Boo Costco!

Today Diana Gabaldon was in Edmonton for a book signing. She was in Costco, and I put it in my dayplanner ages ago.

Unfortunately, I lack a Costco membership, and you can't use Costco without one. I had thought one could look around in the store before buying a membership and assumed this would not be a problem. Nope! Apparently Costco members are supposed to buy their $55 memberships sight unseen.

I got stopped at the entrance, and ushered into the membership line. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about paying $55 for a signature, so my friend that I was with went to see what kind of security they had at the checkouts. Security seemed lax (and there was probably an easy couple thousand people in the store- no exageration) so we decided to go for it. We made it through the store, found the book signing, spotted Diana Gabaldon, and found our spot at the back of a line with an easy 300 people in it.

Just then, an awkward looking 16 or 17 year old in a Costco uniform came up. He told us that his manager told him to come tell us that we had to be members, and he either had to escort us to the front of the membership line or to the exit. The poor kid looked so embarressed!

I quickly decided the $55 wasn't worth it and left. I laughed so hard- mainly cuz the kid was embarressed to have to enforce Costco's stupid rules.

And I have decided that I am officially anti-Costco. I cannot believe they are THAT successful when they won't even let anyone in the store before they buy a membership. For example, a book signing is a good opportunity to get people in the store that would never normally go and get them to realize the awesomeness of their store. By limiting it to members, they did not expand their consumer base at all.

And this is why I say boo Costco.