A Costco worker refused to allow a donor to buy 50 hot dogs, claiming a strange “policy” prevented him from doing so.
In a short 40-second clip posted on TikTok, the man said that despite purchasing 50 dogs using the self-checkout machine, when it came time to pick up the food at the counter, he was told he could only receive a maximum of five.
The video has so far received over 360,000 views and is typical of other content on the account which shows the TikToker ‘trying food that’s past its expiration date so he doesn’t have to throw it away’.
In other clips, the TikToker is seen purchasing multiple quantities of food with the intention of giving it away to homeless people, but when it came to Costco, this time such good intentions backfired.
A Costco worker refused to let a man buy 50 hot dogs, claiming a strange “policy” prevented him from doing so
The video shows the man feeding 50 hot dogs into the self-checkout terminal, racking up a bill of $75.
After paying with his credit card, the man filming the video with his cell phone approaches the counter to pick up his order, but is deeply disappointed.
“Hello sir. I need to have my hot dog order returned. We cannot sell 50 hot dogs. Only 5 per person,” was the Costco employee’s response.
“You have one minute to eat it here. You can’t take it outside,” was the strange response.
The man who was filming remained calm throughout and simply said, “Ok, that’s good to know.”
When the TikToker approached the customer service desk to get his refund, he briefly told the cashier what had happened.
“I want to give money to homeless people but they can’t give 50.”
Although there were no issues when placing the large order, when we got to the counter to pick up the food there seemed to be a problem.
The TikToker was told that Costco could not sell more than five at a time and that they had to be consumed on-site.
Customer service quickly processed the $75 refund but provided no additional explanation.
There was little pushback or discussion about the reasoning behind the policy, but many online commentators suggested he should have fought back a bit more or perhaps worked to find a solution.
“I could have asked if she would mind waiting to bake them in the oven to make sure we had enough to sell to other members,” one respondent wrote.
“That’s a lie, I’ve literally seen someone with 30 or 40 hot dogs before,” Shanna said.
Others felt less sympathy for the incident and believed it could have been handled differently.
Commenters on the TikTok video suggested the man should have called ahead to place the pre-order.
An employee is seen preparing Costco’s famous hot dogs in the kitchen of a Costco store (file)
“I think with proper planning/calling ahead/speaking to a manager and agreeing on a specific date and time for pickup, they could do it,” one suggested.
“Just go buy a bunch of hot dogs and buns, cook them and feed them. Why are you blaming Costco?” added another.
“You could be polite and call ahead to let them know you’ll need a certain amount and they’d be happy to accommodate you. I ordered over 50 this way for a celebration and they were very nice about it,” wrote user Bac Walker.
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