The Costco Shopping Habit That's A Complete Waste Of Time

Costco devotees go to the warehouse club retailer for its bulk sales savings, quality, and selection, which they believe make the membership fee worth it. They can benefit even more by knowing useful information like the perks you may not realize come with membership, or bakery section tips and hacks. But a shopping habit that isn't worth the time or effort is rummaging through products on the shelves in order to snag one from the back, out of the belief that it's newer and fresher.

We've all likely had the experience of realizing some item we grabbed while grocery shopping was nearly expired or even past the expiration date. So, it's not unreasonable to search behind the front products for newer ones that are often put in the back to get the older ones sold first. But the items in cases on Costco's racks are usually all from the same group with identical expiration dates. Additionally, stock sells quickly at the chain's stores, so anything out on the shelves probably hasn't been there for very long anyway.

Some self-identified Costco employees complained about this practice in a Reddit thread about annoying customer behavior, with one writing that he'd even seen someone looking in the back of the gift cards to find a "fresh" one. In addition to not being necessary, when shoppers do this, it can create disarray not only on the shelf but on the floor around it, which can be a safety risk. Workers then have to put everything back in order.

Just like Costco's packaged foods, the boxes of fruits and vegetables in the display stacks also generally come in together on a single pallet. Workers additionally go through the produce to remove any that aren't in good shape. However, since they're more fragile, fruits and veggies that arrive at the same time may not all be in the same condition, and workers can miss some duds. Some Redditors also contend they've seen produce boxes with older dates stacked above more recent ones. So, while you don't necessarily have to go digging in the bottom boxes, give any produce an extra once-over before putting it in your cart.

Relatedly, Costco doesn't hold onto a lot of extra stock. So, if you ask an employee to look in the back for an item — because they're out or you think it might be fresher – there's no excess supply for them to check. Additionally, if you take something off a worker's cart while they're putting out more items, it may not be any newer than what's already on the rack, since it could just be more product from the same shipment.

One tip to get new groceries when they first hit Costco's shelves is to go shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday, which is after they've been restocked. And specifically for the chain's iconic (and incredibly cheap) rotisserie chicken, keep your ears open for the bell that rings when hot, fresh chicken is ready, or pay attention to the oven clocks that count down to the next batch.