Neither being a member or being accompanied by a member is required to walk in the door. You don't even need to be a member to shop there provided you have a Costco Cash Card [0]. As well, there are at least a few Costcos where the concession stand is outside [1]

[0]https://www.costco.com/Costco-Cash-Card.product.10024438.htm... [1]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Costco+Wholesale/@37.25296...

So if I give my Costco-member friend $100 and ask her to buy me four $25 Costco Cash cards, would that let me make four trips without buying my own membership? That seems like all I'd need in a year...

This is accurate. You need only to have a costco cash card to get the Costco price on the goods in store. That cash card does not need to encompass the entire price of the transaction, as your credit card can make up the rest.

I've heard this touted as a "hack" but this makes absolute economic sense for Costco -- they get an advance on your purchase and get you into the store to potentially see the value in signing up.

Oh, I absolutely intended to buy more than $25 of stuff each visit!

I just didn't imagine they'd let me say "Um, yeah, put $1 on my Costco Cash card, and the other $399 on my Visa".

I tried that for a while in lieu of membership. Their employees certainly gave me a hard time over this: stink eye, calling the manager, chiding me for doing this loudly and openly, etc.

Thus, while it is possible, their devout employees don't like it and go out of their way to make one feel like a leper for not being a member.

You do not need to be a member to access the food court, alcohol sales, or pharmacy. You will need to stop at member services and wait in line to get a temporary pass. It's a deliberate hassle, but by various laws Costco can't stop you from accessing those services.

You can definitely get alcohol w/o a membership. I think it might be a state-by-state thing, but in some states it’s illegal to require a membership for alcohol purchases, so you can buy alcohol even if you don’t have a Costco membership.

The food court I'm not as sure about, but in both cases I've walked into a Costco with no membership and they were fine with it.

Almost every Costco I've been to, the food vending is a window on the outside of the building (so before the checkpoint).

And, at the ones where the food vending is on the inside, it's on the "paid" side of the cash registers. You can get to this area just by claiming you're "going to member services", since that's also on that side, and it's where you go when you forget your card (and so can't show membership at the checkpoint).

Source: Have forgotten my card a lot.

* Almost every Costco I've been to, the food vending is a window on the outside of the building (so before the checkpoint).*

I've never seen a Costco with the food vending in a window on the outside of the building. I've always seen it against the wall after the checkout. Which is also after the checkpoint.

I think a window on the outside of the building only works in moderate climates. I don't see it working in Phoenix or Minneapolis.

Many Southern California and Florida locations have the entire Costco food-court outside.

The membership checkers are there to give members the feeling of exclusivity and belonging. They do not generally turn people away and will accept basically any reason from "meeting someone" to no response at all, in my experience. But I haven't been to more than half dozen Costco's, so can't speak broadly.

I think their primary purpose is to ensure that nobody who isn't a member or forgot their membership card gets in the checkout line and slows it down.

I suspect "where are you going with that $2000 TV?" plays a role, too.

You can walk in the exit, and straight to the food court.