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I've been good about staying at home, but we're running low on some things, so this morning I ventured out to Costco. Much has changed since I was there just a few weeks ago. I wanted to share my experience, to give Tuggers a head's up of what you may find next time you go to your local warehouse.
As you may already know, they have adjusted their hours. They're opening earlier during the week, but now close at 6:30. Weekend hours are the same as they have always been. My local warehouse has started "Senior Hour" on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, to accommodate those who may not want to fight the crowds later in the day. I was told it started at 8:00AM, but this morning my warehouse opened at 7:30. I didn't see anyone checking for members to be of a senior age group, so perhaps they're letting everyone in at that time. (Although as I think of it, everyone I saw was middle-aged or older. No kids.) I'd arrived at the warehouse at about 7:00, thinking I'd be able to score a place in line and get in at a reasonable time after they opened. Last time I drove by an hour before opening there was a line around the block. Today there were four people ahead of me in line. By the time the door opened the line had grown to about a dozen people. When I was loading my car after I was done shopping, there were many more cars in the parking lot, but there was no line to get in. So one idea: Arrive early.
Also, they are only allowing in two people per membership card. So leave the kids at home.
Carts were pre-sanitized, and there were workers staged to sanitize carts after they were returned. The two people doing it were from the staff who would normally offer samples. With sampling currently suspended, those folks are earning wages by sanitizing carts. Good on Costco to keep them working. Lots of signage outside, indicating what they are not accepting for return right now (we've discussed this already here, and it's the same list.) They had a defined routing of crowds going on, directing members down a long line of sanitized carts, and around the end, then back up to the entrance door. It looked like this is how they're controlling the entrance order of members, to maintain social distancing between shoppers.
Once inside the warehouse, things looked pretty much the same, except the volume of some merchandise seemed reduced. Not sure if that was deliberate, or if they're just low on things. Most of the grocery section aisles were full of staple food items, but I noticed the center section with clothing and seasonal stuff was lower than I'd expect at this time of year. They had several pallets of toilet paper and paper towels lining the main aisle that leads to the back of the warehouse. Signage indicated one of each item per member. At the back of the warehouse, where paper products are usually located, they had a "detour" set up, to route shoppers one way down the dog food aisle, around the end, and back up the paper products aisle. One way in, one way out. I'm sure it was all about crowd control, and to keep the lines moving. There was no TP in the back area. I heard another shopper ask an employee about TP, and they were directed back to the front part of the store to the pallets lined up there. The Costco person said, "You should go there now - they go fast, and it won't last." That shopper took off for the front. I saw them later, and they had a brick of TP in their cart. I'm sure they felt lucky.
Other changes I saw:
A number of departments were closed. Optical and Hearing Aids were the two I specifically saw. I'm sure the reason is due to the close contact between Costco staff and the member in those departments. Don't know about Photo or the Cell Phone Kiosks, but I'd assume minimal staffing, if they're open at all. The Food Court is take-out only. The Gas Station was open, but is also under restricted hours. Plan ahead if you intend to get gas.
They are spacing out which check out registers are open, with only about every third register open. They had taped off the areas between registers, to force the line to go straight back from the register, not meandering or "bottlenecked," as they tend to do in regular shopping times. They have the lines pretty clearly indicated of where to stand. Cashiers were doing their usual thing, except they didn't touch my membership card - they scanned it with their handheld scanning gun.
They have installed plexiglass sneeze guards in areas where the cashier stands. They asked me to stand in front of it, to provide a barrier between me and the cashier. (The credit card machine area did not have the plexiglass.) On leaving the building, the person checking receipts at the exit door also has a cart with a plexiglass sneeze guard, and she asked me to hold out my receipt under the guard, kind of how a ticket booth at a movie theater works. She did the marker swipe on the receipt as normal, and I was on my way.
The Member Services area had taped off lines to direct people in through a certain door, not the main warehouse door. One Refund Cashier and one Membership Clerk are all they're allowing to work at one time, so they can maintain distance. I heard a supervisor talking about moving a pallet of returned merchandise back to the "quarantine area," so apparently they're moving returns to a certain area, so it doesn't contaminate the other merchandise in the warehouse.
All in, it was pretty painless today. But it was definitely different. And I expect for now, this is going to be the "new normal" for shopping at Costco.
