10 Costco Changes That Made Customers Angry

Sometimes, change can be a good thing, but customers have ended up downright angry with quite a few changes Costco has made over the years. Sometimes, change is inevitable. However, the problem comes when the change makes the overall experience or product worse rather than better or just different. While sometimes the changes haven't been something the company had any control over, like being forced to switch manufacturers, other times, the changes have just missed the mark from the customers' point of view.

The changes that have upset Costco customers the most fall into several different categories. As you might expect, there are a few related to product quality, size, packaging, and price changes. Beyond that, other changes that have customers tiffed are ones related to who can enter the store and when. Food court changes also factor into what's got customers upset, with changes including the ordering and dining experience as well as some packaging issues. Honestly, we don't see the company bringing back the original products, packaging, and processes in most cases because there are reasons for the changes, like reducing plastic content, cutting costs, having to switch production companies, or making ingredient lists healthier. Despite the reasoning behind them, these 10 Costco changes are the ones that have gotten the most angry reactions from customers.

One of the biggest changes making Costco customers angry is only offering extended hours for its Executive membership holders. This change rolled out on June 30, 2025, and it's been a sore spot with Gold Star and Business members.

Costco already had short shopping hours to begin with, not opening in some locations until 10:00 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Getting to shop an hour earlier was a welcome change in those locations that had such a late opening time, but only those with Executive-level membership can come in to shop in the hour before the store opens for everyone else. Obviously, Executive members are thrilled because stores are less crowded and they can get their shopping done earlier, but regular members aren't. However, it seems that the earlier opening time has motivated some people to upgrade their membership.

One of the things that Sam's Club does far better than Costco is offering more shopping hours. With regular club members being able to shop at Sam's Club starting at 9:00 a.m. and Plus members being able to shop as early as 8:00 a.m., we'd not be surprised if this is a change that causes some regular customers who are angry about the change to switch from Costco to Sam's.

If you want to get customers angry at Costco, just mess with their muffins. It seems that Costco has been making a lot of muffin changes lately, and customers aren't happy about them at all.

Once upon a time, you could go to the Costco bakery and get mix & match muffins rather than just one type. But starting in 2025, customers were forced to commit to just one flavor. Plus, when the bakery changed that policy, it started making the muffins smaller. Also gone were the six packs of larger muffins in a mixture of flavors, and they were replaced with eight packs of smaller muffins in a singular flavor. While the price went down per muffin for smaller packs, the 24-pack suffered from shrinkflation, getting more expensive while the muffins got smaller.

Not only were the package content, size, and price different, but the texture was different, too. Switching to smaller and fewer muffins had the potential to be a good change for those who found the larger ones too big. Unfortunately, the size wasn't all that changed. While the larger version of the muffins had been moist, the newer, smaller ones tended to be dry. Plus, they tasted different, with some customers experiencing an unpleasant aftertaste. Additionally, customers find that the new ones go bad more quickly without refrigeration. Although that seems to be because there are whole ingredients and fewer preservatives, which is actually a positive.

In 2025, Costco suddenly changed its diaper supplier, which upset a lot of its customers. If you've ever had a baby, you know just how many diapers they go through, with that first year requiring around 3,000 diapers (per Healthline). With newborns going through as many as 12 diapers a day, it's no wonder parents often buy their diapers in bulk from Costco, sometimes getting the membership for the cheap diapers. Parents develop loyalties to brands because of price and how well they fit and work for their child, which is why it's frustrating if the brand you come to trust changes manufacturers.

The change happened when Kimberly-Clark, Kirkland's previous diaper maker, decided that it preferred to abandon its private-label diapers in favor of its name-brand diapers like Huggies. Once Kirkland started having to get its diapers from First Quality instead, customers on social media started reporting having problems.

Customers say that the new ones are thinner, less absorbent, wider, with a wider, flatter waistband, a single rather than double gusset, elastic bands rather than velcro fasteners, and a chemical smell. As a result, parents on social media reported lots of messy blowouts, leaks within 30 minutes, no longer working as overnight diapers, skin irritation, and tearing easily. Frustrated with the quality, many customers have switched from Kirkland diapers to more expensive discount brands or just to Huggies.

For a long time, Kirkland toilet paper was one of the items that was worth getting a Costco Membership to be able to buy. However, some of the Kirkland toilet paper changes have disappointed loyal users. While the changes have been slow, customers have certainly noticed. Even with only paying around $0.70 per roll, it's not worth it for some people.

Customers on social media are making lots of complaints about Kirland toilet paper. Not only is it weak and rips easily, but it isn't as soft as it once was and creates clouds of white dust. As you can imagine from that description, it leaves behind a lot of lint debris on nethers as well. With it being so thin, users end up having to use up to six layers just to keep their hands clean. Customers have also blamed it on skin irritation and female health issues related to their nethers.

While you would expect weak, linty toilet paper when it's septic-system-safe, it turns out that this paper doesn't disintegrate well either and can end up clogging pipes. After having multiple clogs, customers on social media have gone as far as to test the paper in a glass of water to see what happens over time, and it just clumps rather than dissolving like other brands. So, buying the cheapest toilet paper can end up being expensive in repair costs, with plumbers finding football-sized wads stopping up septic tanks.

