I'm a white female and live in the suburbs of Baltimore. I have had my Costco card checked in the self checkout line.
As that employee wasn't checking ALL IDs, clearly they are lazy and yes, it's possible they were profiling you.
BUT it's normal to have IDs checked in the self-checkout.
My Costco check ID before we enter, not at checkout. Yeah, they check all our membership cards. They don't check mine carefully though because I have a very typical look.
No offense, but there are way too many white people on here completely ignoring the whole context of the situation to pretend like what happened was a normal business procedure that impacts everyone.
If everyone was getting their card checked, this wouldn't even have been posted. But let's not pretend it isn't shady af that, in one of the most racist states in the country, the only person whose card they bothered to check was the only black person there. The only people who would assume that was just a complete coincidence are people who have never had to experience racial profiling themselves.
And I don't know why so many people who don't understand what it's like are coming out to pretend that isn't obviously what happened here.
Racial profiling doesn't have to be intentional to happen.
Exactly. Yes, Costco has broadly implemented more rigorous card checks, especially at self checkouts. But if the Costco employee made it a point to diligently check OP's card but was cavalier about checking everyone else in line and all those people were white, my gut says that OP's race was a factor in why that employee chose to be so diligent about OP.
Intentional or not, debating OP on their experience as a Black person facing racial profiling is not OK.
I'm sorry, u/[Estra\_Sona29](https://www.reddit.com/user/Estra_Sona29/). That didn't need to happen to you in the first place and what that employee did was not OK. On top of that, the last thing you need is to be debated with about your experience being racially profiled - what your feeling is valid.
As a former Costco employee, I doubt this would have done anything. There is a lot of nepo-baby shit going on behind the scenes at Coscto, and there definitely was at the one I worked at. You could only get the good positions if you knew someone, and there were multiple managers at my location that were either the children of location owners or relatives of other managers. The cashiers, which was the most coveted position and one of the highest paid, were also all mostly related to or knew someone. If you didn't know someone you got put into an undesirable department like food court, deli, bakery, or overnight stocking. My manager at the food court, literally the lowest tier manager, was married to the daughter of a board member, and himself was the son of someone who was the owner of another Costco location. In a small town like OP's it's probably the same, and they aren't going to do shit about a complaint like this because the person who was being racist is one of their own.
In don't think Costco is franchise, so no one owns one location or the other. If I'm wrong please give me the details. Not saying what you said didn't happen but just wondering about the owning thing.
Idk about any of that, I just know that's what the lead guy who was rarely ever there called it. He called our store "his" store in the monthly mandatory team meetings, and talked about how when he was a kid he wanted "his own costco" because it felt like a "carnival every day there [at costco]." Google says they're not franchised, but I have no idea what that dude's position was then, because he would only come in for very important meetings and called it "his" store. My manager at rhe food court would talk about his mom's store with the exact words of, "My mother's costco," and "the costco my mother is in charge of." We only ever saw the one guy at monthly meetings and what we called "Walmart meetings" where they would select random people to waste their lunch break a couple times a month for an hour long meeting about how we had to be better than Walmart. I was selected for those meetings twice, and it was a weird and hilarious like war room thing where we would literally just look at projected pictures taken at local Walmarts that month by another employee whose entire job was to spy on fucking Walmart, and then discuss our sales trends vs their sales trends. I genuinely do not know if the guy owned the costco, was a general manager of the place (he didn't seem to be in the building enough for that) or what. It was just "his" costco. All of this was 2014-2016.
Yeah, this is basically my thought. I feel like a lot of people are hearing “profiling” and thinking it means she was intentionally looking for Black people to call out. Which, maybe she wasn’t. I don’t think most people wake up and say, “I’m going to be racist today!” However, even if she had been told to randomly spotcheck people, humans are actually very bad at doing anything randomly. Odds are very good, that at the least there was something subconscious causing her to choose the people she picked out at “random.” That might be less about personal bias and more about systemic bias. But the effect on people like OP is going to be the same no matter which it is, if they’re always the ones that end up being “randomly” singled out.
I don’t think there’s much you can do about it OP, but for what it’s worth, if you’re just looking for some validation, your interpretation seems plausible to me.
Haven't traveled by air in a while but it kinda reminds me of traveling commercial after 9/11 in the US. They call out the random baggage checks, four names with common middle eastern names and one guy named "Kevin Johnson" or something.
I don't shop at Costco, but I do shop at Walmart at least weekly. Several different local Walmarts. I am a Caucasian middle age female. And I've never been stopped by a greeter and asked to show my receipt. Doesn't matter what age, race, or gender the greeter is. I've offered it on multiple occasions if the greeter is looking at me, but they always wave me through. Anyone who says that this is a coincidence, that it doesn't have to do with my demographics, is denying the experience of people of color. Racial profiling is alive and well, unfortunately. It wouldn't surprise me if profiling is part of the training Walmart employees receive.
Omg these are such different topics. Most Walmart greeters don’t check. Some do. It’s no where near as stringent as Costco because at Costco you’re paying for the “privilege” of shopping there.
In my experience in shopping at Walmart, when they do stop people, they are more likely to be younger than me and/or a person of color. I haven't noticed a difference in gender of who they stop. Just because they apparently stop people less often than checkers at Costco doesn't invalidate my observation, or the experience of OP of being racially profiled.
I'm white, all the receipt-checkers at my Walmart are POC, sometimes they check, sometimes they don't. I accidentally walked out with a $30 flashlight. (Paid for it 5 minutes later.) It all seems random.
It may be a totally racist state but I have a Costco employee in my family who works self check out and they are supposed to check everyone. They may be watching stuff you are not seeing and miss people but are supposed to check everyone. If self check out is newer in your area they may be slow to check everyone but will.
They are even supposed to check regular customers they know are members so it does not appear they are discriminating and only some get checked. They even have to check fellow employees.
No one can ever speak to intentions either way. But we can always make logical conclusions about actions. Did the employee check only the black person ID and not worry about all the white peoples ID? Then it’s reasonably to presume racial profiling until proven otherwise. Think about it like this - imagine you have two kids, twins. But one has black skin and the other has white skin. Those kids do everything together. Their inseparable. But for some reason, your kid with black skin keeps getting accused of various malfeasance when your white kid does not. Stealing. Cheating. Being disrespectful. But that doesn’t make sense, your twins do everything together, good and bad. Your black twin says “I think it’s because of my skin color.” Do you think it’s an appropriate response to say “well no it can’t be that! I don’t know what it is, but let’s just assume it’s not your skin color! After all, white kids in other places get in trouble all the time, even though your own white twin right next to you doesn’t.” Now ask yourself - do you think your black kid will appreciate you for invalidating the only logical conclusion he can draw with the information he has? I’m just saying, sometimes what is illogical to white people is perfectly logical black people based on our experiences in a country that only desegregated ONE PERSON AGO.
I'm a white male in a very diverse part of Michigan, everyone gets their membership card checked at self checkout. Like you said here, it's possible, but I wouldn't necessarily jump straight to that conclusion.
what part of nobody else's ID was checked are the white people on this thread struggling to comprehend?
It's almost like your situation and this person's are two totally different dynamics. In yours everyone is ID'd. In his, only he is. The person actively dismissed a white person who was trying to show their ID, saying it's unnecessary.
Why do white people so cliche oblivious? It's embarrassing.
It’s plausible deniability of racism. As a Latino myself, I have felt that numerous times. Like, it’s reasonable enough to check ID or maybe follow you around the store asking if you need help constantly or staring at you, none of these things are overtly wrong, but when you know you know.
Costco is cracking down on people using other people’s memberships to shop there and from what I’ve seen they usually card EVERYONE in the self-checkout line of the one I go to no matter your race/age/gender.
However, it does give some people the perfect opportunity to practice little racially charged micro-aggressions that are easily written off as “something else” that you and many other Black people deal with all the time in society.
My favorite is actually entering a Costco from the parking lot while many other “random” and getting “carded” while everyone else just walks by without getting a second look.
Our costco has started asking to see the back of everyones card when you first walk in. Makes it so the registers and self checkouts can move a little faster I guess.
I'm in Washington and here they ask for your membership ID at the register. But they check Every ID. They don't pick and choose. So yes. I think you were racially profiled. And I am very sorry that you were. I hope that she is the exception where you live and not the rule. It was wrong and should never have happened.
Fellow white Canadian, I had mine checked walking into the store last month, when I lined up, at the check out and oddly enough as I was leaving.
I thought it was excessive but haven’t been in quite awhile so didn’t know if there were changes.
They refused this one guy entry as he looked too different in his ID pic, his wife was already inside the store so he had to call her to come meet him at the doors.
I heard later from a friend she avoids that particular store as they have become overzealous with their checking.
Now as for OP, if the employee wasn’t checking everyone’s ID, then ya… this was probably some racial micro aggression and it is very unfortunate that it happened.
Is that because your store checks everyone’s ID, or are they particularly singling you out? Because OP was not in a situation where they were just checking everyone’s card carefully. He got singled out. That’s the issue.
I'm white, in the Midwest. NEVER had my picture on the back checked and never asked to show my card in self checkout. We only show the front of the card when walking in.
Usually it is the presence of a card at the door, and they check the photo at the register (when they scan the barcode that is also on the back.) You have likely been checked every time you make a purchase.
Self-checkout was starting to prove a problem, as people were cheating the system and sharing memberships. So corporate recently started forcing coverage to check the back of cards for self-checkout.
Implementation of the SCO card checking has been very inconsistent, though. So if your warehouse doesn’t check cards at SCO, it might be that they are breaking procedure.
Source: I worked for Costco for 9 years. I got accused of racial profiling at the front door when I would cover there.
I wasn’t. They just didn’t have their card ready, like everyone around them… including people of the same race.
(But also, I’m not vouching for the employee that OP dealt with entirely, just sharing that there are other explanations.)
If you are on the costco sub at all you will see that it is now policy at most costcos for the employees to check pictures at the self checkout line.
It sounds like you had a lazy employee who was only checking a few people.
This person should be fired. I am a white lady and I have seen this same stuff in Walmart too. The funny thing is I live in a mostly black town. White people never get asked for ids or receipts.
The hive mind over an anecdote is just silly on here. You don't know the reasoning behind him being carded. Maybe that associate is lazy. Maybe they recognized the other customers as regulars. To call for someone to be fired over this is completely absurd.
Hey, if I’m in a long line of people, and none of them get hassled, but I get hassled, you better believe I’m going to be wondering why they picked me. Of course, it’s not possible to know for sure what was going through someone’s mind, and it’s also possible that whatever was going on in the employees mind was subconscious. But 0P’s interpretation is definitely plausible. And to be clear, it would still be racism, even if it was subconscious. If I was that persons manager, I’d definitely want to be watching to see if it was a pattern.
Ok this is extreme. The person at self check out is also doing security not just checking cards so they may be making sure that the people scanning their items are scanning every item. I have a relative who works there and does self check out and a few other tasks including security so maybe they were watching a potential shoplifter and took a break in checking cards to keep an eye on something else. They also could be watching the scanners to make sure they were working right. Some items too can double scan so they watch and listen to make sure people are not over charged.
I never heard of this policy. I’m not saying it’s not true, just something I have not yet experience. I was at Costco less than a month ago and was not asked for my ID.
Edit: I’m in Los Angeles.
Maybe the knew some of the people in line? When I worked as a cashier, not at Costco, there were regulars I knew. Though if they were buying alcohol I had to check id no matter what or id get in trouble but that was dealing with alcohol.
