These 2 Costco Tricks Let You Shop at the Club Without a Membership

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Should you take advantage of these tricks to try Costco products? 

Costco is one of several warehouse clubs that offers memberships for shoppers, along with Sam’s Club and BJ’s. You can take advantage of bargain prices on big-name brands that Costco offers, and you can also buy exclusive Kirkland-brand products, which many people love.

You have to pay for a Costco membership to be a shopper, though — in most cases. If you aren’t ready to break out the credit cards for a membership fee, though, you have two possible options you can use to shop at the store anyway.

1. You can shop at Costco through Instacart

If you are not a member but want to shop at Costco, you can do so through Instacart.

You will not be eligible for same day delivery as Costco members are, and you will also have to pay a higher price for groceries from Costco through Instacart if you are not a member. These are big downsides. But, if your goal is to try out Costco products before you become a member, this approach could make sense for you.

Just be aware, you may also have to pay an Instacart delivery fee on top of also getting hit with higher prices at Costco. If you plan to make grocery delivery from Costco a habit, you’d likely be better off in the long run if you just became a member rather than using this approach regularly.

The good news, though, is that you can order pretty much any Costco items through Instacart so you can try out just about everything the club has to offer. If you find out you like the products you are buying, then you can opt for club membership if you’ll use it often enough for the fees to be worthwhile.

2. You can shop at the club using gift cards

If you have friends or loved ones who are Costco members, you also have another option available to you. And unlike the Instacart approach, this one won’t require you to pay higher prices.

This approach simply involves asking the people you know with Costco memberships to purchase gift cards for you. If your loved ones give you a Costco Shop Card, you are allowed to shop at the warehouse club in store or online without having a membership of your own.

If your friends are willing to buy you Costco Shop Cards often, you could theoretically follow this approach forever. There would be no surcharges, and you’d just get to shop at the club like anyone else as long as you paid with your Shop Card.

Of course, you may not want to bother your friends to do this all the time for you. So, this may also work best if you’re just looking to see if a Costco membership is worth the price.

Both of these approaches allow you to give Costco a test run, so if you’ve been wondering if Kirkland’s products are as good as advertised or want to experience some of Costco’s great customer service for yourself, give them a try ASAP.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Christy Bieber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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