What's Really Behind Costco's Comically Large Plastic Packing For Small Items

There's a reason over 133 million people have Costco memberships, and it's not just the rotisserie chicken. Costco brings a lot of value, quality, and variety that shoppers love. And, let's be honest, the experience of shopping at Costco is part of the allure. Whether it's the feeling of exclusivity, the free samples, or the large sizes, there's something really fun about shopping there. One thing that stands out, and maybe for the wrong reasons, is the way Costco packages a lot of items, especially small ones. They have a bad habit of using the biggest possible packaging for the tiniest things, but it's actually designed to save you money.

For Costco's entire history, it has been a warehouse store. The store displays many items on 40-inch by 48-inch pallets. If you are looking to buy something small, and this is especially true of cosmetics and other personal items at Costco, the packaging is often a large 10-inch by 11-inch card. This makes it easy to load and stack pallets with packages of that size. They fit uniformly so that, when the pallet is unwrapped at Costco and displayed for shoppers, employees don't need to waste time arranging a shelf display. That cuts costs and saves time. The flip side is that it's also very wasteful, and the company has been called out for it before.

Putting a tiny jar of face cream in a big plastic shell or a USB cable on a 10-inch by 11-inch plastic-covered card can save Costco employees time by allowing them to stack pallets and move on. However, it does make more work for you as a customer. Everyone has had to wrestle with that kind of packaging before. Afterward, you're left with a lot of waste to throw away.

Ironically, Costco does have packaging standards developed with an eye toward sustainability and eco-consciousness. That includes using easily recyclable or compostable packaging, using recycled materials, and right-sizing packaging for products. That said, packages do have to work in conjunction with the company's streamlined process, which makes the right-sizing step difficult for smaller items.

In the end, what wins out is having packages that are display-ready for Costco stores and Costco Business Centers, meaning the pallets can be unwrapped, stacked, and ready for sale. Despite having reasons behind their packaging and standards in place, Costco still uses single-use plastics, which are terrible for the environment because they can't be recycled.

Redditors have speculated on another reason for Costco's packaging: theft-prevention. Small items are harder to shoplift in a giant package that can't fit in a pocket. Although Costco has never officially stated it as a reason for the excess packaging, many people online believe it, and it seems like an added benefit of the way items are packaged.