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A lot of people wonder if there is a Costco free one-day guest pass to check out the store before purchasing a membership. The answer?
No, Costco doesn’t offer guest passes to their warehouse stores, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go.
Alternatives to a Costco Free One Day Guest Pass
Although Costco doesn’t offer a one-day guest pass, there’s a workaround that basically gives you the same opportunity to shop at Costco for one day. What you need to do is get a hold of a Costco gift card. If you have a Costco gift card, you can shop at their warehouses even if you don’t have a membership (these also work for purchasing gas at Costco gas stations, which is often the least expensive with the same gas quality as top tier gas stations. In this way, it works exactly like a guest pass.
How Do You Get a Costco Gift Card?
The only people who can buy Costco gift cards are members. You can’t walk into a warehouse and buy one if you aren’t a member. Since you can’t buy one on your own, there are two main ways people without a membership get them:
1. Ask a friend who has a membership.
Probably the easiest way to get one is to give a friend who has a membership at Costco the money and ask them to pick up a gift card the next time they go. The least expensive card is $25, but you can buy as much as you want at the store as long as you have a card with some money on it (you simply pay anything above the value of the gift card in cash). You could also request one as a gift for a special occasion (birthday, Christmas, etc).
2. Buy the giftcard on eBay or Amazon.
Another way to get a gift card is to purchase it on a secondary market such as eBay or Amazon if you don’t have any friends with a membership, or simply don’t want to ask them to buy you one. Again, it doesn’t matter what amount is actually on the gift card (it could only be a few cents, and you’d still be OK), you just need one with money on it to shop at Costco.
Here is an example of Costco gift cards for sale on eBay.
When entering Costco, you simply show the gift card and they will let you pass as if it were a membership card. At check out, tell the cashier you only have a gift card. The cashier will need to have a manager give you some special paperwork to accept it (there are always managers on the floor and it only takes a few seconds) and you will be good to go.
The catch here is you can only buy as much as your gift card will allow. If you go over, you might be able to pay cash for the balance.
Another way to shop without getting a gift card is to shop with a friend who has a membership. You can get inside the store with them, but they will have to pay for all the purchases you make. You can pay them back for your purchases once you leave the store.
So while Costco doesn’t have an official one-day guest pass program, there are ways to shop at their warehouses without paying $60 for a membership.
The “Free” Way to Get a Costco Membership
While I don’t recommend this, you can sort of get a Costco membership without paying. The way this works is to use their refund policy. At any point in your membership, you can get your Costco membership refunded. It’s an interesting policy that seems ripe for abuse, but Costco will allow you to cancel for a full refund at any time while it is active. So, if you just want to grab a few things, you could purchase and cancel your membership on the same day.
If you want to milk it as much as possible, you can even cancel on the very last day of your membership. Morally, this is a pretty questionable route to go. Nonetheless, it is an alternative to paying full price for a membership. It also works pretty similarly to the way a “Costco free one-day guest pass” might.
Do You Need A Costco Membership? Sams Club Might Be Just As Good
If don’t have a Costco membership, it might not be a big deal. You could always ask around and see if you have a friend with a Sam’s Club membership. Costco is the industry leader in the warehouse retailing space, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s “better”. It just means that consumers think it is “better”. In fact, in 2018 Business Insider evaluated both big box stores and found their layout and prices were comparable (here). So, you might not need to get a free one day pass from Costco at all.
More Savings Options Other Than A Costco One Day Guest Pass
Use Costco.com. If you like Costco and don’t have a membership, you can always shop at Costco.com. While you don’t necessarily need a membership to shop there, prices are higher for non-members. So, the saving might or might not be there depending on what you need.
Second, you can always shop at Costco using a cash back credit card. The Costco Anywhere Visa will give you up to 4% back. But, pretty much any other cash back card will also give you a percentage back if you shop at Costco.
Third, and lastly, just cough up the cash and get a discounted membership If you don’t know what a cash back site is, they’re super simple. You just open up an account with the site and buy something. The retailer sends the site a commission, who splits it with you. This is a nice way to shave a few bucks off the price. A good place to start is Dollardig.com, they’re offering 5% off new Costco memberships.
More Great Articles From Saving Advice
- Does Costco Price Match With Other Retailers?
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- Does Costco Install Car Batteries?
- What Are The Costco Gas Station Hours of Operation?
James Hendrickson is an internet entrepreneur, blogging junky, hunter and personal finance geek. When he’s not lurking in coffee shops in Portland, Oregon, you’ll find him in the Pacific Northwest’s great outdoors. James has a masters degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelors degree on Sociology from Earlham College. He loves individual stocks, bonds and precious metals.
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