February 18, 2026 • 9 mins
Costco is quietly changing their famously good return policies.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Murphy, Sam and Jody after the show podcast,
So we dropped it in Three Things to Know Today,
But I have to talk more about Costco quietly cracking
down on their no hassle return policy. Costco has been
known to have the greatest return policy in the history
of retail. And I had always heard that I barely
(00:21):
ever returned anything.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But I was I don't think we have.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I returned something once and I was in line, and
what I was returning still had tags on it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It was just a mistake.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It was like a pillow or something that did not
even leave my car, like I you know, I changed
my mind about it, brought it back the next time
I went, and I had my receipt. I was doing
all the things, yeah, that you think you're supposed to do,
and there was a lady in front of me. I
don't know if I even came home and told you
this story, Murphy, but she was in front of me,
and she had a bag of like protein bites, you
(00:54):
know that all the snacks and all the food that
they the protein balls that had already been opened. You
could tell that her her family had opened it and
they tried it, and they didn't like it. She was
returning that and another food item that was in like
a plastic thing that you opened up and it was
individually wrapped like cakes.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Inside.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Some of the cakes were gone. She was returning that,
and I remember thinking, I am glad to be standing here.
I'm going to watch this happen. Yeah, and I thought
there were I thought I'm going to hear some incredible
corporate language about why you know this, can't you know,
thank you for being here, We appreciate your membership.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
But and I didn't hear that at all. You know
what happened.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The costco person took it and went deep and scanned
it and said thank you, No receipt, nothing.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm thinking, if you took something home and you ate
it and you decided it was a mistake, you shouldn't
be able to return that. But that was their policy
up until recently.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah. Well, I mean the thing is if you didn't
need a receipt, because if you're a member and they've
scanned in you, it's clear that you're the member, you're
probably not going to lie about it because you're spending
money for the membership anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'm sure that's them just taking a gamble. I'm sure
there may be you know, some cases where that's been
you know, abused, but yeah, I mean that's been there.
No hassle on everything, whether it's something that you wear
or something that you eat. So what has changed?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, So according to this report, they're starting to ask
for receipts or extra proof of purchase on some returns,
like high ticket items. Realize they have some high ticket items.
You can buy you know, tires there, you can buy electronics,
you can buy jewelry. I've never looked at the jewelry
there because I don't need another reason to want and
covet jewelry. But they keep They're also keeping an eye
(02:41):
on frequent returners. If you're in there every week with
four items that you're returning that are half eaten or whatever,
they're gonna they're sort of cracking down on that. They're
asking for your receipt where they never did before. Things
like that, they're moving, they're changing their business at all
times too. Remember I think you told us Sam that
(03:03):
and and food dude one day that they're taking there.
They used to only do cake orders on a pay
per form.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Oh yeah, they just started with their with a or
online you can do your cake order and I think
you can do sandwich trays now too, online.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, same thing. And that's that's more today. I mean,
I remember being the one time I got a cake
at Costco. I walked in there, I thought, for real,
this this this castle, this monstrosity of a place, and
I'm supposed to write down and slip a paper through
a slot about when I want my cake and my
want I want my cake to say.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But that's how I did it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, so crazy.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You slipped it through the slot. Was there like somebody say, okay,
we got it or it's.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Just like now they were busy back there. I just
trusted it. I was like hands in the air. So
I also looked into it a little bit more because
to me, what happened to that food? What happened to
that half eaten bag of protein balls that was, you know,
in the lady's basket in front of me? That Costco
just went did you took back and said thank you?
You know, thank you for shopping here. They've always given
(04:02):
a full refund on food items they if you accidentally
purchased it or if your family didn't like to taste
so much.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
They for the most part.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
If it's been tampered within any reason, they can't do
anything with food. They cannot and will not. It has
to go in the trash. Yeah, but they do work
with food banks and other organizations for completely undamaged goods,
but they don't get they don't get into into.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Specifics about how that goes.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
There are people in the back of every warehouse that
it's their job to sort all that.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Can you imagine what the return pile looks like.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Here we go more half eat and protein bytes and
some of that stuff actually not the food, but other
things actually go back on the shelves.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, it's the pillow that a back Yeah. Yeah, I
hope that's in the arms of a family who wants it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Well, I'm sure they get processed. Some thing's actually good.
