Costco members with a voracious appetite for reading may be out of luck in 2025 as the big-box retailer will reportedly stop selling books all year round.
According to a June report from The New York Times, Costco will no longer sell books on the regular starting January 2025 and instead make them available only between September and December for the holiday shopping period in the US.
The New York Times report said four major publishing executives were told about Costco’s plans, and the changes could be tied to the labour needed to stock books.
That’s because books require staff to place them by hand and can’t be put out on pallets like other items at the store. The report adds that there is also a “constant turnaround” time for books as new ones come in on Tuesday and copies that don’t sell must be returned, which results in “more work” for staff.
Publishers expressed concern about how this could impact sales, as Costco often orders thousands of copies if a book is popular enough.
The Image Party/Shutterstock
While this change is expected across the US, Costco Canada hasn’t made any official announcement on the matter, and Daily Hive has reached out to the company for more information.
Aside from this potential bummer for bookworms, Costco made other significant changes to its customer experience this year.
In September, the retailer hiked up its annual membership fees for the first time in years and implemented membership card scanners at some stores.
The membership fee increase, which applies to members in the US and Canada, came into effect on September 1, 2024.
The Gold Star membership increased from $60 to $65 per year, and the higher-tier Executive Membership has jumped from $120 to $130 annually.
The maximum annual 2% reward for the Executive Membership has also increased from $1,000 to $1,250.
Costco added that the change will impact 52 million memberships, “a little over half of which are Executive.”
This was the first membership price hike Costco has implemented since June 2017.
In August, a Costco spokesperson confirmed to Daily Hive that the retailer was testing scanners in the Ottawa, Edmonton, Regina, and BC Lower Mainland locations.
During Costco’s September earnings call, company CEO and president Ron Vachris revealed more details about why the scanners have been beneficial, saying that the system has been “very well received by its members.”
A Costco membership scanner at the entrance of a warehouse in Issaquah, Washington (mike753951/Reddit)
He shared that the scanners have been used in Costco stores in the UK over the past two years.
“The membership card scanners installed at the front doors have delivered on the goal of speeding up the checkout process,” he explained.
“It gives our operators real-time traffic counts throughout the day, so we’re able to adjust front-end lines that we need to open and close… based on the fluctuations of business.”
The Costco CEO highlighted that the process has “taken the friction of membership verification away from the front-end registers” because it allows member certification to happen at the entrance.
“We’ve realized some really nice, healthy front-end improvements and productivity, and it’s allowed our operators to manage our business much better throughout the day,” said Vachris.
This article was originally posted on August 2, 2024. It has since been updated.