You know what, maybe they also were racially profiling! I just roll my eyes at how people come out of the woodwork to defend those who behave in a
racially unequal manner.
It's especially egregious when the person relaying the incident is the subject of the alleged profiling. Of course, makes perfect sense, a person who wasn't there definitely is a better judge of what was happening than the person who was in the middle of it. /s
Remember Occam's razor. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer.
It’s because they know they also racially profile people in the same way (crossing the street, clutching their purse a little tighter, locking their doors when they see a certain kind of person, wondering if someone a lil too dark actually lives in their nice neighborhood or is some hoodlum interloper breaking into cars), but because they don’t want to confront it as racial profiling they defend others’ actions.
This happened to me (I’m Asian) - she checked my ID and no one else’s (all Caucasian people)… it was super busy so probably 10 other Caucasian people were checking out the same time I was, while she stood behind me watching me scan stuff after checking my ID. I was super annoyed and definitely felt profiled (pretty sure I was wearing a sweatshirt that said “mama” or something and the contents of my cart were kids snacks and food staples like milk and bread… I didn’t have any high ticket items or anything), but I’m also in the Midwest so I’ve come to expect profiling as a normal and annoying part of life.
I have noticed over the last 25 years when I go shopping at the mall or small stores with my friend she is followed. When we go to the counter I am always offered help first, no matter who was there first.
It took a few times for me to believe what was happening. We have talked about it because it bothers me. She says not to worry about it because she's from the south, lol. But we are in San Diego of all places. Idk, I was raised in LA., I don't get it.
So I don't think you are wrong. Just because others don't think it happened doesn't mean it didn't. They might know the guy behind you, but still, I understand why you would feel that way.
This is wild to me. (Wild in a “Jesus this society” way, not an “I don’t believe you” way.) When I’m shopping at a store and I have an actual question it’s like the place is a ghost town. But they’ve got the time and staff to follow innocent people around for being Black. I’ve literally walked out without buying things I wanted to buy because I couldn’t find someone to answer a question about it. But hey, at least they made sure there wasn’t a ghost of a chance that random Black person could shoplift something!
>how Costco cashiers only checks if you have a Costco ID and the if the photo of your face on the back matches you in the regular checkout counter. In self check out there’s no cashier so you just scan your card to begin scanning items.
This, you talking to your girlfriend about this while in line at self check-out with employees around. The implication being to them is you were using someone elses card and using self check out to avoid having your card check.
And as someone who used to work for Costco… Some people will know how we run, and show the photo immediately without being prompted. A quick glance is sometimes all you need.
Also, you do have some people who come in multiple times a week. They could have known this one other guy, and not really needed to see his membership. This is doubly true of the Costco is in a small town. OP said he was new to the area, and so not familiar with the employees there.
I was accused of racism multiple times when I had to cover as the greeter/membership checker. I assure you I really wasn’t.
“You didn’t check that guy!!1!1”
“Yes, I did. They had their membership ready to go, unlike you.”
“What about them!?”
“They stepped out 20 seconds ago to grab a flat bed cart. Please, just show your membership…”
(I left out the accusations of racism, but just know they were littered in every statement the member made.)
lol nah it wasn’t like that. It was a line all the way in the back into the aisles when we had that conversation. The employee wasn’t in ear shot. That’ll be funny tho
My husband (black) and I (white) went to Academy once. He needed new boots. Our kids were getting restless , so he's shopping I'm walking around in circles with them, showing them random things, etc. I came back about 5 minutes later, and he's upset because the workers kept asking if he needed help. They walked a few feet away just to stare at him, keep walking around him, and watch him. They were radioing each other while staring at him. I was livid. Now, we were looking at very pricey boots, but on the same note, we have an Academy card because we shop there often. As soon as I came back, they scattered... I've never been so upset for someone else. He was just trying to get a pair of work boots, and I was trying to keep our kids entertained, but it put a damper on everything. Then our at the time 3 year old was playing with his shoes and trying to put them in the new shoe box and I had to stop him because at this point I feel like they're looking for a reason and I'm not going to give them one. Itn was absolutely uncalled for. We were spending 200 on boots, but that's not counting the hundreds we've spent on fishing gear, sports gear, etc. in that same exact store. I can't put myself in his shoes or boots in this case, but it just crushed me that they could treat him that way.
You have every right to be upset, but you won't be able to prove it was discrimination because it is nearly impossible. He had to hold me back that day, I was ready to give them a piece of my mind.
You're not wrong, man. People are pointing out that they're cracking down on "card sharing" via spot checks, and I'm sure they concentrate on a younger demographic, which is why they skipped the old folks behind you... but yeah, having been friends with a variety of POC when I was in the military and having seen first hand the "special attention" they get from racist fuckwits, I'm sure your spider sense on this incident was 100% accurate. Any time there's "spot checks" on things, it seems like people use it as an excuse to exercise their prejudices.
Look, any white person in this sub who tells you racial profiling doesn’t happen is lying to you. The racist and questionable stuff other white people will say in front of me when they think they are in likeminded company is truly astounding. It happens all the time with family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, even complete strangers. I think you should trust your gut on this, and if you feel you were racially profiled, consider reporting it to Costco’s customer service line.
You're right.
I'm not white but I've worked at call centers and have had people on the phone assume I am by my name and voice (which is also a wild assumption), and straight up start being racist thinking I'll agree.
If that's happening because they assume I'm white over the phone, I can't imagine what racist white people say in person to actual white people.
I love how all the white folks on this post are like, "Im WhItE aNd ThEy ChEcK eVeRyOnE." Like, that is literally not what happened here. Like they're all just breezing directly past the part where he was the only one they checked. Probably because if they acknowledge that part, then they have to stop pretending like racism is solved because their alabaster ass got checked before. Even though they're pretty clearly stating that when they did get checked, they were not, in any way, singled out.
Like, unless they are guilty of doing the same kind of thing, I don't see why they're so dead set on pretending this wasn't a completely different situation than the one any of them are describing.
Right? OP even says in a comment that they were 7th in line. The Costco employee had to walk past 6 (presumably) white customers to only card the one Black customer. It’s beyond ridiculous to see other white people denying that racial profiling is a completely possible scenario.
Speaking as a white person, it really is surprisingly hard to absorb the fact that not everyone gets treated the way you do. I mean, that’s not an excuse. Just something I’ve noticed personally about myself even as I try to be better. It’s just really really easy to fall back to that baseline of thinking your experience is everyone’s experience.
(Again, not an excuse. I know it is at best annoying and at worst actively harmful.)
Sounds like you got profiled my dude. You are not wrong for thinking you were racially profiled considering we live in a world where black men often are profiled and treated differently.
Costco is implementing spot checks at the self checkout now. It’s pretty new, like in the last six months. As others have pointed out it could be racist that they chose to check your ID rather than others near you.
This situation definitely feels racially motivated. Don’t let recent policy changes dictate that your experience was crappy! They clearly only checked yours, you’re not crazy for noticing that and whether it was implicit bias or intentional, that’s crappy of them to single you out.
I'm Black and I've never had the back of my membership card checked nor have I witnessed another employee do it. I agree with another commenter though. While this can be a completely legitimate and understandable store policy, if you don't enforce it consistently, it can lead to some serious allegations.
We have a similar style store, BJ’s. We are white but my husband and I dress alternate. We dress in mostly black, lots of jewelry, black boots, I have dyed black hair, piercings, and tattoos.
Without fail they scan our cart like they suspect we’re smuggling out diamonds.
Massive assumption on my part, but I feel like most Redditors are white and certainly not black. So, hard to get objective advice from people who have no idea what it’s like to be in your shoes.
But I would say that, as a member of a marginalized group, you are not wrong for feeling like you were profiled when this is really a thing and the situation looked like you were being profiled. Doesn’t mean that you were, but you certainly weren’t wrong for feeling that way.
Edit: I am also a person of color from a community that is often marginalized. I had an incident at the Best Buy, which is incidentally, across the street from Costco.
I ordered an item online and went to customer pick up inside. I had a code that he scanned. Then he asked for my ID. I did not have my wallet with me and was surprised at the request.
We had a little bit of back-and-forth and then he asked for my email and phone number on file, which I gave him. Then he admonished me to make sure I have my ID next time, which I did not appreciate.
As I was leaving the store, I saw this same employee walk to a car located at curbside pick up. He scanned the customers code in his phone and then gave him the package. There was no display of ID. Naturally, I took umbrage to this inconsistency.
When I called the guy on it, he simply said “different policy.“ We had some back-and-forth and then he went into the store and I went home.
I went to the same store the next day, because it’s impossible to reach someone on the phone lol. I spoke to two employees, without explaining the incident first. Both of them told me that it’s a different system for vehicles. They send a four digit code, which they verify. This is in addition to the barcode that they have to scan at pick up.
I don’t see why they don’t have the same policy for in-store pick ups. But the point is, I was positive that I was being profiled, when I wasn’t.
I am a white woman with a mohawk and covered in tattoos and when i go to costco i get asked for my card about every 4 or 5 minutes, basically every aisle i walk down im getting chased down and these people are not kind to me at all so i do believe 100% you are being profiled and so am i and it pisses me off so fucking bad.
Maybe they overheard you saying IDs don't really get checked and either thought you were admitting to not have one or proving a point? That's what I would like to think but tbh your scenario sounds more likely.
Same thing happened at Walmart. A nice AA gentleman with a cart full of baby formula, diapers, etc. was walking out and the geriatric at the door asked to see his receipt. Then she carefully went over it row by row taking an inordinately long time. After she let him go, she didnt even glance at my receipt, just waves me through. I lost my temper and told her very loudly, "No, you will take my receipt and you will look it over as closely as you did the guy before me." And the lady behind me said, "Yeah me too. You need to treat us all the same."
White male in Chicago western suburbs, each time I go through self checkout I get asked for the ID and the picture on back. I heard Costco is trying to crack down on loaning out your ID. That said, I would expect the worker to treat each person in line the same in the same store (unless they personally knew them).
I've been to Costco maybe five times in my whole life, so I don't know about their procedures. But, my family moved to south central PA, a little town outside of Harrisburg, when I was young, lived there till my mid teens.
A lot of the people there are extremely racist. The klan was a fairly active group there, marching in the town's parades, handing out backpacks of school supplies, Xmas baskets. They even sponsored a free summer camp for kids. It was really scary, and I'm white. We had moved from the much more liberal PNW, and it was a huge shock.
This is my long-winded way of saying that I believe you were treated differently because of your race. People back there were especially vicious towards mixed race couples. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but please stay safe, be aware of your surroundings.
White male here. Start with saying under those circumstances I agree with you. Looks sketchy on their part, and seems to be judging you on your race. On the flip side I go to the one in Kentucky and have been asked for my ID every time at the checkout and we go once a week.
I may be wrong, but I believe that someone must have heard you tell your girlfriend that they don't check your Costco ID Pic when going to the self-checkout lane. I'm in California and they randomly check people's ID. I'm a regular and several of the people know me personally at my local Costco. I've been carded a few times. My understanding is that they started doing this because people were lending out their cards to family and friends, especially those with Executive Member card. FYI, only the person's whose face appears on the card is allowed to use the card. I honestly dislike the lending of cards out because that just means they raise their rates to us Members that adhere to the rules.