If they've been unboxed or whatever, they're going to go
back to the manufacturer first for repackaging. See Murphy, just
put those things back up on the shelf, right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I also read where there are certain returned items that
are you know, rigorously examined by multiple costco personnel.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I don't know if this was a corporate memo or not.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
But before they ever return to the shelves, you know,
they require a special process, like you're saying, Murphy, and
there's a there's a costco return processing facility if.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's at the back of your costco where you go.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
If it's in the back there, it's not necessarily going
to return to that floor. So it's probably a whole
separate business that we don't know anything about. The return thing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, I'm sure you know, Amazon is probably the you know,
the top of the mountain when it comes to managing
those kind of returns because although you know that my
experience with Amazon on some things is you'll buy something
new and it shows up already opened.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Murphy is the ultimate private detective on that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Oh that's happened to me four or five times. Sam.
You have to be careful about certain things that actually
have been clearly unpackaged and then you.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Know, somebody with this sort of thing, they're they're supposed.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
To you know, mark those and send those back to
the distributor manufacturer or whatever for them to be you know,
inspected and then properly remanufactured repackaged by the manufacturer. But yeah,
and I even actually actually got the wrong package that
I had to return, you know the other day, and
I explained that it's like this, it's there was no
(06:27):
place on Amazon to actually, uh, you know, describe it.
I had ordered some T shirts and what I got
was a kitchen accessory set with graters that go on
a kitchen aid cheese grater or totally doesn't make any
sense whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So somebody got your T shirts and wanted a cheese grater?
Is what that sounds like?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I mean, I guess so. But so when I went
to return that, there was really no it's well it
said wrong item sent I had to explain, this is
not even close. You know, I can't wear this, and
so but but just so, but here here the safeguards
that Amazon has put in on that one. You know,
you go in. There were three things that returned the
other day. They scanned them and as long as the
barcodes match, all good and you can get your refund immediately.
(07:07):
That one I'm not going to get the refund on
until it actually goes back to the warehouse. It actually
is cross checked against the wrong thing that went out,
which I don't know how they're going to do that.
I think I think what I got was human error,
you know. I mean, because they obviously if it's put
in the wrong box and then that labels put on it,
it's not going to have the you know, the barcode
that it's supposed to.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Not going to correct itself.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
If it's got the wrong barcode to start, it's going
to end up in the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, so they'll they'll hand correct that one, you know,
which is which is what they should do. But I mean,
considering the millions of things that get returned, you know,
every day, and the drop offs in the hall, I mean,
it's a I'm sure they probably haven't got they've got
it down. So Costco can take a page from the
Amazon book. Really, you know, the quality control part of
(07:51):
it to protect themselves is what I'm getting at. It's
not I think Costco customer service is you know, among
the best of the best, period you know, But it's
just the you get more when you get into a
place where it's more of an automated business and you're
having to track everything. Sometimes the barcode and the scan
aren't going to be the only thing that proves that
the integrity of the product is right, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah. Look, it's been known for a long time to
be one of the best return policies ever. That's why
it's a story that they're slowly quietly cracking down and
changing their game.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I did that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
That's good Google, and you know, and the benefit of that,
obviously is that prices don't go up if they start to,
you know, accept returns on things that want up costing
Costco money. Then you know, the customers are the ones
that wanted up paying for it. So I'm all about them,
you know. Putting the safeguards into place makes sense.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
I did google the stores of the best and worst
return policy.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I'll just give you a top three. L L Bean
is number three. Nordstrom is number two because apparently they
don't have any published limitations for returns or anything interesting.
Then they said they handle it on a case.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Rstrom Rock Nordstrom. Okay, fancy one.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
I love Nordstrom. Oh, I love that story. Costco is
number one. One percent satisfaction guarantee. They'll refund your thing
at any time if you're unhappy. And the reason you
didn't need a receipt is if you have a membership card,
they can track you that way.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah cool. Well, good to know if you have anything
to return to Costco and it. Yeah know they're good.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, I know that you still are going to have
probably the best experience in retail.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's just also no if you do it frequently, they're watching.
You missed any part of the show. Get it All
on the Murphy, Salmon Jody Podcast.
