The daily business briefing: June 29, 2023

Costco makes it harder to share memberships, Jerome Powell says at least two more rate hikes are needed, and more

A Costco store
Costco will ask to see shoppers' membership cards and a photo ID at self-checkout registers
(Image credit: Tim Boyle / Getty Images)

1. Costco cracks down on membership sharing

Costco said this week it was cracking down on membership sharing, which has increased since the discount shopping warehouse expanded self-checkout. Costco said it had started asking to see shoppers' membership cards and a photo ID before using self-checkout registers, as they do in traditional checkout lines. "We don't feel it's right that nonmembers receive the same benefits and pricing as our members," Costco said in a statement. The company is one of the world's largest membership clubs, with 66 million paid members and 119 million cardholders last year. Membership fees — $60 for a regular membership and $120 for an executive card — brought in $4.2 billion for Costco in 2022, up 9% from the year before.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.