Costco warehouses don’t offer free day passes for non-members like some other warehouse stores do, so you can’t buy alcohol at Costco that way. What Costco does have is the Costco cash card which is their version of a gift card. This is the easiest way to shop at Costco without a membership with the benefit of being able to buy anything at the warehouse including gas, and not just booze. The problem is only Costco members can buy a cash card, so you’ll either need to have a friend buy you one, or buy one on the secondary market, such as on eBay or Amazon, if you want to access the warehouse this way.
If you live in certain states, you don’t even have to have a cash card to buy alcohol at Costco. This is because some states have laws where any establishment selling alcohol must make the sale of the alcohol available to the public. In these cases, state law forces Costco to allow those without a membership to buy alcohol at their stores. The following twelve states have laws in place which all non-members to buy alcohol at Costco:
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New York
- Texas
- Vermont
If you go to a Costco in any of the above states, when you get to the door, simply tell the door checker you are there to buy alcohol. In most cases, you should be allowed in without any issue, but if the door checker isn’t familiar with the law, they may stop you. In this case, ask to talk to a manager who should be familiar with the policy and let you pass. If you happen to live in any of the other 38 states, your only option is to use the cash card method.
Once at checkout, you will again need to tell the cashier you don’t have a Costco Membership. The cashier will have to call over a manager to get approval for the transaction. Most Costco stores have managers right on the checkout line, so this should only take a few seconds, and it shouldn’t cause others in line to wait a long time. It’s important to note that Costco currently doesn’t take most credit cards (although that might soon be changing), so for now you’ll have to make your purchase with cash or a debit card.
The best part of both these methods is that there is no extra charge when making the alcohol purchase. You pay the exact same price as those with Costco memberships do, and the alcohol prices at Costco can be significantly cheaper than at other stores, especially brand name alcohol. So the next time you are having a party or need to stock up on alcohol, remember that you don’t need a membership to take advantage of Costco’s inexpensive prices.
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For more info on Costco check out these articles.
Is the Costco Membership Fee Worth it?
Is a Costco Executive Membership Worth the Price?
Costco Gas Calculator: Will I Save Money Buying a Membership if All I Buy is Fuel?
You can check out our articles for Target as well.
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(Photo courtesy of Willscrlt)
Stop being such a cheap ass and buy a membership like everyone else! Those prices are for members, not for the general public. If you aren’t willing to buy a membership like everyone else, then you don’t deserve to benefit from the good prices. Why should I have to pay for a membership when you don’t have to?
It’s state law. Everyone has the right to buy it, not just members. Stop being such a scrooge and caring about what others decide to do.
It was a law made for a reason. Calm down and learn something.
It’s not even that it’s the law, it’s that a non-member, if they get through the door, can fill up their shopping cart with products, yes including alcohol, but when they get to the check out they will need to show the teller-cashier their membership card. But because it’s the law that you don’t have to be a member to buy alcohol, all he or she will walk away with is the alcohol. That’s because you can’t squat at Costco, other than alcohol, or prescription pharmacy and eye care.
I’m thinking, why do they pay employees to stand at they door and ask to see your card. (I think 99% of members, and maybe slightly less of non-members, know they can’t buy anything else without being a member. So, members might ask themselves maybe prices might be that much less if Costco wasn’t putting $$’s out to pay their employees to stand around asking for customers to show their card, only to have to take out of their wallet again and show it at the register. Please trust me enough as a member and don’t waste my time.
In addition, Costco, in my humble opinion, needs to make their employees well aware of policy and not have them make up some ridiculous “store policy” “general manager policy” that they must” follow” or escort non-members who kindly let them know that they are just going to purchase alcohol, use the pharmacy, etc., which happened to me at Modesto’s Costco store, Because for me, their their trust in me as a customer just went down.
I heard that you could do this, but never knew if it was true or not. Good to know that you can get fine spirits without a membership where I live. I also heard that you can get prescription drugs at Costco without a membership. Is this true?
Yes. It’s actually a federal law so this applies to Costco warehouses in all fifty states. You can get prescription drugs without a membership and the Costco pharmacy is one of the cheapest around (and always highly ranked by Consumer Reports).
I guess I know where I’ll be heading for this year’s Superbowl party.
If I was concerned about whether I could buy booze at Costco or not, I may want to take a close look at my drinking habits.
If you buy a decent amount of wine, it’s worthwhile just buying a membership as you will make up the cost in a few months. The best thing is that if you happen to get a bad bottle or two, you can return them and get your money back with no questions asked. I had to do this a couple of times.
…or…you could save yourself the $ 55 membership fee and just buy the booze without it. The price is the same whether I have a membership or not. Except that I’m $ 55 ahead, since I don’t pay stores for the privilege of giving them my business. And you can return bad items either way. You don’t need a membership to return defective items bought at their store.