Welcome to the Murphy, Sam and Jody after the show podcast,
So we dropped it in Three Things to Know Today,
But I have to talk more about Costco quietly cracking
down on their no hassle return policy. Costco has been
known to have the greatest return policy in the history
of retail. And I had always heard that I barely
(00:21):
ever returned anything.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But I was I don't think we have.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I returned something once and I was in line, and
what I was returning still had tags on it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It was just a mistake.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It was like a pillow or something that did not
even leave my car, like I you know, I changed
my mind about it, brought it back the next time
I went, and I had my receipt. I was doing
all the things, yeah, that you think you're supposed to do,
and there was a lady in front of me. I
don't know if I even came home and told you
this story, Murphy, but she was in front of me,
and she had a bag of like protein bites, you
(00:54):
know that all the snacks and all the food that
they the protein balls that had already been opened. You
could tell that her her family had opened it and
they tried it, and they didn't like it. She was
returning that and another food item that was in like
a plastic thing that you opened up and it was
individually wrapped like cakes.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Inside.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Some of the cakes were gone. She was returning that,
and I remember thinking, I am glad to be standing here.
I'm going to watch this happen. Yeah, and I thought
there were I thought I'm going to hear some incredible
corporate language about why you know this, can't you know,
thank you for being here, We appreciate your membership.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
But and I didn't hear that at all. You know
what happened.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The costco person took it and went deep and scanned
it and said thank you, No receipt, nothing.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm thinking, if you took something home and you ate
it and you decided it was a mistake, you shouldn't
be able to return that. But that was their policy
up until recently.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah. Well, I mean the thing is if you didn't
need a receipt, because if you're a member and they've
scanned in you, it's clear that you're the member, you're
probably not going to lie about it because you're spending
money for the membership anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'm sure that's them just taking a gamble. I'm sure
there may be you know, some cases where that's been
you know, abused, but yeah, I mean that's been there.
No hassle on everything, whether it's something that you wear
or something that you eat. So what has changed?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, So according to this report, they're starting to ask
for receipts or extra proof of purchase on some returns,
like high ticket items. Realize they have some high ticket items.
You can buy you know, tires there, you can buy electronics,
you can buy jewelry. I've never looked at the jewelry
there because I don't need another reason to want and
covet jewelry. But they keep They're also keeping an eye
(02:41):
on frequent returners. If you're in there every week with
four items that you're returning that are half eaten or whatever,
they're gonna they're sort of cracking down on that. They're
asking for your receipt where they never did before. Things
like that, they're moving, they're changing their business at all
times too. Remember I think you told us Sam that
(03:03):
and and food dude one day that they're taking there.
They used to only do cake orders on a pay
per form.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Oh yeah, they just started with their with a or
online you can do your cake order and I think
you can do sandwich trays now too, online.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, same thing. And that's that's more today. I mean,
I remember being the one time I got a cake
at Costco. I walked in there, I thought, for real,
this this this castle, this monstrosity of a place, and
I'm supposed to write down and slip a paper through
a slot about when I want my cake and my
want I want my cake to say.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But that's how I did it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, so crazy.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You slipped it through the slot. Was there like somebody say, okay,
we got it or it's.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Just like now they were busy back there. I just
trusted it. I was like hands in the air. So
I also looked into it a little bit more because
to me, what happened to that food? What happened to
that half eaten bag of protein balls that was, you know,
in the lady's basket in front of me? That Costco
just went did you took back and said thank you?
You know, thank you for shopping here. They've always given
(04:02):
a full refund on food items they if you accidentally
purchased it or if your family didn't like to taste
so much.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
They for the most part.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
If it's been tampered within any reason, they can't do
anything with food. They cannot and will not. It has
to go in the trash. Yeah, but they do work
with food banks and other organizations for completely undamaged goods,
but they don't get they don't get into into.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Specifics about how that goes.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
There are people in the back of every warehouse that
it's their job to sort all that.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Can you imagine what the return pile looks like.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Here we go more half eat and protein bytes and
some of that stuff actually not the food, but other
things actually go back on the shelves.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, it's the pillow that a back Yeah. Yeah, I
hope that's in the arms of a family who wants it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Well, I'm sure they get processed. Some thing's actually good.