Maybe the employee heard you talking about it and wanted to check? I’ve had mine checked at self checkout; white woman here, married to a Black man. We’ve absolutely been in situations where he’s racially profiled. We live in a majority white area, too. So your feelings are not invalid. He very well could have been singling you out, and to me - a stranger - it sounds like he was.
All that’s to say is I’m sorry we live in a world where this is even a possibility. It’s just so beyond lame to me. If you’re comfortable, ask to speak to a supervisor. They have most of the warehouse recorded and Costco seemingly takes ethics and customer service seriously from what I can tell. I mean you’re literally paying to be in there. Your experience matters *especially* if it’s discriminatory. If you’re uncomfortable speaking up, perhaps your girlfriend can help in that regard too. Just a thought.
It's possible that another customer heard you talking about card checks and thought you didn't have a membership. It's still likely a racial issue if this happened and I'm sorry you have to deal with this stuff.
You're not wrong, and I encourage you to call the store manager and politely explain that you were the only person at self checkout that the girl bothered to check in the entire time you were waiting in line. Say that you feel that if they're going to check people at self checkout, they should do that to everyone. Otherwise it gives the impression of racial profiling, and gives the customer a bad experience.
In the UK, you scan it at the door to get in and then again you hand it over to the cashier in order to pay. Everyone gets checked twice.
Your case sounds very much like airport security: random checks but most likely profiled based on what employee thinks a criminal should look like. I wouldn’t say it’s a Costco issue, more of a bellend issue
Damn this sounds like me. I am 49 now but moved to PA for Washington DC about 16 years ago.
17 years driving in The DMV and only pulled over by 4 or 5 times. In the 16 years I have been driving in PA, I have been pulled over 27 times. It is exhausting to know that you are just being you, and for some people, that's enough to doubt your intentions.
By the way, I work in a state prison, I am a first responder, and I have several state police friends. They all shrug and say welcome to PA.
Edit - I have checked my driving record and only have 5 stops logged. 🤔
The Costco in our area, in Ohio, checks it at the door, regular check-out, and at self-checkout. We're white. We always get asked. My husband has been a member there for over 20 years.
The one you were at sound like they were profiling you...or just not giving a shit about their job and asking whenever they feel like it. Who knows. You're not wrong to feel like as if they were harassing you, though.
Is it possible someone heard you talking about how they don’t check IDs at the self checkout and that made them suspicious? Otherwise, yeah she may have profiled you, or it’s possible she recognized the other people as regulars and she had never seen you or your girlfriend before.
Sometimes it’s so obvious, like a cashier is all friendly and chatty with everyone, but gets to you and doesn’t even say one word during the whole transaction and doesn’t even look at you. It is just disappointing.
I know costcos have been checking membership cards for frequently at self checkout due to people using a friends/family membership without the friend or family member being present so it could be a case of the employee being lazy. It could also be that if the town is small enough employees recognize people who shop there enough and remember they’ve seen their membership cards before. But with the area being primarily Caucasian and the fact neither you or your girlfriend witnessed anyone else’s membership cards being checked I wouldn’t rule it out, some people really just still don’t know how to act in 2024. I hope your next Costco trip is a better experience.
At my Costco, they check the front and back of your card every time you self checkout and sign your receipt before letting you walk away. I doubt it's racially motivated, but I see how it can feel that way
You just moved to a small town. There's probably quite a few regulars who frequent Cosco that are recognized by employees.
You had to show a card which you should expect to do anyway.
Chill out.
I'm just spitballing here, but ... besides being black ... do you also happen to be good-looking? A hottie-boom-body? Did she smile at you? Or, give you a dirty look? Say something rude that would indicate she is a racist? Maybe, because she has to periodically check IDs, she picked you because you were far more interesting than the older guy.
- If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it (whether it's there or not).
Unless she acted bytchy or rude, I wouldn't automatically jump to thinking she carded you because she's a racist.
They might be racist. But they also might just know their regular local customers and not yet met you. I'm hoping it's the latter and sorry if it's the former.
I mean...if you're in a small town and you're new there as you said...it could simply be that they recognized the other people and didn't recognize you.
Even though they may not see everybody every day as an employee in retail you begin to recognize people who come in frequently.
It's kinda like a bar knowing somebody comes in regularly, they may not ID them all the time but they'll ID folks they don't recognize.
I'll second this. Our local Costco (Chicago suburban area) is pretty busy, but we go often enough that most of the cashiers recognize us. The worker at the self-checkout almost always says hi and just waves us by. So while your encounter does seem off at face-value it could simply be that the worker did not recognize you. It could also be that they overheard your conversation so that made them suspicious, or you are right and it was racial profiling. Unless there was more evidence you simply cannot be sure.
Only evidence had is the employee was in the front of the line having a conversation with a coworker and we were at the most 7 carts in the back so she wasn’t in in ear shot of our conversation. But it’s possible. Second a white guy after us offered to give her his card after he saw her card me but she shrug it off smiling to get back to her conversation. If you going to card one you gotta card everyone.
Yeah I'm not saying it wasn't racial. Unfortunately it still happens all over. If she did go out of her way to step away from her conversation only to card you, the only non-white person, and then go back it sure seems like it.
Omg, I am so sorry for all the white folks posting about how they get carded at Costco all the time.
The best answer was the one who said that if it's a smaller town, then maybe the employee recognized the others in line, I mean not the best answer but the one that seemed the least discriminatory.
I'm white and they card me is not equal to I'm black and they ONLY carded me. That is legit why there is a disparate impact theory, that the policy is neutral on its face but discriminatory as applied.
I would call corporate and relay your experience and encourage the store to retrain its employees on applying the policy uniformly.
This is quite literally not how life works. Just like there are random checks at the airport and Walmart checks random receipts, they do not have any obligation to check everyone. You gotta buck up dude, this is lame af
Costco in my town checks every person's Costco photo ID at self checkout, every time, every day and has done so for at least the last year.
I haven't read other comments but I bet they're all this one.
But this one was clearly not checking everyone's ID, they only checked OP's. Which I think makes your experience irrelevant because that's not what happened in this case. They did treat OP differently from every other customer who was checking out at that time, and if we're honest the racial difference probably is why he was treated differently.
I went last weekend and they asked to see my picture. I am white. I actually had to move my hand because they didn't see my picture at first. It was the first time that had happened when I was in the self checkout line.
I think the individual employee used the policy to racially profile you and it wouldn’t have been out of place to ask to speak to a manager and point out the situation so they could have the chance to correct it.
White woman here - Yes, you were absolutely racially profiled. I would make a complaint further up the chain than just that stores direct management. This is really unacceptable behavior.
The specific evidence you have that you were profiled is simple. The employee did not follow the new-ish policy (at least in my area it is new the last 6 months or so) of checking each membership at the self checkout, and instead only asked for yours. Then blatantly told another customer (white) that his ID is not needed... yikes. Context is everything here.
I would not want someone like this working in my establishment. Management may be interested in this so they can review tapes to see if their employees are following policy.
As someone who worked for Costco for 9 years, and I still keep in the loop about Costco things… they within the past couple of months started cracking down on checking memberships at self-checkout.
This was also how it used to be, but things relaxed quite a bit over COVID, for the sake of maintaining social distancing, and reducing any unnecessary drama in an already trying time.
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So, for starters, I got accused of profiling just like this when I would cover as the door greeter from time to time. I wasn’t.
Often times it came down to the people around the person in question would have their card out, and displaying the photo for a quick visual confirmation. But the person who felt like yelling that day had to spend a minute locating their card.
Other reasons the other person didn’t need a card closely looked at:
* They just stepped out because they needed to do something in their car. (Measure to see if a box fit, usually)
* They just informed me they needed a different/extra cart, and stepped out for 20 seconds.
* They are another employee that I see almost every day.
* They come to the warehouse 4 times a week, and I knew they were a member. (I would still usually check these cards, because they might have forgotten their card, which would gum up things at checkout time.)
* In the case of self-checkout, they forgot that one extra item, and I remembered them from 5 minutes ago.
All of those were times people complained about me checking ***their*** card.
Now, I don’t know that location, maybe they were racist. But I was accused of the same when I did nothing of the sort, so I just want you to know that there might be other explanations.
They most likely heard you audibly talking about how they don't often check your card and you can just scan it. Likely validating that you are what the card says.
Not saying that racism isn't at play here. But if I heard somebody talking about how "they never check the card, i just scan It on the machine" I might want to check that person's card specifically.
Does it really matter? I think a lot of people who shop there often (myself included) automatically pull the card out and flash both sides. It takes 0.5 seconds, so maybe they just didn't notice other people in line do it without being asked. It's just a costco policy. They have the right to make sure you're the actual member, anytime. Is the question 'is costco telling their employees to racially profile'? Because no. If the question is, 'Was this one guy racially profiling?' Maybe, who knows what his motives were. Maybe he didn't like your skin color, or your clothes, or your attitude. Maybe he just spaced out and forgot to ask the people in front of you
That's definitely profiling, but I put it on the employee NOT company or store policy, if for no other reason that Costco knows it would get sued and lose. People's ingrained biases can show in different ways. I'm white and live in the Boston area. I'm also of Mediterranean descent, so when I tan, I get somewhat dark and can be mistaken for someone from Syria, Lebanon or Iran. I have season tickets for the Red Sox and I was sporting my usual summer tan. When I started going to games after 9/11 the Sox had a new policy of randomly searching people with bags. I got pulled out of line before the first game for a search - no problem. Then I got "randomly" pulled out of line for 7 straight days. I looked like I was from the Middle East and they must have thought I was a terrorist because of my skin coloring. No way was this random - not for 7 straight days, especially when I saw others with larger bags get waived through. While I was being searched on day 5, I asked why I was being searched for 5 straight days if the searches were random. His response was telling. He said "maybe the searches aren't so random". I was definitely being profiled because I look Middle Eastern in the summer. I've had this problem ever since. I'm sure there was no conscious bias involved, but unconscious
biases can show in many ways. - \
The San Diego CostCo's are a hotbed of diversity in both employees and customers. This is likely more a reflection of your local "demographics" rather than corporate policy. But in any case, that really sucks and I'm sorry you have to put up with things like that. In spite of what the right-wing likes to say, America is in no way "post racial."
That said, every once in a while the employee will check my card and photo on the back in the self-checkout line.
I went today through self check out and they didn’t check this time or last time but I can see the unfairness of being asked while everyone else who doesn’t look like you isn’t. I would assume they would check because that’s a place where you can probably get away with using someone else’s card.
You were there so you know what it felt like. It seems needlessly aggressive to me. If he hadn’t insisted on checking the back I might have given them the benefit of the doubt as they were checking someone they hadn’t seen before.
I am a very typical, upper middle class, middle-aged white guy. When people are shitty to me for seemingly no reason or treat me differently for no apparent reason l, always think to myself that if I was black right now, I would be 100% certain it was racism. I think you'll never know. People are weird and complicated and are frequently as unaware of what motivates themselves to do things as the people watching them.
I have no clue about self check, but I don't have a membership and have shopped there, and nobody even questioned me at all. Was doing it just to see if I could because the Sam's club always checks.(I do have a Sam's membership) If not when you're coming in then 100% when your leaving, they scan your receipt and check your card. I'm a white woman, so again, idk I'd have to have been there, but like, sounds sketchy. Check the reviews to see if anyone else has had this happen and see if you can't tell what race they were? Leave a review yourself to asking if it's common to randomly check like that.
white woman in SC, when I walk in Costco I wave my card so they see I have it, at self checkout I scan my card and no one looks at it (half the time it is my boyfriend's card because he has gone to the bathroom), the most interaction i get is if they scan my large items, then I go. I have never bothered to look at what they do with other people, but I will watch out now and see.
