Media stories, lead by the toxic wasteland of social media, have hammered Costco for the last month or so – for no valid reason.

Costco is, and always has been, a membership-required store. Anyone without a membership can go with someone who has one and shop. But no membership – no shopping. Seems pretty simple. However, when Costco implemented some self checkout machines, the non-members shopping there rose drastically. After all, there isn’t a cashier checking the picture on the membership. So Costco has implemented some random check at the self-serve lanes and that’s what set off social media. When that happened, TV, radio and others weren’t far behind – for no reason other than to amplify the stupidity of social media.

So, at the risk of stating the obvious, I’ll explain it again…to people who aren’t actually going to read this – or care about logic: I paid for a Costco membership – as did millions of others. THAT is what lets me shop there. No, you can’t take someone else’s and shop there. You can’t take someone’s pink card and think it’ll cover the insurance on your car. You can’t use someone’s membership and show up at a private golf course, or a friend’s drivers license and somehow think you’re good to drive with that. You may not believe this, but people pay for things in order to have, access or use them.

Go get a membership if you really want to shop at Costco. It’s not expensive or hard to obtain. Until then, let me see if you’re going to complain about any of the other examples (and hundreds more) I’ve listed or shut up about the stupidity of your social media campaign.