The Helpful Tip To Get You Out Of Costco A Little Bit Faster

You know the Costco drill. Grab the essentials, try a couple of free samples, and speed your way to the cash registers before the lines get too long. If your Costco location has a congested queue no matter how quickly you hotfoot it through the store, here's a helpful Costco hack to get you out the door that little bit faster – face all of the barcodes up on every item you put in the cart. 

This little move will save you heaps of time at the till because it makes it easier for the cashier to locate each barcode and scan every item quickly. They won't need to lift or rotate products to find that pesky barcode while they hold their scanner. Turning every product so the barcodes face up also guarantees that the cashier can scan everything through without missing an item and causing a problem for you when your receipt is double checked at the exit.

Thoughtfully placing all the barcodes upright and laying your goods down in a single layer so they're highly visible also allows the cashier to easily meet their targets. However, it can be better to place the smaller items onto the conveyor belt so they aren't hidden among larger products. A Reddit user, who claims to be a front end employee at Costco, agrees with this technique, commenting, "This is the best thing to do. Leave 3-4 large items in the cart and load the rest onto the belt."

This way, cashiers can swiftly scan the bulkier items through while grabbing the smaller products from the belt without worrying about accidentally double scanning or missing them, which in turn increases their overall speed of service. To save even more time, place your smaller items in specific bags once they've been scanned. For example, allocate a particular bag for frozen items, one for bakery products, and another for cleaning supplies. This small preemptive move means you'll be able to bag up your groceries in an organized manner and unload them speedily into the refrigerator, freezer, or pantry once you get home too.

If these ideas feel like too much hard work, try scheduling your Costco trip during quieter hours when there are fewer shoppers. You'll save time at the till because the manageable queues will be smaller and the cashiers calmer, giving you the chance to truly savor that famous Costco $1.50 hotdog.