Costco is quietly speeding up checkout with two major changes

Costco customers largely rejected self-checkout, and Warehouse Club responded by removing it from many stores.

This follows recent trends where both Walmart and Target have limited many self-checkouts to maximum quantities of items. In some ways, those changes were made to limit opportunities for theft and prevent scanning errors that lead to accidental shoplifting, while also keeping self-checkout for people with only a few items.

That’s similar to the “10 items or less” checkouts that used to be common at grocery stores.

But just because Costco has backed away from self-checkout, that doesn’t mean the chain has stopped helping you pay for your items more efficiently. It’s actually implementing two ways to speed up checkout at its stores, including letting customers scan as they go.

One of the challenges facing Costco shoppers is selling to chain wholesalers. Many of its items are large, and at a traditional self-checkout, manipulating those items to scan the UPC code can be challenging.

Scan and Go technology will fix this, but it will require customer buy-in.

“We’ve found that digital really speeds up checkout. And so, we’re also working hard on digital membership card usage. We’ve also been involved in the “Scan & Go done by Costco” type of tests that we’ve been doing there that have been very successful in getting people through lines and speeding up transactions,” CEO Ron Vachris-Koster said on the third earnings call.

Scan & Go requires customers to scan items using the Costco app on their phones. Once they’ve completed a purchase, they can show a QR code verifying what they’ve purchased as they exit the store.

“We’ve seen some very, very early results that have been very positive and seeing great adoption from our members as well,” added the CEO.

Vachris Kost’s leadership made it clear that they want to improve the in-store experience for members.

“Our operations team is really focused on the front-end, and we know there’s a lot of benefit in that part of the Costco experience moving people through much better. So, it’s really using the digital enhancements that we have available, and we think we’re going to see some good things happen there,” he added.

The CEO talked about another big checkout change on a recent earnings call.

“Another way we’re improving the member experience is through the rollout of enhanced checkout technology across all U.S. warehouses,” Vakris shared on Warehouse Club’s fourth-quarter earnings call.