If they've been unboxed or whatever, they're going to go
back to the manufacturer first for repackaging. See Murphy, just
put those things back up on the shelf, right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I also read where there are certain returned items that
are you know, rigorously examined by multiple costco personnel.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I don't know if this was a corporate memo or not.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
But before they ever return to the shelves, you know,
they require a special process, like you're saying, Murphy, and
there's a there's a costco return processing facility if.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's at the back of your costco where you go.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
If it's in the back there, it's not necessarily going
to return to that floor. So it's probably a whole
separate business that we don't know anything about. The return thing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, I'm sure you know, Amazon is probably the you know,
the top of the mountain when it comes to managing
those kind of returns because although you know that my
experience with Amazon on some things is you'll buy something
new and it shows up already opened.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Murphy is the ultimate private detective on that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Oh that's happened to me four or five times. Sam.
You have to be careful about certain things that actually
have been clearly unpackaged and then you.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Know, somebody with this sort of thing, they're they're supposed.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
To you know, mark those and send those back to
the distributor manufacturer or whatever for them to be you know,
inspected and then properly remanufactured repackaged by the manufacturer. But yeah,
and I even actually actually got the wrong package that
I had to return, you know the other day, and
I explained that it's like this, it's there was no
(06:27):
place on Amazon to actually, uh, you know, describe it.
I had ordered some T shirts and what I got
was a kitchen accessory set with graters that go on
a kitchen aid cheese grater or totally doesn't make any
sense whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So somebody got your T shirts and wanted a cheese grater?
Is what that sounds like?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I mean, I guess so. But so when I went
to return that, there was really no it's well it
said wrong item sent I had to explain, this is
not even close. You know, I can't wear this, and
so but but just so, but here here the safeguards
that Amazon has put in on that one. You know,
you go in. There were three things that returned the
other day. They scanned them and as long as the
barcodes match, all good and you can get your refund immediately.
(07:07):
That one I'm not going to get the refund on
until it actually goes back to the warehouse. It actually
is cross checked against the wrong thing that went out,
which I don't know how they're going to do that.
I think I think what I got was human error,
you know. I mean, because they obviously if it's put
in the wrong box and then that labels put on it,
it's not going to have the you know, the barcode
that it's supposed to.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Not going to correct itself.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
If it's got the wrong barcode to start, it's going
to end up in the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, so they'll they'll hand correct that one, you know,
which is which is what they should do. But I mean,
considering the millions of things that get returned, you know,
every day, and the drop offs in the hall, I mean,
it's a I'm sure they probably haven't got they've got
it down. So Costco can take a page from the
Amazon book. Really, you know, the quality control part of
(07:51):
it to protect themselves is what I'm getting at. It's
not I think Costco customer service is you know, among
the best of the best, period you know, But it's
just the you get more when you get into a
place where it's more of an automated business and you're
having to track everything. Sometimes the barcode and the scan
aren't going to be the only thing that proves that
the integrity of the product is right, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah. Look, it's been known for a long time to
be one of the best return policies ever. That's why
it's a story that they're slowly quietly cracking down and
changing their game.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I did that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
That's good Google, and you know, and the benefit of that,
obviously is that prices don't go up if they start to,
you know, accept returns on things that want up costing
Costco money. Then you know, the customers are the ones
that wanted up paying for it. So I'm all about them,
you know. Putting the safeguards into place makes sense.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
I did google the stores of the best and worst
return policy.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I'll just give you a top three. L L Bean
is number three. Nordstrom is number two because apparently they
don't have any published limitations for returns or anything interesting.
Then they said they handle it on a case.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Rstrom Rock Nordstrom. Okay, fancy one.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
I love Nordstrom. Oh, I love that story. Costco is
number one. One percent satisfaction guarantee. They'll refund your thing
at any time if you're unhappy. And the reason you
didn't need a receipt is if you have a membership card,
they can track you that way.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah cool. Well, good to know if you have anything
to return to Costco and it. Yeah know they're good.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, I know that you still are going to have
probably the best experience in retail.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's just also no if you do it frequently, they're watching.
You missed any part of the show. Get it All
on the Murphy, Salmon Jody Podcast.
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