermarket for almost $10 less than the bulk package at my local Sam’s Club.

And sometimes the things you can purchase here are less expensive in bulk when you compare the unit price, but how many containers of mustard or how many packages of granola bars do you really need? Ask yourself this question and see if any of these shopping methods work for you before you commit to wanting a membership or a cash card to Costco.

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