Costco Expands App Wallet to Any Visa Card for Warehouse Checkout

Q: Costco's digital wallet is here, but why does the iconic $1.50 hot dog remain a cash-only holdout?

The $1.50 hot dog remains outside Costco’s new digital wallet because the company has explicitly limited the feature to warehouse purchases and excluded the food court. Costco’s update lets members link any Visa card to the app and pay in-warehouse with a single QR code that combines membership and payment. But Costco’s own rollout says that option does not apply at the food court. So the issue is less that the hot dog is uniquely “cash-only” than that food-court transactions have not been folded into the new mobile-payment system. That carveout fits Costco’s broader operating style. The food court is built around speed, simplicity and ultra-low prices, with the $1.50 hot dog serving as one of the chain’s most famous value symbols. Costco has long treated those loss-leader-style staples as part of its brand identity, and management has emphasized preserving core traditions even while upgrading the app and checkout technology elsewhere. There is also a practical explanation. Costco’s digital investments are aimed mainly at improving warehouse checkout flow, where membership verification and basket payment can be combined in one scan. Food-court purchases work differently, often through separate counters or kiosks, making them a lower priority for this phase of the rollout. So the hot dog remains a holdout not because Costco is rejecting digital payments broadly, but because the food court has been deliberately left out of this upgrade—for now.

3 articles · Updated · Fox Business · Jul 8

Costco now lets members link any Visa card to the Costco app’s digital membership card and pay by phone at warehouse checkout.
The change is aimed at faster lines: one app screen can handle membership verification and payment, reducing the need to carry or search for physical cards.
The phone-payment option is limited to warehouse purchases and excludes the food court, Costco said.
Costco had already supported a Digital Costco Visa Card in the app; CEO Ron Vachris said earlier upgrades also improved the mobile wallet and expanded shopping-cart prescan tools internationally.