What Happens When The Fridges Fail At Costco?

The power going out in your home is pretty inconvenient, especially when it comes to your refrigerated foods; but, if you keep the door closed, they should be able to withstand a few hours of no cooling. But imagine if the fridges were to fail at Costco — land of Kirkland Signature premium vanilla ice cream and perishable meats with the occasionally mislabeled price tag – what would happen then? It actually has occurred in a few different locations over the years, but rather than freak out (at least in public), store managers simply instruct employees to barricade off the affected coolers.

There's a few different ways that locations might indicate to the general shopping public that the coolers are not open for business. If it's the case-type coolers, which are open air and have no doors, there are apparently opaque screens hidden up inside the top portion, which can be pulled down and secured. It's important that the food stays cold, so employees will often clear them out and put them in coolers in the back of the store. For store refrigerators that have doors, employees might block them off by wrapping them in plastic wrap (the Kirkland Signature brand, no doubt) so that no one can open them, thus preserving the food within for longer.

It would be terribly disappointing if you find that the refrigerators are down and blocked off the next time you go shopping at Costco. But what you should absolutely not do is try and open a door anyway or ask an employee to do it for you. The reason is twofold: First, you don't know how long the refrigerators have been down, and what state the food is in — it could be nearing what the USDA calls "The Danger Zone," where unsafe temperatures cause bacteria to flourish. Employees might be getting ready to toss the food out.

Second, opening the door when the refrigeration is down can quickly speed up the spoilage process for what's inside, in any refrigerator. If you get an employee to do it for you, other customers will likely also ask, causing the doors to be opened many times, and hurrying spoilage even more. So what do you do when you need your milk or your eggs in bulk, but you can't get them at Costco? If you're lucky enough to have multiple locations in your city, try a different store — you can even call ahead to make sure its refrigerators are still up and working. Or, you could try a different chain; while Costco and Sam's Club are different in a lot of ways, both retailers sell things in bulk and there is definitely overlap regarding kitchen staples.