Stepping into Costco for the first time can feel like entering a small city. That is not hyperbole. The average Costco warehouse is 150,000 to 160,000 square feet — roughly three full American football fields of retail space, stacked floor-to-rafters with merchandise, organized in a way that is specifically designed to slow you down, encourage exploration, and help you discover things you did not know you wanted to buy. The ceilings are thirty feet high. The shopping carts ar

Eight seconds. That is the average transaction time Costco is achieving with its newly piloted automated pay station technology — a figure announced by CFO Gary Millerchip during Costco's Q2 2026 earnings call and celebrated by the millions of Costco members who have historically spent a meaningful portion of every warehouse visit standing in checkout lines. Wiss Costco CFO Gary Millerchip said: "We are also piloting automated pay stations that will allow members to pay for t

Eight seconds. That is the average transaction time Costco is achieving with its newly piloted automated pay station technology — a figure announced by CFO Gary Millerchip during Costco's Q2 2026 earnings call and immediately celebrated by the millions of Costco members who have historically spent a meaningful portion of every warehouse visit standing in checkout lines. Millerchip described the initiative clearly during the call: "We are also piloting automated pay stations t

Eight seconds. That is the average transaction time Costco is achieving with its newly piloted automated pay station technology — a figure announced by CFO Gary Millerchip during Costco's Q2 2026 earnings call on March 5 and immediately celebrated by both the financial community and the millions of Costco members who have spent a portion of every warehouse visit queuing in checkout lines. Eight seconds from pre-scanned cart to payment complete. For a retailer that processes h