- Costco price tags convey a lot of information for employees and customers in the warehouse.
- One such detail is an asterisk that fans of the brand have dubbed the “star of death.”
- Insider asked a manager in Texas to explain what the cryptic symbol means — and doesn’t mean.
Before the start of every day, hundreds of Costco workers across the country are tasked with printing out stacks of price tags and hanging them all over the store.
The notecard-sized signs contain a bevy of information about the product, including the stock keeping unit number (SKU), a description of the item, the sale price, and any promotions in effect.
Eagle-eyed shoppers also notice the cents section of the price is used to indicate certain markdowns. Prices ending in .99 are full-price, while 97s indicate clearance deals. Double eights or zeroes indicate manager markdowns.
Some cards will also show a small asterisk in the upper right-hand corner, which fans of the brand have dubbed the “star of death.”
To further understand the cryptic symbol’s significance, Insider spoke to a manager in Texas who has been with the company for over 20 years. Insider has verified his identity but is keeping it anonymous as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
For starters, he said, “I’ve literally never ever in my life referred to it as the ‘star of death.’ If you work at Costco and you see the if you see the asterisk, you just say it’s ‘pending delete.'”
“Pending delete” is one of several status codes that items can have in Costco’s inventory management system, which the company likes to keep lean and tight by clearing out unnecessary merchandise.
Many seasonal items will be deleted from the system temporarily until their time comes back around, or sometimes the specific format of a product is changing, such as Bud Light in 16-ounce cans versus 12-ounce ones, each of which has a particular SKU.
Recently, an asterisk on Bud Light products led to rumors that Costco was giving the “star of death” treatment to Bud Light in the wake of a conservative boycott. But closer inspection of the signage showed that only 16-ounce cans of Bud Light and 12-ounce bottles of Bud Light Platinum were getting the star of death treatment. Cases of 12-ounce cans of the mainstay beer still seem to be in Costco’s replenishment queue, per screenshots of the inventory management system seen by Insider. Costco did not respond to Insider’s questions regarding the status of Bud Light in its stores.
As Costco sells through its inventory, its buyers determine whether to order more or let it go to zero. If they choose the latter, they mark the item as “pending delete” in the system, and an asterisk is added to the item’s price card to be printed and hung up the next morning. Sometimes the item is marked down, but not always.
With that one little symbol, buyers can communicate with store managers across the country and help them plan ahead, the Texas manager said.
“If you’re walking your aisles every day as a merchant manager, and you see ‘Oh, that items pending delete, I’ve only got that last pallet right here,’ you can start making plans for how to fill that gap,” he said.
Not every deleted product is gone forever, he explained.
Of course, some items that get deleted won’t come back, in which case it makes sense to grab what you can.
“That’s kind of the rule of thumb at Costco: if you see it now, buy it now, because I can’t promise you it’ll be here the next time,” the Texas manager said.
Are you a Costco employee who would like to share your perspective? Get in touch with Dominick via email or encrypted app Signal at 646.768.4750. Insider recommends using a non-work device to reach out, and responses will be kept confidential.
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