Membership-Sharing Crackdown at New York, Connecticut Costco’s

Have you ever grabbed food at the super cheap Costco food court? You just order and pay, easy peasy.

However, if you're a Costco member, you now know that extra step of showing your Costco membership card has been part of the check-out process for a few months now.

This was actually the second part of the crack-down on non-members taking advantage of the inexpensive shopping (and dining) experience that is these big box membership-only stores like Costco.

Starting a year ago, the warehouse retailer around Connecticut and New York began rolling out its photo-verification system at its self-checkout kiosks.

While the regular check-out lanes have people who compare the photo on the membership card to the person checking out, it was easy for non-members to borrow someone's card and skirt the system by simply using the self-check out.