Costco Joins 2018 - Flash at the Pump
Aug. 30th, 2023 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerCostco has finally caught up with the times! ...The times being, in this case, approximately 2018. When I went to Costco to buy gas this past weekend I saw something new: signs advertising that the pumps now have the ability to scan your digital membership card from the app on your phone, rather than you having to slide your membership card in the slot like it's still the 1980s.
The app scanner is in that small enclosure at the lower right of the photo, next to the credit card slot.
What made this new capability even more surprising is that Costco has had these scanners installed on its gas pumps for, like, four years now. The hardware has been there, but Costco whiffed on getting the software infrastructure set up. (An acquaintance who works at Costco says the IT project was a victim of the pandemic, which I find to be a wholly unsatisfying explanation. As a person working in IT I can validate that so many companies used the pandemic to catch up on 5 years of technology in 6 months. Meanwhile Costco Rip van Winkle'd the whole thing? Embarrassing.
Anyway, now they've caught up with what their main competitor, Sam's Club, had working literally 5 years ago. And I'm glad this last, holdout reason to have to carry a stupid plastic membership card around has been solved.
The app scanner is in that small enclosure at the lower right of the photo, next to the credit card slot.
What made this new capability even more surprising is that Costco has had these scanners installed on its gas pumps for, like, four years now. The hardware has been there, but Costco whiffed on getting the software infrastructure set up. (An acquaintance who works at Costco says the IT project was a victim of the pandemic, which I find to be a wholly unsatisfying explanation. As a person working in IT I can validate that so many companies used the pandemic to catch up on 5 years of technology in 6 months. Meanwhile Costco Rip van Winkle'd the whole thing? Embarrassing.
Anyway, now they've caught up with what their main competitor, Sam's Club, had working literally 5 years ago. And I'm glad this last, holdout reason to have to carry a stupid plastic membership card around has been solved.
