Costco is introducing membership scanners at the entrances|Nicholas Eckhart|CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Costco Wholesale is tightening its policies to ensure that only paying members benefit from its services. In the coming months, the retailer will introduce membership scanners at the entrances of all its locations.

Increased membership sharing since 2020 prompted the need for this technology. The scanners aim to stop non-members from accessing member-only benefits and speed up the entry and checkout processes.

Starting September 1, Costco will raise its basic membership fee from $60 to $65 and the premium membership from $120 to $130. Executive membership rewards will increase from $1,000 to $1,250 annually.

The pricing changes will affect about 52 million memberships. Costco has 882 warehouses worldwide, 609 of which are in the US and Puerto Rico.