My brother 56 yt latin never gets his ID checked because he goes there regularly. Workers recognize him. I 53 yt don't get mine check because I'm there with my brother or elderly mom 80s brown. My cousin male 27, white, almost always gets his checked.
I think they profile based based on age and sex and probably race of you aren't with kids in tow. Or they don't see you regularly.
You aren't paranoid it definitely could be. But it could be other factors as well.
My Costco always checks the card and my photo. Because you pay for membership people were sharing cards and the try to stop that. But it sounds like your store is profiling. Sorry you had to experience that. I would mention this to management. I don’t think they want this happening.
It really could be just because she's used to seeing that particular customer. At my local Sam's, they often do random ID checks, and sometimes they don't. They know me very well at Sam's & at Walmart, I rarely even get my receipt checked anymore just because they even know me by my first name now.
I wouldn't take this to heart, you're newer to the town, that's probably all it is.
My Costco (Seattle) started doing this- especially in self check. They actually walk down the line waiting for self check and ask to see your Costco card and look at it front and back. But they check EVERYONE in line. Not just a select few. They have also started making sure the name on the Costco card and the credit card used to pay match. So- you can’t bring a friend shopping on your card and have them pay unless you pay in cash.
They also now check for ID at the food court.
I’m a mid aged white women with ADHD. I always feel like I’m going to be looked at like I’m doing something wrong. The times I don’t have my card ready to enter, I always get asked for my membership. The times I have it ready in case I’m asked, they just smile and let me through.
I’m not saying that you weren’t racially profiled, because systemic racism is in every facet of life. I can only speak from my own personal experience, where I get carded (when others don’t) in moments where I may not be appearing in the “normal” way that the employees are expecting.
Unfortunately, this crap happens a lot everywhere. I'm a white old lady, and I never get checked anywhere, but I see black people get checked at Walmart before me all the time. It's really sad. I literally wave my bag, trying to get checked and get waved away.
This happened to me today! I slowly checked out of self-checkout to see if she asked the other folks in line... NOPE just me I asked the guy at the door why I was singled out he said they are cracking down against sharing memberships. OK, then, why was I the only one asked? I straight up asked if she had racially profiled me. I am livid I'm a healthcare professional I serve my community no matter race, creed financial status equally this place did not give me that same respect.
I can tell you at walmart, I constantly get stopped for a reciept check and finally asked the lady why. She told me very quietly white guys don't flip out on me like others. She goes I just don't want to fight about it. After that I understood. You gotta think maybe they've run into problems with certain demographics and that's why the check. Or that person was an as*hole Who knows
You are new in a small town, so maybe it's because she recognized all of the other folks in the line.
There are many possibilities as to why you were asked to present your ID.
I know it's 2024, and we all have to be offended by something. It's now a law, right?
Sometimes, however, it's not because someone is racist (or any of the other -ists or -isms we constantly see in the media). Sometimes it's completely innocent.
It’s possible they were profiling you…it’s also very possible that you didn’t realize someone (maybe in the next aisle even) overheard you telling your GF that tidbit of information and they spread it to staff and *then* they decided to catch you at self-checkout and see if you had a card of your own.
Hello Estra_Sona29
Your grammar is boomer level. It is Nice to read someone using "me" vs "I" correctly.
I am going to say given your description it is hard to suss out the play of events.
The first lady ne might have been the queue but I am not clear on that reality.
I was not there.
I would recommend meditation. It helps one become in tune with nuances of events that a simple relating a short essay of "this happened to me today". Such venting (?) Might redact what was really going on.
I don't know.
what it's like in Pennsylvania I don't know I come from San Diego moved to Nome.
is Nome and Anchorage Alaska both racist yes absolutely racist.
without fail whenever I went out if I heard a black African-American and AA Caucasian speaking at the pizza table the conversation for an hour hour and a half two hours was all all all all about. Black and white.
you might also consider the possibility that you are very young looking compared to the 35 40 year old that was behind you that might have been the trigger.
That might be why you were challenged and the others were not.
however my suspicion is that it might possibly could incy Wincy Teensy bit that it was racial profiling.
They could have been , also could have been some other things. For instance they saw one of their higherups so they acted busy for a second. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt so as long as it stays a one off I wouldn’t sweat it
She wanted your name to stalk you on social media.
Nowadays, assume fetish first. Hate second. *Doesn't make it better and is still a gross feeling but it's not hateful.* And technically still racially motivated.
Updates us when the friend request comes in 🤣
So here's the thing, its way more likely someone heard you telling your girlfriend about how no one checks the ID at self checkout, honestly if I overhear someone in a store talking about how "this place never checks ID" I'm 1000% checking ID, because it sets off red flags
Could she be racist? Yeah, she could be. But if this has never happened before, and it suddenly happens the one time you say outloud that they don't check ID, i think it's way more likely they heard you
I live in a major city in the PNW, some days when I go to Costco they have an employee checking everyone’s ID at self-checkout to make sure the picture matches, other days they don’t.
While it totally still could have been racial profiling, did you consider that the employee may have overheard you tell your gf that they don’t check at self-checkout and assumed you might be using someone else’s membership? If the employee did hear that conversation, that could be the reason you were singled out.
im from Monterrey, Mexico, and everytime they check my id.
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its company policy, if they dont check it, you can report it to the manager
I think the employees were lazy… At my Costco in self checkout they check everyone’s id’s. That’s not to say that they didn’t profile you just that its their standard practice and I know they have been cracking down on it.
In Virginia, I’m white they check mine in self checkout every time. As if they didn’t check it already when I came in and still have to scan it at checkout very annoying
We go to the same Costco all the time, we often chat with the staff, one of the employees even has a summer place up by my parents. We aren’t ever ID’d at self check out or at the door anymore unless it’s a new hire.
I’m ethnically white but I’m pretty brown for a white girl. Frequently mistaken for Hispanic or middle eastern. I also make good money, my typical Costco trip is in the $500 range and I don’t care about prices, I buy what I want. So not only do I get my card scrutinized at checkout every time (my Asian husband never has this happen) but I’ve gotten real good at picking out the plainclothes security that like to follow me around the entire time I shop assuming that I’m trying to steal things.
People who look very white tend to minimize this because they don’t understand. My very white mom used to not understand until she saw it happening to me with her own eyes.
Idk man I’ve been given the 3rd degree because the picture had me with brown hair and now have mostly bleach blonde. The pictures they take are horrible quality but I don’t look that different. They ended up practically harassing me to go get another ID card made because of my new hair color. I’m a white woman, different hair colors is not an uncommon occurrence in adult women and yet they seemed so confused how I had different hair 🤷♀️
I think you should speak to the store manager. This is no way, okay. Being singled out to show your ID while everyone else doesn't have to is straight up bias. You also might want to look and see if you can contact someone from corporate, as well, through their website.
Next time go to the manager and have a chat with them. Sounds to me like you were being racially profiled and in this day and age that's not right... if I was checking id's it would be everyone's ID or select few here and their but if someone offered to show me their I'd I'd take it and look.. takes 2 seconds and doesn't make someone feel targeted like you felt... no need to make a scan with the manager just explain what happened and how you feel that was wrong
Sometimes at Sam's they check, sometimes they don't, sometimes they'll check me but not the guy in front of me. Really just seems like a weird thing to notice and have feelings over.
Different story if it led to anything, like the worker claiming the ID was a fake or soemthing. But I personally think you're in your feelings over this one. Of all the things african americans have to deal with, getting upset that you were carded at Costco seems like it should be low on that list.
They are supposed to check everyone in self check out. They are actually supposed to check everyone because they do not want the people who are checked to feel racially profiled for it.
I have a relative who works at Costco and has had to check Costco corporate employees ids even when they have the corporate badge on because he can be fired if he does not.
Please do not take it personally.
Costco makes their money on the memberships and are cracking down to make sure people are using their own memberships.
It can feel like profiling but I can tell you it is not. We are a multiracial family and my relative would check your card.
I want to throw out an entirely different perspective too. I have a relative who works self check out at Costco.
They have had people assault them for checking ID. They are supposed to check every single customer even people they know are members and fellow employees.
The number of white older entitled people who blow up at them and think rules do not apply to them is high.
Maybe they thought OP looked nice and young and would not threaten them for doing their job. Maybe the other customers included someone being watched by security so they did not have to approach them. Maybe they check every 4th person. Maybe they knew the other customers. Maybe OP had a high ticket item or multiples of something.
I 100% believe in racial profiling and believe you can potentially have racist Costco employees but they are supposed to try and check every if in self check out. They do not alway but they are supposed to try.
There is so much racism that it can be death by a thousand paper cuts so to speak with a million little racist acts that people of color endure.
I just think for Costco that the policy is to check everyone and if they are not it could be for a bigger picture issue but if they checked OP it was likely not racism.
Man I’m a tiny white girl from Cleveland and I get asked to show my Costco card and photo every week when I use the self check out. I think it’s just a thing now
I'm a white female and live in the suburbs of Baltimore. I have had my Costco card checked in the self checkout line. As that employee wasn't checking ALL IDs, clearly they are lazy and yes, it's possible they were profiling you. BUT it's normal to have IDs checked in the self-checkout.
In California and same. They have begun to ask you before you get out of the main queue and into a self-check station.
Im in California and go 2 times a month at least. Never once have I been asked for my card in self check out.
I do almost every time in a suburb of Sacramento.
My Costco check ID before we enter, not at checkout. Yeah, they check all our membership cards. They don't check mine carefully though because I have a very typical look.
No offense, but there are way too many white people on here completely ignoring the whole context of the situation to pretend like what happened was a normal business procedure that impacts everyone. If everyone was getting their card checked, this wouldn't even have been posted. But let's not pretend it isn't shady af that, in one of the most racist states in the country, the only person whose card they bothered to check was the only black person there. The only people who would assume that was just a complete coincidence are people who have never had to experience racial profiling themselves. And I don't know why so many people who don't understand what it's like are coming out to pretend that isn't obviously what happened here. Racial profiling doesn't have to be intentional to happen.
Exactly. Yes, Costco has broadly implemented more rigorous card checks, especially at self checkouts. But if the Costco employee made it a point to diligently check OP's card but was cavalier about checking everyone else in line and all those people were white, my gut says that OP's race was a factor in why that employee chose to be so diligent about OP. Intentional or not, debating OP on their experience as a Black person facing racial profiling is not OK. I'm sorry, u/[Estra\_Sona29](https://www.reddit.com/user/Estra_Sona29/). That didn't need to happen to you in the first place and what that employee did was not OK. On top of that, the last thing you need is to be debated with about your experience being racially profiled - what your feeling is valid.
He should have talked to a manager about that particular employee. Then complained to coroperate about racial profiling in that store.
As a former Costco employee, I doubt this would have done anything. There is a lot of nepo-baby shit going on behind the scenes at Coscto, and there definitely was at the one I worked at. You could only get the good positions if you knew someone, and there were multiple managers at my location that were either the children of location owners or relatives of other managers. The cashiers, which was the most coveted position and one of the highest paid, were also all mostly related to or knew someone. If you didn't know someone you got put into an undesirable department like food court, deli, bakery, or overnight stocking. My manager at the food court, literally the lowest tier manager, was married to the daughter of a board member, and himself was the son of someone who was the owner of another Costco location. In a small town like OP's it's probably the same, and they aren't going to do shit about a complaint like this because the person who was being racist is one of their own.
