Food & Drink

I go grocery shopping at Costco without paying for a membership — it couldn’t be easier

Want to shop for groceries at Costco? Turns out, you don’t actually need a membership.

An avid discount warehouse shopper created a value-sized stir on social media explaining how she snapped up some favorite items at the store without paying the $60 annual membership — and apparently, it’s as easy as tapping a few buttons on an app.

“Life hack, if you want to try Costco or Sam’s Club stuff and you don’t have a membership, go on Instacart,” TikToker Tiff Bish (@tiffjessup) proclaimed in a video that racked up nearly 500,000 likes in three days.

A group of shoppers lined up for the grand opening of a new Costco Wholesale store in North Port, June 5, 2024
No Costco membership? There’s a workaround if you’re just looking to buy groceries, one influencer claimed. Mike Lang / Sarasota Herald-Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

To show viewers how she does it, the savvy shopper uploaded a second TikTok video, guiding people through how she places an order with Costco on Instacart.

The bargain lover revealed that she uses the popular grocery shopping service grocery delivery and pick-up service to order things like her favorite Island Way sorbet, and that she doesn’t have a Costco membership because she does most of her marketing at Sam’s Club.

“You just click through, click continue, then click no thanks about the membership, and then you’re good,” she said in the video.

Besides the standard Gold Star Membership, Costco also offers an Executive Membership for $120 a year.

Commenters immediately went to war over the claim — with many saying that the poster was mistaken, and that there’s no way to put through an Instacart order without having a membership number.

Tiff Bish
“Life hack, if you want to try Costco or Sam’s Club stuff and you don’t have a membership, go on Instacart,” she said in her TikTok video. tiffjessup/Tik Tok

Wrong, said the bargainista, who explained that she was a former Instacart shopper and has experience with the process, which reportedly involves non-members ordering through the third-party app paying a 5% upcharge over the store price, along with Instacart’s usual delivery charges and fees.

“I know Instacart isn’t cheap, but it works for sometimes with my busy life,” she said.

Instacart and Costco confirmed the “life hack” with The Post.