What Costco does with your data

What it collects and does with your data

• Privacy notice says Costco sells or shares identifiers and commercial information to advertising, marketing, and analytics providers, co-branded partners, and 'to suppliers for marketing purposes.'
• Privacy notice says facial images and telemetry may be captured and compared to your ID when you establish or access membership or buy restricted products such as alcohol, and that it captures license plate images near its facilities.
• Privacy notice says if your employer purchased your membership, Costco may disclose your name, address, purchase history, and membership level to your employer.
• Privacy notice lists commercial data brokers as a source of information about your interests.

Sensitive data

• facial images compared to ID (biometric, policy)
• license plates (ALPR)
• pharmacy and health
• precise location (with consent)
• government ID
• payment

Enforcement and litigation

1 matter in the research. Where the research says alleged, pending, or settled without admitting wrongdoing, so does this page.

• Proposed class action (W.D. Wash.) alleging Costco's pharmacy web pages sent health information to Meta via the Meta Pixel. Pending as of last report found.

Who else holds your data

Organizations holding a copy of your data, as the research counts them: at least 12. Lower bound: one organization per disclosed recipient category; Citi and Instacart named.

Third parties: 12 disclosed recipient categories. Named: Citi (co-brand Visa); Instacart (Costco Same Day). Categories: other account members and administrators, household or affiliate members, co-branded businesses, affiliates, service providers, Citi card program, suppliers, shipping vendors, advertising/marketing/analytics providers, corporate transactions, employers (employer-provided memberships), payment and financial entities.

Data brokers linked to Costco

• Gets customer data from data brokers it doesn't name. "Privacy notice lists commercial data brokers as a source of information about your interests."

Confidence: confirmed means the company confirmed it or reported it in a filing. Alleged means a complaint or petition says so, with no ruling found. Reported means journalism or a Senate letter. How brokers are included

Data practices score

9 of 12 scored. Five components, each 0 to 3. How the score works

Sells or shares

3

Enforcement

1

Retail media scale

unscored

Sensitive data

3

Opt-out friction

2

Estimated emissions for one person

Research gaps

• retail_media_scale unscored (null): Costco Retail Media revenue not disclosed; total excludes it.
• Email figure: 203 emails from 2022-05-01 to 2022-12-05 (EmailTooltester); central value is a linear annualization, high is an assumption for the December peak.
• FY2026 member counts not yet in a 10-K.
• Meta Pixel suit status after early 2025 not found.