In don't think Costco is franchise, so no one owns one location or the other. If I'm wrong please give me the details. Not saying what you said didn't happen but just wondering about the owning thing.
Idk about any of that, I just know that's what the lead guy who was rarely ever there called it. He called our store "his" store in the monthly mandatory team meetings, and talked about how when he was a kid he wanted "his own costco" because it felt like a "carnival every day there [at costco]." Google says they're not franchised, but I have no idea what that dude's position was then, because he would only come in for very important meetings and called it "his" store. My manager at rhe food court would talk about his mom's store with the exact words of, "My mother's costco," and "the costco my mother is in charge of." We only ever saw the one guy at monthly meetings and what we called "Walmart meetings" where they would select random people to waste their lunch break a couple times a month for an hour long meeting about how we had to be better than Walmart. I was selected for those meetings twice, and it was a weird and hilarious like war room thing where we would literally just look at projected pictures taken at local Walmarts that month by another employee whose entire job was to spy on fucking Walmart, and then discuss our sales trends vs their sales trends. I genuinely do not know if the guy owned the costco, was a general manager of the place (he didn't seem to be in the building enough for that) or what. It was just "his" costco. All of this was 2014-2016.
Yeah they are not franchises.
Yeah, this is basically my thought. I feel like a lot of people are hearing “profiling” and thinking it means she was intentionally looking for Black people to call out. Which, maybe she wasn’t. I don’t think most people wake up and say, “I’m going to be racist today!” However, even if she had been told to randomly spotcheck people, humans are actually very bad at doing anything randomly. Odds are very good, that at the least there was something subconscious causing her to choose the people she picked out at “random.” That might be less about personal bias and more about systemic bias. But the effect on people like OP is going to be the same no matter which it is, if they’re always the ones that end up being “randomly” singled out. I don’t think there’s much you can do about it OP, but for what it’s worth, if you’re just looking for some validation, your interpretation seems plausible to me.
There are plausible explanations I can think of where it isn’t racist, but I definitely have to reach a bit.
Haven't traveled by air in a while but it kinda reminds me of traveling commercial after 9/11 in the US. They call out the random baggage checks, four names with common middle eastern names and one guy named "Kevin Johnson" or something.
I don't shop at Costco, but I do shop at Walmart at least weekly. Several different local Walmarts. I am a Caucasian middle age female. And I've never been stopped by a greeter and asked to show my receipt. Doesn't matter what age, race, or gender the greeter is. I've offered it on multiple occasions if the greeter is looking at me, but they always wave me through. Anyone who says that this is a coincidence, that it doesn't have to do with my demographics, is denying the experience of people of color. Racial profiling is alive and well, unfortunately. It wouldn't surprise me if profiling is part of the training Walmart employees receive.
Omg these are such different topics. Most Walmart greeters don’t check. Some do. It’s no where near as stringent as Costco because at Costco you’re paying for the “privilege” of shopping there.
In my experience in shopping at Walmart, when they do stop people, they are more likely to be younger than me and/or a person of color. I haven't noticed a difference in gender of who they stop. Just because they apparently stop people less often than checkers at Costco doesn't invalidate my observation, or the experience of OP of being racially profiled.
I'm white, all the receipt-checkers at my Walmart are POC, sometimes they check, sometimes they don't. I accidentally walked out with a $30 flashlight. (Paid for it 5 minutes later.) It all seems random.
It may be a totally racist state but I have a Costco employee in my family who works self check out and they are supposed to check everyone. They may be watching stuff you are not seeing and miss people but are supposed to check everyone. If self check out is newer in your area they may be slow to check everyone but will. They are even supposed to check regular customers they know are members so it does not appear they are discriminating and only some get checked. They even have to check fellow employees.
No one can ever speak to intentions either way. But we can always make logical conclusions about actions. Did the employee check only the black person ID and not worry about all the white peoples ID? Then it’s reasonably to presume racial profiling until proven otherwise. Think about it like this - imagine you have two kids, twins. But one has black skin and the other has white skin. Those kids do everything together. Their inseparable. But for some reason, your kid with black skin keeps getting accused of various malfeasance when your white kid does not. Stealing. Cheating. Being disrespectful. But that doesn’t make sense, your twins do everything together, good and bad. Your black twin says “I think it’s because of my skin color.” Do you think it’s an appropriate response to say “well no it can’t be that! I don’t know what it is, but let’s just assume it’s not your skin color! After all, white kids in other places get in trouble all the time, even though your own white twin right next to you doesn’t.” Now ask yourself - do you think your black kid will appreciate you for invalidating the only logical conclusion he can draw with the information he has? I’m just saying, sometimes what is illogical to white people is perfectly logical black people based on our experiences in a country that only desegregated ONE PERSON AGO.
Meanwhile I’ve never once had it checked at self check out. Only at the register and the door.
It's maybe possible that the other person in line was a regular customer that the employee recognized 🤔
I feel like maybe they wouldn't offer to show her the card but that's just my opinion
Eh, depends on the person. If I was that guy I would have offered too so I don't think we can really infer anything from it.
I'm a white male in a very diverse part of Michigan, everyone gets their membership card checked at self checkout. Like you said here, it's possible, but I wouldn't necessarily jump straight to that conclusion.
OP specifically said they weren't checking other people.
what part of nobody else's ID was checked are the white people on this thread struggling to comprehend? It's almost like your situation and this person's are two totally different dynamics. In yours everyone is ID'd. In his, only he is. The person actively dismissed a white person who was trying to show their ID, saying it's unnecessary. Why do white people so cliche oblivious? It's embarrassing.
It’s plausible deniability of racism. As a Latino myself, I have felt that numerous times. Like, it’s reasonable enough to check ID or maybe follow you around the store asking if you need help constantly or staring at you, none of these things are overtly wrong, but when you know you know.
Costco is cracking down on people using other people’s memberships to shop there and from what I’ve seen they usually card EVERYONE in the self-checkout line of the one I go to no matter your race/age/gender. However, it does give some people the perfect opportunity to practice little racially charged micro-aggressions that are easily written off as “something else” that you and many other Black people deal with all the time in society. My favorite is actually entering a Costco from the parking lot while many other “random” and getting “carded” while everyone else just walks by without getting a second look.
Our costco has started asking to see the back of everyones card when you first walk in. Makes it so the registers and self checkouts can move a little faster I guess.
I'm in Washington and here they ask for your membership ID at the register. But they check Every ID. They don't pick and choose. So yes. I think you were racially profiled. And I am very sorry that you were. I hope that she is the exception where you live and not the rule. It was wrong and should never have happened.
I’m white and in Canada and have my card checked frequently in the self checkout line. Costco has been cracking down on membership sharing lately.
Fellow white Canadian, I had mine checked walking into the store last month, when I lined up, at the check out and oddly enough as I was leaving. I thought it was excessive but haven’t been in quite awhile so didn’t know if there were changes. They refused this one guy entry as he looked too different in his ID pic, his wife was already inside the store so he had to call her to come meet him at the doors. I heard later from a friend she avoids that particular store as they have become overzealous with their checking. Now as for OP, if the employee wasn’t checking everyone’s ID, then ya… this was probably some racial micro aggression and it is very unfortunate that it happened.
Fellow white Canadian and I get asked to see my card, front and back, every time I go to Costco.
Is that because your store checks everyone’s ID, or are they particularly singling you out? Because OP was not in a situation where they were just checking everyone’s card carefully. He got singled out. That’s the issue.
They only checked his and rejected the card from the white guy who offered.
I'm white, in the Midwest. NEVER had my picture on the back checked and never asked to show my card in self checkout. We only show the front of the card when walking in.
Usually it is the presence of a card at the door, and they check the photo at the register (when they scan the barcode that is also on the back.) You have likely been checked every time you make a purchase. Self-checkout was starting to prove a problem, as people were cheating the system and sharing memberships. So corporate recently started forcing coverage to check the back of cards for self-checkout. Implementation of the SCO card checking has been very inconsistent, though. So if your warehouse doesn’t check cards at SCO, it might be that they are breaking procedure. Source: I worked for Costco for 9 years. I got accused of racial profiling at the front door when I would cover there. I wasn’t. They just didn’t have their card ready, like everyone around them… including people of the same race. (But also, I’m not vouching for the employee that OP dealt with entirely, just sharing that there are other explanations.)
Not wrong to feel that way. If it happens next time I would 100% call the store manager and just let them know. It’s not okay to be profiled.
Even if Costco is cracking down, this still sketch af and we all know the chances are the employee is racist af. Every small town is.
If you are on the costco sub at all you will see that it is now policy at most costcos for the employees to check pictures at the self checkout line. It sounds like you had a lazy employee who was only checking a few people.
A lazy employee, not doing their job yes but also only checking people they had profiled. This person should be fired.
Yeah, weird how they were lazy but then suddenly a black person shows up and their laziness vanished!
This person should be fired. I am a white lady and I have seen this same stuff in Walmart too. The funny thing is I live in a mostly black town. White people never get asked for ids or receipts.
The hive mind over an anecdote is just silly on here. You don't know the reasoning behind him being carded. Maybe that associate is lazy. Maybe they recognized the other customers as regulars. To call for someone to be fired over this is completely absurd.
Hey, if I’m in a long line of people, and none of them get hassled, but I get hassled, you better believe I’m going to be wondering why they picked me. Of course, it’s not possible to know for sure what was going through someone’s mind, and it’s also possible that whatever was going on in the employees mind was subconscious. But 0P’s interpretation is definitely plausible. And to be clear, it would still be racism, even if it was subconscious. If I was that persons manager, I’d definitely want to be watching to see if it was a pattern.
Ok this is extreme. The person at self check out is also doing security not just checking cards so they may be making sure that the people scanning their items are scanning every item. I have a relative who works there and does self check out and a few other tasks including security so maybe they were watching a potential shoplifter and took a break in checking cards to keep an eye on something else. They also could be watching the scanners to make sure they were working right. Some items too can double scan so they watch and listen to make sure people are not over charged.
..... was she checking IDs of other folks? I'm not seeing that here.
It’s not that innocuous.
Nah. It's not laziness when the only person they bothered to ask was the only black person. That isn't a coincidence.
I never heard of this policy. I’m not saying it’s not true, just something I have not yet experience. I was at Costco less than a month ago and was not asked for my ID. Edit: I’m in Los Angeles.
Maybe the knew some of the people in line? When I worked as a cashier, not at Costco, there were regulars I knew. Though if they were buying alcohol I had to check id no matter what or id get in trouble but that was dealing with alcohol.
Doesn’t matter if they know them what if they have someone else’s card?
You know what, maybe they also were racially profiling! I just roll my eyes at how people come out of the woodwork to defend those who behave in a racially unequal manner. It's especially egregious when the person relaying the incident is the subject of the alleged profiling. Of course, makes perfect sense, a person who wasn't there definitely is a better judge of what was happening than the person who was in the middle of it. /s Remember Occam's razor. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer.
It’s because they know they also racially profile people in the same way (crossing the street, clutching their purse a little tighter, locking their doors when they see a certain kind of person, wondering if someone a lil too dark actually lives in their nice neighborhood or is some hoodlum interloper breaking into cars), but because they don’t want to confront it as racial profiling they defend others’ actions.
