The people that we live with, have relationships with, and legally bind ourselves to, all have certain benefits for a lot of programs. You can share your streaming account with household members, for instance, or file taxes with a spouse.
Unfortunately, Costco isn’t quite as blasé about sharing as the U.S. government. Simply being a household or couple, or even legal spouses, won’t guarantee you anything with Costco.
You can’t use your spouse’s membership card
A physical (or digital, if you have the app) Costco membership card can only be used by the person to whom it belongs, i.e., the person whose face is on it. If that person is your spouse, and not you, you can’t use that card to enter Costco or make purchases by yourself.
Each member gets two guests, so you can enter if your spouse — aka, the primary member — is with you. However, being a guest essentially limits your abilities to: look but don’t touch.
Pro tip: If your household is spending enough at Costco to make a membership worthwhile, you should also be maximizing the rewards you earn on those purchases. Check out our top rewards cards for Costco to see some great options.
Guests can come in, but they can’t make purchases
The main issue is that only card-carrying members can make purchases. Without a membership card with your photo on it, you can’t check out. (Yes, they absolutely can and do check.)
In other words, if you and your spouse (or household member, etc.) are both shopping together, but only one of you is a card-carrying member, only the member can pay at checkout.
(If you’re doing a group shop on one membership, be sure to set up a fair payment agreement ahead of time.)
Point of technicality: In some locations, you can use the Costco pharmacy without being a member, but this varies. If you’re unsure, call ahead to your local warehouse to verify if you’ll have access without a membership.
Every membership gets two cards
The easy solution to this limitation is to simply get both partners their own membership card. Each paid membership comes with two cards.
As the primary member, you can share the second card with any member of your household. The second member has all the same benefits, including a membership card with their own name and picture that allows them to shop Costco on their own.
If you’re ready to take your relationship to the next level by adding them as the second on your Costco membership, you can do so easily online. Or you can make a date of it by heading into your local warehouse, hitting the Membership desk, then celebrating in the undeniably romantic Costco food court.
Note: If you join Costco online, you’ll still need to stop at the Membership desk to get a physical card before your spouse can shop in the store.
Click here to see our simple strategy for earning cash back rewards on every Costco purchase.