This Is One Of The Most Annoying Things About Shopping At Costco, Hands Down

"Have you gotten your free gift yet?" Just reading the question may elicit an immediate physical reaction for anyone who has heard it before. If that doesn't sound familiar, perhaps you can tell us who your cable or phone service provider is? These are questions you may have encountered from a salesperson at Costco while grabbing a fresh rotisserie chicken, and it's one of the most cringeworthy aspects of being a member there or other wholesale club stores. While the product being peddled may be worthwhile, the salespeople can be relentless in their pursuit of getting members on board. The kicker is that they aren't even typically employed by that brand. However, there are ways — albeit not foolproof — to dodge their attempts. 

You may not realize it, but the sales representatives for television programming providers like DirecTV and phone services such as AT&T at wholesale clubs aren't actually employed by the companies they're peddling. They're typically employed by a marketing company known as Smart Circle. The third-party prides itself on 30 years of employing outsourced salespeople who seem to have a passion for hounding club members. This is even to the point that members have created dedicated Reddit pages to speak out about their negative experiences. Despite this, the wholesale club continues to partner with Smart Circle, allowing their salespeople to pester members upon entering the establishment — an endless annoyance you might consider to be comparable in severity to one of Costco's biggest scandals. 

Unfortunately, just about anyone walking into the doors of a Costco warehouse is going to be subject to this. The good news is that there are ways to dodge the advances of these sales representatives. The most effective defense is a set of headphones and your favorite podcast or playlist. From here, feign obliviousness no matter how persistent they are, and just keep on trucking. Certainly, sales representatives are people just like anyone else, so if acknowledging them is a must, make sure it's a firm "No thank you" with a bold period and keep moving. Motion is key here as stopping to speak risks you getting got-ya'd into their pitch, possibly signing on to a regrettable commitment. 

Honestly, members having to dodge a sales representative's pitch happens so often, it warrants being mentioned in the list of what to know before buying a membership. Costco employees may advise speaking with their customer service desk if members feel harassed, but there's enough evidence out this via Reddit pages alone that there should be more proactive efforts in place. One Reddit user referred to them as the human version of a pop-up ad, so perhaps there should be a membership tier that allows shoppers to formally block their advances. Jokes aside, this is an issue that members feel strongly about, and although the idea of face-to-face marketing should be a thing of the past, it's also clear that they aren't leaving anytime soon.