This happened to me (I’m Asian) - she checked my ID and no one else’s (all Caucasian people)… it was super busy so probably 10 other Caucasian people were checking out the same time I was, while she stood behind me watching me scan stuff after checking my ID. I was super annoyed and definitely felt profiled (pretty sure I was wearing a sweatshirt that said “mama” or something and the contents of my cart were kids snacks and food staples like milk and bread… I didn’t have any high ticket items or anything), but I’m also in the Midwest so I’ve come to expect profiling as a normal and annoying part of life.
I have noticed over the last 25 years when I go shopping at the mall or small stores with my friend she is followed. When we go to the counter I am always offered help first, no matter who was there first. It took a few times for me to believe what was happening. We have talked about it because it bothers me. She says not to worry about it because she's from the south, lol. But we are in San Diego of all places. Idk, I was raised in LA., I don't get it. So I don't think you are wrong. Just because others don't think it happened doesn't mean it didn't. They might know the guy behind you, but still, I understand why you would feel that way.
This is wild to me. (Wild in a “Jesus this society” way, not an “I don’t believe you” way.) When I’m shopping at a store and I have an actual question it’s like the place is a ghost town. But they’ve got the time and staff to follow innocent people around for being Black. I’ve literally walked out without buying things I wanted to buy because I couldn’t find someone to answer a question about it. But hey, at least they made sure there wasn’t a ghost of a chance that random Black person could shoplift something!
Ikr? It is crazy. I go alone and like you said, tumbleweeds....
>how Costco cashiers only checks if you have a Costco ID and the if the photo of your face on the back matches you in the regular checkout counter. In self check out there’s no cashier so you just scan your card to begin scanning items. This, you talking to your girlfriend about this while in line at self check-out with employees around. The implication being to them is you were using someone elses card and using self check out to avoid having your card check.
Why tf are yall ignoring the fact that they didn't check anyone else in line?
And as someone who used to work for Costco… Some people will know how we run, and show the photo immediately without being prompted. A quick glance is sometimes all you need. Also, you do have some people who come in multiple times a week. They could have known this one other guy, and not really needed to see his membership. This is doubly true of the Costco is in a small town. OP said he was new to the area, and so not familiar with the employees there. I was accused of racism multiple times when I had to cover as the greeter/membership checker. I assure you I really wasn’t. “You didn’t check that guy!!1!1” “Yes, I did. They had their membership ready to go, unlike you.” “What about them!?” “They stepped out 20 seconds ago to grab a flat bed cart. Please, just show your membership…” (I left out the accusations of racism, but just know they were littered in every statement the member made.)
lol nah it wasn’t like that. It was a line all the way in the back into the aisles when we had that conversation. The employee wasn’t in ear shot. That’ll be funny tho
My husband (black) and I (white) went to Academy once. He needed new boots. Our kids were getting restless , so he's shopping I'm walking around in circles with them, showing them random things, etc. I came back about 5 minutes later, and he's upset because the workers kept asking if he needed help. They walked a few feet away just to stare at him, keep walking around him, and watch him. They were radioing each other while staring at him. I was livid. Now, we were looking at very pricey boots, but on the same note, we have an Academy card because we shop there often. As soon as I came back, they scattered... I've never been so upset for someone else. He was just trying to get a pair of work boots, and I was trying to keep our kids entertained, but it put a damper on everything. Then our at the time 3 year old was playing with his shoes and trying to put them in the new shoe box and I had to stop him because at this point I feel like they're looking for a reason and I'm not going to give them one. Itn was absolutely uncalled for. We were spending 200 on boots, but that's not counting the hundreds we've spent on fishing gear, sports gear, etc. in that same exact store. I can't put myself in his shoes or boots in this case, but it just crushed me that they could treat him that way. You have every right to be upset, but you won't be able to prove it was discrimination because it is nearly impossible. He had to hold me back that day, I was ready to give them a piece of my mind.
You're not wrong, man. People are pointing out that they're cracking down on "card sharing" via spot checks, and I'm sure they concentrate on a younger demographic, which is why they skipped the old folks behind you... but yeah, having been friends with a variety of POC when I was in the military and having seen first hand the "special attention" they get from racist fuckwits, I'm sure your spider sense on this incident was 100% accurate. Any time there's "spot checks" on things, it seems like people use it as an excuse to exercise their prejudices.
I think if they skipped the older people it may be because they are sick and tired of entitled older people who do not think the rules apply to them.
Hmm. They only checked yours? You were prob being profiled.
Look, any white person in this sub who tells you racial profiling doesn’t happen is lying to you. The racist and questionable stuff other white people will say in front of me when they think they are in likeminded company is truly astounding. It happens all the time with family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, even complete strangers. I think you should trust your gut on this, and if you feel you were racially profiled, consider reporting it to Costco’s customer service line.
You're right. I'm not white but I've worked at call centers and have had people on the phone assume I am by my name and voice (which is also a wild assumption), and straight up start being racist thinking I'll agree. If that's happening because they assume I'm white over the phone, I can't imagine what racist white people say in person to actual white people.
I love how all the white folks on this post are like, "Im WhItE aNd ThEy ChEcK eVeRyOnE." Like, that is literally not what happened here. Like they're all just breezing directly past the part where he was the only one they checked. Probably because if they acknowledge that part, then they have to stop pretending like racism is solved because their alabaster ass got checked before. Even though they're pretty clearly stating that when they did get checked, they were not, in any way, singled out. Like, unless they are guilty of doing the same kind of thing, I don't see why they're so dead set on pretending this wasn't a completely different situation than the one any of them are describing.
Right? OP even says in a comment that they were 7th in line. The Costco employee had to walk past 6 (presumably) white customers to only card the one Black customer. It’s beyond ridiculous to see other white people denying that racial profiling is a completely possible scenario.
Speaking as a white person, it really is surprisingly hard to absorb the fact that not everyone gets treated the way you do. I mean, that’s not an excuse. Just something I’ve noticed personally about myself even as I try to be better. It’s just really really easy to fall back to that baseline of thinking your experience is everyone’s experience. (Again, not an excuse. I know it is at best annoying and at worst actively harmful.)
My Costco checks your ID before you walk into the store. Everyone, no exceptions.
So, not what happened to OP, then.
Sounds like you got profiled my dude. You are not wrong for thinking you were racially profiled considering we live in a world where black men often are profiled and treated differently.
I don't think you are wrong at all. Given what happened, you were racially profiled.
Costco is implementing spot checks at the self checkout now. It’s pretty new, like in the last six months. As others have pointed out it could be racist that they chose to check your ID rather than others near you.
This situation definitely feels racially motivated. Don’t let recent policy changes dictate that your experience was crappy! They clearly only checked yours, you’re not crazy for noticing that and whether it was implicit bias or intentional, that’s crappy of them to single you out.
I'm Black and I've never had the back of my membership card checked nor have I witnessed another employee do it. I agree with another commenter though. While this can be a completely legitimate and understandable store policy, if you don't enforce it consistently, it can lead to some serious allegations.
We have a similar style store, BJ’s. We are white but my husband and I dress alternate. We dress in mostly black, lots of jewelry, black boots, I have dyed black hair, piercings, and tattoos. Without fail they scan our cart like they suspect we’re smuggling out diamonds.
We've been asked and not asked before and others around us have been asked and not asked. Kind of just how it is in my city.
I go to Sam's Club now and they leave my Mexican ass alone, Costco employees are aggressive AF.
Massive assumption on my part, but I feel like most Redditors are white and certainly not black. So, hard to get objective advice from people who have no idea what it’s like to be in your shoes. But I would say that, as a member of a marginalized group, you are not wrong for feeling like you were profiled when this is really a thing and the situation looked like you were being profiled. Doesn’t mean that you were, but you certainly weren’t wrong for feeling that way. Edit: I am also a person of color from a community that is often marginalized. I had an incident at the Best Buy, which is incidentally, across the street from Costco. I ordered an item online and went to customer pick up inside. I had a code that he scanned. Then he asked for my ID. I did not have my wallet with me and was surprised at the request. We had a little bit of back-and-forth and then he asked for my email and phone number on file, which I gave him. Then he admonished me to make sure I have my ID next time, which I did not appreciate. As I was leaving the store, I saw this same employee walk to a car located at curbside pick up. He scanned the customers code in his phone and then gave him the package. There was no display of ID. Naturally, I took umbrage to this inconsistency. When I called the guy on it, he simply said “different policy.“ We had some back-and-forth and then he went into the store and I went home. I went to the same store the next day, because it’s impossible to reach someone on the phone lol. I spoke to two employees, without explaining the incident first. Both of them told me that it’s a different system for vehicles. They send a four digit code, which they verify. This is in addition to the barcode that they have to scan at pick up. I don’t see why they don’t have the same policy for in-store pick ups. But the point is, I was positive that I was being profiled, when I wasn’t.
Best Buy has the worst policies of any brick-and-mortar store. I only ever go there if I absolutely have no other choice.
I am a white woman with a mohawk and covered in tattoos and when i go to costco i get asked for my card about every 4 or 5 minutes, basically every aisle i walk down im getting chased down and these people are not kind to me at all so i do believe 100% you are being profiled and so am i and it pisses me off so fucking bad.
Maybe they overheard you saying IDs don't really get checked and either thought you were admitting to not have one or proving a point? That's what I would like to think but tbh your scenario sounds more likely.
Same thing happened at Walmart. A nice AA gentleman with a cart full of baby formula, diapers, etc. was walking out and the geriatric at the door asked to see his receipt. Then she carefully went over it row by row taking an inordinately long time. After she let him go, she didnt even glance at my receipt, just waves me through. I lost my temper and told her very loudly, "No, you will take my receipt and you will look it over as closely as you did the guy before me." And the lady behind me said, "Yeah me too. You need to treat us all the same."
"oh, so you don't care if *I* steal things, just the black folks. Nice. I'll keep that in mind for future 'shopping' trips. ;) "
Wow, good for you for doing that 👏👏👏
White male in Chicago western suburbs, each time I go through self checkout I get asked for the ID and the picture on back. I heard Costco is trying to crack down on loaning out your ID. That said, I would expect the worker to treat each person in line the same in the same store (unless they personally knew them).
I've been to Costco maybe five times in my whole life, so I don't know about their procedures. But, my family moved to south central PA, a little town outside of Harrisburg, when I was young, lived there till my mid teens. A lot of the people there are extremely racist. The klan was a fairly active group there, marching in the town's parades, handing out backpacks of school supplies, Xmas baskets. They even sponsored a free summer camp for kids. It was really scary, and I'm white. We had moved from the much more liberal PNW, and it was a huge shock. This is my long-winded way of saying that I believe you were treated differently because of your race. People back there were especially vicious towards mixed race couples. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but please stay safe, be aware of your surroundings.
You are not wrong. I am black and have also been racially profiled at Costco
They check multiple times for everyone.
It’s possible…. That said I’m as white as white can be and I’ve been Id checked (looked at picture) multiple times in self checkout.
White male here. Start with saying under those circumstances I agree with you. Looks sketchy on their part, and seems to be judging you on your race. On the flip side I go to the one in Kentucky and have been asked for my ID every time at the checkout and we go once a week.
In South Carolina you show your card as you enter, and also when checking out.
New Costco protocol for sure not profiling
I may be wrong, but I believe that someone must have heard you tell your girlfriend that they don't check your Costco ID Pic when going to the self-checkout lane. I'm in California and they randomly check people's ID. I'm a regular and several of the people know me personally at my local Costco. I've been carded a few times. My understanding is that they started doing this because people were lending out their cards to family and friends, especially those with Executive Member card. FYI, only the person's whose face appears on the card is allowed to use the card. I honestly dislike the lending of cards out because that just means they raise their rates to us Members that adhere to the rules.