Over the last few years, customers have started to see a change in the types of tables the food court offers. For many, it's a tradition to stop by the Costco food court after a shopping session to get a hot dog and soda at 1980s prices. However, with the new changes to the tables in many food courts, that tradition isn't nearly as relaxing and doesn't work for some customers.

What's changed is that the sit-down options are now gone. Where there were once tables with chairs, booths, or picnic tables, there are now tall standing tables. So, if you've been walking around on the hard cement for an hour and need to take a load off your feet and knees, you might be out of luck. Luckily, some locations only replaced half of the sit-down options with standing tables. But the sit-down options tend to get taken up quickly.

There are lots of problems with the new tables. For one thing, tall tables don't work for children, short people, some elderly customers, or people using a wheelchair. Without a solution, some families have just ended up sitting on the floor to eat. The other option is to eat in the car, which is not something customers are happy about either.

Speaking of cheap items that have a loyal customer following, Costco's rotisserie chickens have made some people upset when the packaging changed in 2024. Before the change, getting a roasted chicken was a no-brainer. You just grabbed one, put it in your cart, chucked it into the car with the rest of your groceries, and got it home without peril. However, the new packaging is causing some problems.

The reason the company changed from a hard plastic clamshell to a bag for its rotisserie chicken was to cut down on the amount of plastic it used in the packaging. So, it seemed like a positive change in theory. However, in practice, it doesn't work out so well to have it in a bag rather than clamshell packaging.

The first issue Costco shoppers mention on social media is that it is more likely to leak all over your car, and nobody wants chicken juices and grease on their seats and in their trunks. Some customers and even cashiers have taken to placing the new bags inside plastic bags from the meat department to try to contain the leaks (so much for saving on plastic usage!). With the leaking problem, the new bags also don't work very well to hold leftovers either. You also have to take the chicken out of the bag to carve it, whereas you could carve it inside the old container. And while there's less plastic packaging overall, the new plastic packaging isn't recyclable.

These days, if you want to visit Costco, you've got to show your membership card at the door. However, that wasn't always the case, as it was once possible to walk in as a non-member and just browse or even visit the food court.

Costco employees on social media have reported that some customers had full-on meltdowns when asked to show their membership cards at the door. After all, they'd been members for years and never had to show their card. Some people have taken being asked to prove membership personally, assuming that it means that they're being singled out because they look like a thief. In reality, sometimes the only reason they're being singled out is because they're the only person in line not holding their membership card already. Granted, it's a little more annoying when the person at the door wants to double-check the card and ask for another ID card on top of the membership card. Some customers have expressed feeling harassed when treated with suspicion and having to go above and beyond to prove membership.

The harassment has gone beyond just the door, with some married customers saying they've gotten membership lectures when they're literally shopping together in the store, and the person who remembered to bring their card isn't the one paying. The problem seems to extend to helping elderly membership holders pay when they're present as well.

Over the last few years, the way customers could order in the food court changed. Both the old and new process have required making an order at a digital kiosk, but the new way to actually get your food has made customers feel flustered.

Previously, you'd get a number when you ordered and could go up and get your food once an employee called it out. Now, you have to take your receipt from the kiosk and then queue up behind everyone else to get your food by showing your receipt. So, you're not getting your food in the order that it's done anymore, but in the order that you are in line. If the people ahead of you in line have orders that take longer to make, it slows down getting food for everyone else behind them in line.

Sure, it's nice for the employees not yell numbers out all day long (and sometimes not be heard), but the efficiency has gone down with this new process. Another problem people on social media have mentioned is that there's no matching kitchen ticket on food orders. So, it takes more time for the employee to match the customer ticket with the orders coming out of the kitchen. In some locations, the order doesn't even start until you give your ticket to an employee. It's been bad enough for some locations to switch back to the old format.

Another food court change that has flustered Costco members relates to the removal of plastic straws for drinks. All the way back in the late 2010s, some locations switched out plastic for paper straws, but that was just the beginning of the changes.

As you can imagine, there's not a lot of love for paper straws, with people on social media saying that they just don't last for the duration of the drink and start to break down. They also work with some drinks better than others, with customers complaining that they end up having to eventually abandon their straws altogether when it comes to trying to drink smoothies through paper straws because they end up soggy and broken.

Customers on social media thought it was kind of silly that the cups were still plastic. While some pointed out that it's easier to recycle plastic cups than plastic straws, that isn't necessarily the reality. Another substitute for paper straws has been plastic sippy drink lids. We're used to drinking hot drinks like coffee through sippy lids, but it's just weird with cold drinks. Still, it's better than a disintegrating straw.

Costco's foil is notorious for being a product that you can purchase once and have last for years and years. So, when customers finally need to buy a new roll ten years later, they can really tell how much Kirkland foil has changed. And we hate to tell you that it's not a change anyone loves.

While a reputable company (Reynolds) is behind the creation of these gigantic rolls of foil, the quality of the foil has decreased over time. One customer revealed on social media that they weighed equal pieces of foil from boxes separated in production time by two years and found that the newest foil was lighter by about a third. The sheets are simply getting thinner, even when buying what seemed to be the same box of foil in name. One customer who has been using the foil for years said that the thickness has changed so much that the heavy-duty foil now feels like what the standard once felt like. So, if you're one of those people who are finally finishing up a standard roll after 15 years, you're probably going to want to switch to heavy-duty when you get your replacement roll.