Costco testing curbside pick-up at 3 New Mexico warehouses

Several months after saying that launching curbside pickup services was not on the radar, Costco Wholesale officials confirmed that it is testing the service at its three warehouses in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
During a conference call with analysts to discuss its second-quarter earnings late last week, the big-box retailer’s Executive Vice President, Richard Galanti, said the test is “ongoing.”
“We don’t really have a lot to add at this time as the test is recent and continuing. The pilot is going well,” he said.
“Our members have responded to it and basket size has actually surpassed our expectations. Our focus of course is how can we be more efficient in doing it and determining if this offering can become scalable and makes a firm sense for us,” he added.
Costco has been holding out on offering customers the ability to buy groceries online and picking them up curbside or in-store since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, as this media outlet reported.
For the second fiscal quarter ended in February, Costco reported net income of was $951 million or $2.14 per share, compared to $931 million or $2.10 per diluted share last year.
This year’s results included $246 million pre-tax or $0.41 per diluted share and costs incurred primarily from COVID-19 premium wages, the retailer said.