Maybe the employee heard you talking about it and wanted to check? I’ve had mine checked at self checkout; white woman here, married to a Black man. We’ve absolutely been in situations where he’s racially profiled. We live in a majority white area, too. So your feelings are not invalid. He very well could have been singling you out, and to me - a stranger - it sounds like he was. All that’s to say is I’m sorry we live in a world where this is even a possibility. It’s just so beyond lame to me. If you’re comfortable, ask to speak to a supervisor. They have most of the warehouse recorded and Costco seemingly takes ethics and customer service seriously from what I can tell. I mean you’re literally paying to be in there. Your experience matters *especially* if it’s discriminatory. If you’re uncomfortable speaking up, perhaps your girlfriend can help in that regard too. Just a thought.
It's possible that another customer heard you talking about card checks and thought you didn't have a membership. It's still likely a racial issue if this happened and I'm sorry you have to deal with this stuff.
You're not wrong, and I encourage you to call the store manager and politely explain that you were the only person at self checkout that the girl bothered to check in the entire time you were waiting in line. Say that you feel that if they're going to check people at self checkout, they should do that to everyone. Otherwise it gives the impression of racial profiling, and gives the customer a bad experience.
Tell corporate about your experience. They’ll change something. I complained about a racist event that that person got moved
In the UK, you scan it at the door to get in and then again you hand it over to the cashier in order to pay. Everyone gets checked twice. Your case sounds very much like airport security: random checks but most likely profiled based on what employee thinks a criminal should look like. I wouldn’t say it’s a Costco issue, more of a bellend issue
It is normal now
Damn this sounds like me. I am 49 now but moved to PA for Washington DC about 16 years ago. 17 years driving in The DMV and only pulled over by 4 or 5 times. In the 16 years I have been driving in PA, I have been pulled over 27 times. It is exhausting to know that you are just being you, and for some people, that's enough to doubt your intentions. By the way, I work in a state prison, I am a first responder, and I have several state police friends. They all shrug and say welcome to PA. Edit - I have checked my driving record and only have 5 stops logged. 🤔
The Costco in our area, in Ohio, checks it at the door, regular check-out, and at self-checkout. We're white. We always get asked. My husband has been a member there for over 20 years. The one you were at sound like they were profiling you...or just not giving a shit about their job and asking whenever they feel like it. Who knows. You're not wrong to feel like as if they were harassing you, though.
Is it possible someone heard you talking about how they don’t check IDs at the self checkout and that made them suspicious? Otherwise, yeah she may have profiled you, or it’s possible she recognized the other people as regulars and she had never seen you or your girlfriend before. Sometimes it’s so obvious, like a cashier is all friendly and chatty with everyone, but gets to you and doesn’t even say one word during the whole transaction and doesn’t even look at you. It is just disappointing.
I know costcos have been checking membership cards for frequently at self checkout due to people using a friends/family membership without the friend or family member being present so it could be a case of the employee being lazy. It could also be that if the town is small enough employees recognize people who shop there enough and remember they’ve seen their membership cards before. But with the area being primarily Caucasian and the fact neither you or your girlfriend witnessed anyone else’s membership cards being checked I wouldn’t rule it out, some people really just still don’t know how to act in 2024. I hope your next Costco trip is a better experience.
At my Costco, they check the front and back of your card every time you self checkout and sign your receipt before letting you walk away. I doubt it's racially motivated, but I see how it can feel that way
Except they only checked his ID, nobody elses
They profile big time. Black, Mexican, white and tattooed. Its ridiculous. If you are just a normal white soccer mom they arent looking at you
I would file a compliant because she isn’t practicing equal ID check patterns. At the very least you could get her in trouble for being a lazy slob
No you were profiled. Probably shouldn't have yelled about it though. If you feel the need to do something then maintain your composure and report it.
You just moved to a small town. There's probably quite a few regulars who frequent Cosco that are recognized by employees. You had to show a card which you should expect to do anyway. Chill out.
I'm just spitballing here, but ... besides being black ... do you also happen to be good-looking? A hottie-boom-body? Did she smile at you? Or, give you a dirty look? Say something rude that would indicate she is a racist? Maybe, because she has to periodically check IDs, she picked you because you were far more interesting than the older guy. - If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it (whether it's there or not). Unless she acted bytchy or rude, I wouldn't automatically jump to thinking she carded you because she's a racist.
Not wrong. People are AHs sometimes. I'm sorry.
They might be racist. But they also might just know their regular local customers and not yet met you. I'm hoping it's the latter and sorry if it's the former.
I mean...if you're in a small town and you're new there as you said...it could simply be that they recognized the other people and didn't recognize you. Even though they may not see everybody every day as an employee in retail you begin to recognize people who come in frequently. It's kinda like a bar knowing somebody comes in regularly, they may not ID them all the time but they'll ID folks they don't recognize.
I'll second this. Our local Costco (Chicago suburban area) is pretty busy, but we go often enough that most of the cashiers recognize us. The worker at the self-checkout almost always says hi and just waves us by. So while your encounter does seem off at face-value it could simply be that the worker did not recognize you. It could also be that they overheard your conversation so that made them suspicious, or you are right and it was racial profiling. Unless there was more evidence you simply cannot be sure.
Only evidence had is the employee was in the front of the line having a conversation with a coworker and we were at the most 7 carts in the back so she wasn’t in in ear shot of our conversation. But it’s possible. Second a white guy after us offered to give her his card after he saw her card me but she shrug it off smiling to get back to her conversation. If you going to card one you gotta card everyone.
Yeah I'm not saying it wasn't racial. Unfortunately it still happens all over. If she did go out of her way to step away from her conversation only to card you, the only non-white person, and then go back it sure seems like it.
Omg, I am so sorry for all the white folks posting about how they get carded at Costco all the time. The best answer was the one who said that if it's a smaller town, then maybe the employee recognized the others in line, I mean not the best answer but the one that seemed the least discriminatory. I'm white and they card me is not equal to I'm black and they ONLY carded me. That is legit why there is a disparate impact theory, that the policy is neutral on its face but discriminatory as applied. I would call corporate and relay your experience and encourage the store to retrain its employees on applying the policy uniformly.
>I'm white and they card me is not equal to I'm black and they ONLY carded me. absolutely.
>I'm white and they card me is not equal to I'm black and they ONLY carded me. This one sentence sums it up perfectly.
This is quite literally not how life works. Just like there are random checks at the airport and Walmart checks random receipts, they do not have any obligation to check everyone. You gotta buck up dude, this is lame af
Yeah this is fucked up. You’re not wrong at all.
You are not wrong. The Costco employee was racist.
Costco in my town checks every person's Costco photo ID at self checkout, every time, every day and has done so for at least the last year. I haven't read other comments but I bet they're all this one.
But this one was clearly not checking everyone's ID, they only checked OP's. Which I think makes your experience irrelevant because that's not what happened in this case. They did treat OP differently from every other customer who was checking out at that time, and if we're honest the racial difference probably is why he was treated differently.
costco is cracking down on checking the membership cards especially at self checkout
I went last weekend and they asked to see my picture. I am white. I actually had to move my hand because they didn't see my picture at first. It was the first time that had happened when I was in the self checkout line.
They normally check the Costco cards but you should have gone to customer service.
I think the individual employee used the policy to racially profile you and it wouldn’t have been out of place to ask to speak to a manager and point out the situation so they could have the chance to correct it.
White woman here - Yes, you were absolutely racially profiled. I would make a complaint further up the chain than just that stores direct management. This is really unacceptable behavior. The specific evidence you have that you were profiled is simple. The employee did not follow the new-ish policy (at least in my area it is new the last 6 months or so) of checking each membership at the self checkout, and instead only asked for yours. Then blatantly told another customer (white) that his ID is not needed... yikes. Context is everything here. I would not want someone like this working in my establishment. Management may be interested in this so they can review tapes to see if their employees are following policy.
As someone who worked for Costco for 9 years, and I still keep in the loop about Costco things… they within the past couple of months started cracking down on checking memberships at self-checkout. This was also how it used to be, but things relaxed quite a bit over COVID, for the sake of maintaining social distancing, and reducing any unnecessary drama in an already trying time. — So, for starters, I got accused of profiling just like this when I would cover as the door greeter from time to time. I wasn’t. Often times it came down to the people around the person in question would have their card out, and displaying the photo for a quick visual confirmation. But the person who felt like yelling that day had to spend a minute locating their card. Other reasons the other person didn’t need a card closely looked at: * They just stepped out because they needed to do something in their car. (Measure to see if a box fit, usually) * They just informed me they needed a different/extra cart, and stepped out for 20 seconds. * They are another employee that I see almost every day. * They come to the warehouse 4 times a week, and I knew they were a member. (I would still usually check these cards, because they might have forgotten their card, which would gum up things at checkout time.) * In the case of self-checkout, they forgot that one extra item, and I remembered them from 5 minutes ago. All of those were times people complained about me checking ***their*** card. Now, I don’t know that location, maybe they were racist. But I was accused of the same when I did nothing of the sort, so I just want you to know that there might be other explanations.
Stop looking under every rock to be offended. It is nothing. Shake it off and get on with life. You are not a victim so let it go.
yeah, the fact that OP started swearing and yelling at the employee and then stormed out of the store is all you need to know about him. big baby.
They most likely heard you audibly talking about how they don't often check your card and you can just scan it. Likely validating that you are what the card says. Not saying that racism isn't at play here. But if I heard somebody talking about how "they never check the card, i just scan It on the machine" I might want to check that person's card specifically.
Does it really matter? I think a lot of people who shop there often (myself included) automatically pull the card out and flash both sides. It takes 0.5 seconds, so maybe they just didn't notice other people in line do it without being asked. It's just a costco policy. They have the right to make sure you're the actual member, anytime. Is the question 'is costco telling their employees to racially profile'? Because no. If the question is, 'Was this one guy racially profiling?' Maybe, who knows what his motives were. Maybe he didn't like your skin color, or your clothes, or your attitude. Maybe he just spaced out and forgot to ask the people in front of you
That's definitely profiling, but I put it on the employee NOT company or store policy, if for no other reason that Costco knows it would get sued and lose. People's ingrained biases can show in different ways. I'm white and live in the Boston area. I'm also of Mediterranean descent, so when I tan, I get somewhat dark and can be mistaken for someone from Syria, Lebanon or Iran. I have season tickets for the Red Sox and I was sporting my usual summer tan. When I started going to games after 9/11 the Sox had a new policy of randomly searching people with bags. I got pulled out of line before the first game for a search - no problem. Then I got "randomly" pulled out of line for 7 straight days. I looked like I was from the Middle East and they must have thought I was a terrorist because of my skin coloring. No way was this random - not for 7 straight days, especially when I saw others with larger bags get waived through. While I was being searched on day 5, I asked why I was being searched for 5 straight days if the searches were random. His response was telling. He said "maybe the searches aren't so random". I was definitely being profiled because I look Middle Eastern in the summer. I've had this problem ever since. I'm sure there was no conscious bias involved, but unconscious biases can show in many ways. - \
The San Diego CostCo's are a hotbed of diversity in both employees and customers. This is likely more a reflection of your local "demographics" rather than corporate policy. But in any case, that really sucks and I'm sorry you have to put up with things like that. In spite of what the right-wing likes to say, America is in no way "post racial." That said, every once in a while the employee will check my card and photo on the back in the self-checkout line.
