https://naviga.triblive.com/local/regional/pittsburgh-area-costco-stores-yank-free-samples/
Pittsburgh-area Costco stores yank free food samples
In what appears to be one of the latest moves to curb the potential spreading of the coronavirus, wholesale giant Costco has halted distribution of free samples throughout the region.
According to USA Today, it was not immediately known if the members-only warehouse chain had pulled the samples from all stores in the U.S. or only in select areas or when the suspension would end.
A manager at Costco in Homestead confirmed that the store is not offering free samples for customers. He would not confirm that the stoppage was due to coronavirus concerns, and declined to provide further comment.
“We are not distributing our demos at this time,” he said.
The same was true at the Robinson Township and Cranberry locations.
Regional representatives for Costco were not immediately available for comment.
Costco stores in California, Washington state and Florida said they did not know when Costco would begin offering free food samples again, USA Today reported.
The news that product demonstrations would be suspended first surfaced on Reddit on Thursday.
View this post on Instagram??Just got word, one of our followers is a sample person for CDS which is Costco’s vendor who does all the food samples and looks like they will not be serving samples for the foreseeable future. Not sure if this is immediate and will effect all stores or will be a store by store basis. . ?The good side is that Costco is allowing CDS workers to work at the warehouses in various other capacities until samples start up again!! This was inevitable with the #coronavirus picking up steam in the US + the recent crazy crowds at Costco stores! #washyourhands #costcodeals #costcosamples #costco . ?If anyone can confirm that it’s a nationwide or worldwide sample suspension, DM or let us know in the comments below! A post shared by COSTCO DEALS (@costcodeals) on Mar 6, 2020 at 12:58am PST
USA Today reported that Costco said this week it’s struggling to keep bottled water, disinfectants and other critical supplies in stock as shoppers preparing to hunker down stock up. Some Costco locations have put limits on how much toilet paper or paper towels they can purchase.
None of the Pittsburgh-area locations reported this issue when contacted by the Tribune-Review.
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