Retailers appear to be facing a self-checkout reckoning

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Customers check out at a Walmart store.
A Doral, Florida, Walmart store with an associate helping out with self-checkout.

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Costco stops giving Instacart shoppers gift cards as refunds, amid claims they were being misused

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A shopper wearing a baseball cap loads several cases of bottled water onto an orange flat-bed cart at a Costco store.
Instacart shoppers at Costco will no longer get gift cards when they return undeliverable items for a refund, Instacart said.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Costco is selling a 157-piece Le Creuset kitchen set for $4,500

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A 157-piece Le Creuset set available at Costco, including pots, pans, trays, bowls, utensils
Costco is selling a 157-piece Le Creuset set for $4,500.

Costco

More young people are getting Costco memberships, but they're not spending as much as boomers or Gen X

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Consumer spending US economy markets
A resilient consumer has helped stave off a recession so far, but that may not last.

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Costco shoppers are continuing to cut back on big-ticket items, even as inflation falls, as Americans put off buying jewelry, laptops, and furniture

Tech Insider : Economy
A customer shops at a Costco store on August 31, 2023 in Novato, California.
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Costco is still holding out on raising its membership fees

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The membership desk at a Costco wholesale club warehouse
Costco's annual Gold Star membership fee was last increased in 2017, when it went from $55 to $60.

Dominick Reuter/Insider

Costco teams up with Google-backed health startup to offer $29 virtual doctor's visits to members

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telehealth
Costco has partnered with Sesame, a healthcare marketplace startup that aims to primarily serve uninsured people as well as those with high-deductible insurance and health savings account plans.

Marko Geber/Getty Images

Costco, Lowe's, Best Buy, and Tractor Supply are winning the battle against retail theft in a strikingly similar way

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A sales associate processes the purchase of a hard drive at a Best Buy store after doors opened at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, Nov. 26, 2021, in Lone Tree, Colo.
A sales associate processes a purchase at a Best Buy store in Colorado. Retailers say adequate staffing is one way to fight retail theft.

Costco superfans now have their own warehouse-themed Monopoly game – with tokens like the $1.50 hot dog combo

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Costco Monopoly game
Costco Monopoly features properties that the product listing says were "lovingly drawn by a Costco Super-fan."

Costco

Walmart customers either hate or love the chain's new shopping carts. We tried one out, and it's clear why they are so polarizing.

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A traditional Walmart shopping cart next to the new design.
I went to Walmart to check out the redesigned cart, and I even brought my tape measure.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (Left), Dominick Reuter/Insider (Right)

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