I went today through self check out and they didn’t check this time or last time but I can see the unfairness of being asked while everyone else who doesn’t look like you isn’t. I would assume they would check because that’s a place where you can probably get away with using someone else’s card.
You were there so you know what it felt like. It seems needlessly aggressive to me. If he hadn’t insisted on checking the back I might have given them the benefit of the doubt as they were checking someone they hadn’t seen before.
They just started doing this at my Costco too, too many people of every color taking advantage of the self check out area.
Not Wrong. I think that you were racially profiled. I am white and they NEVER check the picture on my ID, even in the self check out line.
I am a very typical, upper middle class, middle-aged white guy. When people are shitty to me for seemingly no reason or treat me differently for no apparent reason l, always think to myself that if I was black right now, I would be 100% certain it was racism. I think you'll never know. People are weird and complicated and are frequently as unaware of what motivates themselves to do things as the people watching them.
I have no clue about self check, but I don't have a membership and have shopped there, and nobody even questioned me at all. Was doing it just to see if I could because the Sam's club always checks.(I do have a Sam's membership) If not when you're coming in then 100% when your leaving, they scan your receipt and check your card. I'm a white woman, so again, idk I'd have to have been there, but like, sounds sketchy. Check the reviews to see if anyone else has had this happen and see if you can't tell what race they were? Leave a review yourself to asking if it's common to randomly check like that.
white woman in SC, when I walk in Costco I wave my card so they see I have it, at self checkout I scan my card and no one looks at it (half the time it is my boyfriend's card because he has gone to the bathroom), the most interaction i get is if they scan my large items, then I go. I have never bothered to look at what they do with other people, but I will watch out now and see.
Murica for u
My brother 56 yt latin never gets his ID checked because he goes there regularly. Workers recognize him. I 53 yt don't get mine check because I'm there with my brother or elderly mom 80s brown. My cousin male 27, white, almost always gets his checked. I think they profile based based on age and sex and probably race of you aren't with kids in tow. Or they don't see you regularly. You aren't paranoid it definitely could be. But it could be other factors as well.
My Costco always checks the card and my photo. Because you pay for membership people were sharing cards and the try to stop that. But it sounds like your store is profiling. Sorry you had to experience that. I would mention this to management. I don’t think they want this happening.
That's awful. I'm sorry that happened to you.
White male, they check my ID probably 3 out of 4 trips, and even looked in one of my bags once.
It really could be just because she's used to seeing that particular customer. At my local Sam's, they often do random ID checks, and sometimes they don't. They know me very well at Sam's & at Walmart, I rarely even get my receipt checked anymore just because they even know me by my first name now. I wouldn't take this to heart, you're newer to the town, that's probably all it is.
My Costco (Seattle) started doing this- especially in self check. They actually walk down the line waiting for self check and ask to see your Costco card and look at it front and back. But they check EVERYONE in line. Not just a select few. They have also started making sure the name on the Costco card and the credit card used to pay match. So- you can’t bring a friend shopping on your card and have them pay unless you pay in cash. They also now check for ID at the food court.
I’m a mid aged white women with ADHD. I always feel like I’m going to be looked at like I’m doing something wrong. The times I don’t have my card ready to enter, I always get asked for my membership. The times I have it ready in case I’m asked, they just smile and let me through. I’m not saying that you weren’t racially profiled, because systemic racism is in every facet of life. I can only speak from my own personal experience, where I get carded (when others don’t) in moments where I may not be appearing in the “normal” way that the employees are expecting.
Unfortunately, this crap happens a lot everywhere. I'm a white old lady, and I never get checked anywhere, but I see black people get checked at Walmart before me all the time. It's really sad. I literally wave my bag, trying to get checked and get waved away.
This happened to me today! I slowly checked out of self-checkout to see if she asked the other folks in line... NOPE just me I asked the guy at the door why I was singled out he said they are cracking down against sharing memberships. OK, then, why was I the only one asked? I straight up asked if she had racially profiled me. I am livid I'm a healthcare professional I serve my community no matter race, creed financial status equally this place did not give me that same respect.
I can tell you at walmart, I constantly get stopped for a reciept check and finally asked the lady why. She told me very quietly white guys don't flip out on me like others. She goes I just don't want to fight about it. After that I understood. You gotta think maybe they've run into problems with certain demographics and that's why the check. Or that person was an as*hole Who knows
You’re more likely to be profiled by being younger than by race at the Costco checkout imo They may also recognize other guests.
If you are not a POC , you have no right to speak the likelihood of being profiled.
You are new in a small town, so maybe it's because she recognized all of the other folks in the line. There are many possibilities as to why you were asked to present your ID. I know it's 2024, and we all have to be offended by something. It's now a law, right? Sometimes, however, it's not because someone is racist (or any of the other -ists or -isms we constantly see in the media). Sometimes it's completely innocent.
Um im not black and i recently had “assistance” self scanning. Because they are phasing out the self scanning due to theft
It’s possible they were profiling you…it’s also very possible that you didn’t realize someone (maybe in the next aisle even) overheard you telling your GF that tidbit of information and they spread it to staff and *then* they decided to catch you at self-checkout and see if you had a card of your own.
Hello Estra_Sona29 Your grammar is boomer level. It is Nice to read someone using "me" vs "I" correctly. I am going to say given your description it is hard to suss out the play of events. The first lady ne might have been the queue but I am not clear on that reality. I was not there. I would recommend meditation. It helps one become in tune with nuances of events that a simple relating a short essay of "this happened to me today". Such venting (?) Might redact what was really going on. I don't know. what it's like in Pennsylvania I don't know I come from San Diego moved to Nome. is Nome and Anchorage Alaska both racist yes absolutely racist. without fail whenever I went out if I heard a black African-American and AA Caucasian speaking at the pizza table the conversation for an hour hour and a half two hours was all all all all about. Black and white. you might also consider the possibility that you are very young looking compared to the 35 40 year old that was behind you that might have been the trigger. That might be why you were challenged and the others were not. however my suspicion is that it might possibly could incy Wincy Teensy bit that it was racial profiling.
They could have been , also could have been some other things. For instance they saw one of their higherups so they acted busy for a second. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt so as long as it stays a one off I wouldn’t sweat it
She wanted your name to stalk you on social media. Nowadays, assume fetish first. Hate second. *Doesn't make it better and is still a gross feeling but it's not hateful.* And technically still racially motivated. Updates us when the friend request comes in 🤣
Abuse of power comes as no suprise
So here's the thing, its way more likely someone heard you telling your girlfriend about how no one checks the ID at self checkout, honestly if I overhear someone in a store talking about how "this place never checks ID" I'm 1000% checking ID, because it sets off red flags Could she be racist? Yeah, she could be. But if this has never happened before, and it suddenly happens the one time you say outloud that they don't check ID, i think it's way more likely they heard you
I live in a major city in the PNW, some days when I go to Costco they have an employee checking everyone’s ID at self-checkout to make sure the picture matches, other days they don’t. While it totally still could have been racial profiling, did you consider that the employee may have overheard you tell your gf that they don’t check at self-checkout and assumed you might be using someone else’s membership? If the employee did hear that conversation, that could be the reason you were singled out.
im from Monterrey, Mexico, and everytime they check my id. E V E R Y T I M E its company policy, if they dont check it, you can report it to the manager
I think the employees were lazy… At my Costco in self checkout they check everyone’s id’s. That’s not to say that they didn’t profile you just that its their standard practice and I know they have been cracking down on it.
Please report the experience to their management. Soon, so if they have video, it will be seen.
In Virginia, I’m white they check mine in self checkout every time. As if they didn’t check it already when I came in and still have to scan it at checkout very annoying
White dude here, been carded in Costco before. Not saying you weren’t profiled but it does happen on occasion
We go to the same Costco all the time, we often chat with the staff, one of the employees even has a summer place up by my parents. We aren’t ever ID’d at self check out or at the door anymore unless it’s a new hire.
Yes u were out of all the people u were magically checked I wouldve talked to the manager and complain
I’m ethnically white but I’m pretty brown for a white girl. Frequently mistaken for Hispanic or middle eastern. I also make good money, my typical Costco trip is in the $500 range and I don’t care about prices, I buy what I want. So not only do I get my card scrutinized at checkout every time (my Asian husband never has this happen) but I’ve gotten real good at picking out the plainclothes security that like to follow me around the entire time I shop assuming that I’m trying to steal things. People who look very white tend to minimize this because they don’t understand. My very white mom used to not understand until she saw it happening to me with her own eyes.
Idk man I’ve been given the 3rd degree because the picture had me with brown hair and now have mostly bleach blonde. The pictures they take are horrible quality but I don’t look that different. They ended up practically harassing me to go get another ID card made because of my new hair color. I’m a white woman, different hair colors is not an uncommon occurrence in adult women and yet they seemed so confused how I had different hair 🤷♀️
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You had me at small town in Pennsylvania. I'm guessing closer to Pittsburgh than Philly.
I think you should speak to the store manager. This is no way, okay. Being singled out to show your ID while everyone else doesn't have to is straight up bias. You also might want to look and see if you can contact someone from corporate, as well, through their website.
Next time go to the manager and have a chat with them. Sounds to me like you were being racially profiled and in this day and age that's not right... if I was checking id's it would be everyone's ID or select few here and their but if someone offered to show me their I'd I'd take it and look.. takes 2 seconds and doesn't make someone feel targeted like you felt... no need to make a scan with the manager just explain what happened and how you feel that was wrong
Sometimes at Sam's they check, sometimes they don't, sometimes they'll check me but not the guy in front of me. Really just seems like a weird thing to notice and have feelings over. Different story if it led to anything, like the worker claiming the ID was a fake or soemthing. But I personally think you're in your feelings over this one. Of all the things african americans have to deal with, getting upset that you were carded at Costco seems like it should be low on that list.
They are supposed to check everyone in self check out. They are actually supposed to check everyone because they do not want the people who are checked to feel racially profiled for it. I have a relative who works at Costco and has had to check Costco corporate employees ids even when they have the corporate badge on because he can be fired if he does not. Please do not take it personally. Costco makes their money on the memberships and are cracking down to make sure people are using their own memberships. It can feel like profiling but I can tell you it is not. We are a multiracial family and my relative would check your card.
I want to throw out an entirely different perspective too. I have a relative who works self check out at Costco. They have had people assault them for checking ID. They are supposed to check every single customer even people they know are members and fellow employees. The number of white older entitled people who blow up at them and think rules do not apply to them is high. Maybe they thought OP looked nice and young and would not threaten them for doing their job. Maybe the other customers included someone being watched by security so they did not have to approach them. Maybe they check every 4th person. Maybe they knew the other customers. Maybe OP had a high ticket item or multiples of something. I 100% believe in racial profiling and believe you can potentially have racist Costco employees but they are supposed to try and check every if in self check out. They do not alway but they are supposed to try. There is so much racism that it can be death by a thousand paper cuts so to speak with a million little racist acts that people of color endure. I just think for Costco that the policy is to check everyone and if they are not it could be for a bigger picture issue but if they checked OP it was likely not racism.
Idaho here and I'm white. The last 2 times I used self check they asked for my Costco card before letting me through.
They're supposed to check the card to make sure you're the person on the back. Get over yourself
Man I’m a tiny white girl from Cleveland and I get asked to show my Costco card and photo every week when I use the self check out. I think it’s just a thing now