I hope this information is helpful. I'm curious to know if your recent shopping experience at Costco is much different than this one was for me.
Stay healthy,
Dave
As you may already know, they have adjusted their hours. They're opening earlier during the week, but now close at 6:30. Weekend hours are the same as they have always been. My local warehouse has started "Senior Hour" on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, to accommodate those who may not want to fight the crowds later in the day. I was told it started at 8:00AM, but this morning my warehouse opened at 7:30. I didn't see anyone checking for members to be of a senior age group, so perhaps they're letting everyone in at that time. (Although as I think of it, everyone I saw was middle-aged or older. No kids.) I'd arrived at the warehouse at about 7:00, thinking I'd be able to score a place in line and get in at a reasonable time after they opened. Last time I drove by an hour before opening there was a line around the block. Today there were four people ahead of me in line. By the time the door opened the line had grown to about a dozen people. When I was loading my car after I was done shopping, there were many more cars in the parking lot, but there was no line to get in. So one idea: Arrive early.
Also, they are only allowing in two people per membership card. So leave the kids at home.
Carts were pre-sanitized, and there were workers staged to sanitize carts after they were returned. The two people doing it were from the staff who would normally offer samples. With sampling currently suspended, those folks are earning wages by sanitizing carts. Good on Costco to keep them working. Lots of signage outside, indicating what they are not accepting for return right now (we've discussed this already here, and it's the same list.) They had a defined routing of crowds going on, directing members down a long line of sanitized carts, and around the end, then back up to the entrance door. It looked like this is how they're controlling the entrance order of members, to maintain social distancing between shoppers.
Once inside the warehouse, things looked pretty much the same, except the volume of some merchandise seemed reduced. Not sure if that was deliberate, or if they're just low on things. Most of the grocery section aisles were full of staple food items, but I noticed the center section with clothing and seasonal stuff was lower than I'd expect at this time of year. They had several pallets of toilet paper and paper towels lining the main aisle that leads to the back of the warehouse. Signage indicated one of each item per member. At the back of the warehouse, where paper products are usually located, they had a "detour" set up, to route shoppers one way down the dog food aisle, around the end, and back up the paper products aisle. One way in, one way out. I'm sure it was all about crowd control, and to keep the lines moving. There was no TP in the back area. I heard another shopper ask an employee about TP, and they were directed back to the front part of the store to the pallets lined up there. The Costco person said, "You should go there now - they go fast, and it won't last." That shopper took off for the front. I saw them later, and they had a brick of TP in their cart. I'm sure they felt lucky.
Other changes I saw:
A number of departments were closed. Optical and Hearing Aids were the two I specifically saw. I'm sure the reason is due to the close contact between Costco staff and the member in those departments. Don't know about Photo or the Cell Phone Kiosks, but I'd assume minimal staffing, if they're open at all. The Food Court is take-out only. The Gas Station was open, but is also under restricted hours. Plan ahead if you intend to get gas.
They are spacing out which check out registers are open, with only about every third register open. They had taped off the areas between registers, to force the line to go straight back from the register, not meandering or "bottlenecked," as they tend to do in regular shopping times. They have the lines pretty clearly indicated of where to stand. Cashiers were doing their usual thing, except they didn't touch my membership card - they scanned it with their handheld scanning gun.
They have installed plexiglass sneeze guards in areas where the cashier stands. They asked me to stand in front of it, to provide a barrier between me and the cashier. (The credit card machine area did not have the plexiglass.) On leaving the building, the person checking receipts at the exit door also has a cart with a plexiglass sneeze guard, and she asked me to hold out my receipt under the guard, kind of how a ticket booth at a movie theater works. She did the marker swipe on the receipt as normal, and I was on my way.
The Member Services area had taped off lines to direct people in through a certain door, not the main warehouse door. One Refund Cashier and one Membership Clerk are all they're allowing to work at one time, so they can maintain distance. I heard a supervisor talking about moving a pallet of returned merchandise back to the "quarantine area," so apparently they're moving returns to a certain area, so it doesn't contaminate the other merchandise in the warehouse.
All in, it was pretty painless today. But it was definitely different. And I expect for now, this is going to be the "new normal" for shopping at Costco.
I hope this information is helpful. I'm curious to know if your recent shopping experience at Costco is much different than this one was for me.
Stay healthy,
Dave
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