The Efficient Checkout Feature At Costco In South Korea

Did you know Costco in South Korea sells traditional twists on your food court favorites? In addition to various fun and different products, like hot pot ingredients and Korean snacks, the retail giant overseas also does checkout a little differently. In South Korea, you can insert your membership card in a designated slot engineered into the checkout dividers. 

Using this efficient feature speeds up the checkout process overall and allows shoppers to avoid interacting with the cashiers. With reports of South Korean youth increasingly isolating themselves from society, it's not surprising to find this type of checkout feature at its Costco locations. Users on Reddit appear to appreciate this feature, especially those who identify as being introverted. 

Additionally, we want to point out that this checkout feature is not a hack that shoppers have discovered since the dividers say in Korean, "Insert card here." Cards fit snugly in the designated slots in the dividers, so you won't run the risk of losing your card to the belt. 

Some commenters on Reddit have pointed out that there are slots in the U.S. Costco dividers as well and that they have been using this trick for years. Simply flip the dividers upside down and place your membership card in the slit. However, others said they had lost their cards in the belt using this technique during checkout and that the staff at Costcos in America would prefer you don't do this. Jamming up the checkout belt is the opposite of efficiency, after all.  

While the checkout feature is efficient in South Korea, it does nothing for members who use the phone app and their digital membership cards. In the past, we've recommended downloading the store's app, as it's a Costco shopping hack you'll wish you knew sooner. There's no doubt in our minds that soon, one day, most members will use the app rather than a physical card. 

While no slot in the divider currently fits any smartphones in South Korea, it wouldn't surprise us if they eventually did. Costcos overseas will likely come up with an efficient checkout feature for their app users, one that will help continue minimizing social interactions.