This Costco fan-favorite has customers riled up

By Nathan Hutsenpiller AMG-Parade

3 months ago

In grocery settings, quality control is of the utmost importance. For a retailer like Costco, whose customers pay an annual membership fee, quality control means a lot more to the average shopper. It means the products they love are not only a reliable purchase, but one that won’t cause serious illness or injury either. And when you’re buying food and other supplies in bulk, those are key factors in deciding where you spend your money.

It’s no secret that Costco takes quality control as a whole very seriously. The fan-favorite bulk retailer would not be at the top of their game without putting the needs and preferences of customers first. However, it’s always possible for issues to slip through the cracks, which seems to be the case with a recent uptick in annoyed membership holders who have reported purchasing flat cans of Kirkland Signature Sparkling Water.

News of the lack of carbonation in Kirkland Signature Sparkling Water recently hit the Costco subreddit, where one shopper posed the question:

“Anyone else getting flat cans of Kirkland sparkling waters? [I’ve] Talked to several people and we’re all getting some flat seltzers in the 30 packs. Hasn’t happened with the Waterloo or La Croix cases. What the heck”

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The responses, while not necessarily shedding light on the reason for the flat cans, turned out to be pretty helpful in letting customers know that they are not alone in their flat beverage experiences.

“Yes, I usually get a flat can or two per case,” noted one helpful shopper.“I’ve had a couple that were leaking from a random pinhole.” Another chimed in to lighten the mood, “nah, all my cans have been cylindrical.”

Jokes aside, it seems as though the flat cans are being found at random, with not all 30-pack cases being affected. One commenter mentions having at least “one dud in every other [case] flat since May,” and also raised the question as to whether the issue might be regional. Others reported only finding one or two flat cans every “once in a while,” and even went as far as attempting to get a credit for a new case by trying to return the flat ones.

This unique quality control issue really puts a spotlight on bulk shopping all together. Just like any other product made in a large factory, there’s always the chance of defects and small issues to arise.

One commenter urged customers to still bring the flat product in, saying that “if there’s lots of issues with the same product it does get researched and hopefully corrected.” The commenter went on to add, “When we do refunds, we are required to add a comment for each non-sellable return. Those comments are monitored.”

So while one or two cans may not seem like the biggest deal, if it keeps happening, it is worth it to notify Costco of the issue. Otherwise, the issue can become worse and eventually lead to a much larger count of reported flat beverages.

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