Brother Jake uses his sister's Costco membership to run a resale business for friends and coworkers, she cuts off his access, and gets accused of ruining his side hustle

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Mar 16, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

It starts out wholesome enough, or wholesale enough, if you will: One membership. One brother. A simple arrangement built on trust and discounted rotisserie chickens. He asks to tag along sometimes to avoid paying the fee. Reasonable. Harmless. Classic family sharing energy. Then the receipts start telling a different story. Multiple weekly trips. Four-digit totals. The account suddenly looks less like normal errands and more like someone is provisioning a bunker. A quick check later, and the truth comes out. Big Brother did not lend a membership. He accidentally incubated a startup

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  • Worried woman looking at her smartphone while a man beside her holds a credit card and gestures during a tense conversation about finances.
    via Miljan Zivkovic

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • AITJ for telling my brother he cant use my Costco membership anymore after he started shopping for his friends?

    I have a Costco membership that costs $60/year. My brother Jake (25M) asked if he could use it occasionally since he lives nearby and doesn't want to pay for his own.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • I said fine, just don't ab e it. For a few months it was normal - he'd go maybe once a month and get reasonable stuff.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Then I started getting emails about big purchases. I checked my account and Jake has been going to Costco 3-4 times a WEEK.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • He's spending thousands of dollars. I called him asking what the h l is going on. Turns out he's been shopping for his friends and coworkers who also don't have memberships.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • He's buying bulk items for like 6 different people. He charges them slightly less than retail but more than the Costco price and pockets the difference.
    via Miserable_Age3997

  • Brother Jake has essentially opened Costco For People Who Fear Commitment. Six different friends and coworkers place orders. He buys in bulk on someone else’s card. Charges them more than the warehouse price less than they would pay elsewhere and quietly skims the middle. It is not just freeloading. It is arbitrage with a side of audacity.

  • He's literally running a side business using MY membership. I told him he's done, I'm removing him from my account.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Stressed woman sitting at a table with a laptop, holding her temples while looking overwhelmed by work or bills at home.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • He got mad saying he's "just being entrepreneurial" and I should be happy he's making money.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • I said he's violating Costco's terms of service and if they find out I could get banned.
    via Miserable_Age3997

  • The best part is the branding, which we all know is important for business and hustle alike. In his head, this is entrepreneurship. A hustle. Something Shark Tank adjacent. The fact that the entire operation sits on a membership he does not own barely registers. Legal terms are rebranded as paranoia. Potential bans become theoretical problems for Future Not Him.

  • He said that won't happen and I'm being paranoid. I changed my membership so he can't use it anymore.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Now he's telling family that I "sabotaged his business" and I'm jealous of his success. Our mom called me saying I should support Jake's hustle.
    via Miserable_Age3997

  • Family commentary only makes it funnier in a bleak way. Suddenly, the villain of the story is not the guy running a gray market from aisle 12. It is the sibling who dares to change a password. Mom frames it as sabotaging his business, and being petty over a store card like this is some minor emotional dispute rather than basic account security.

  • I tried to explain he was using MY membership without permission for profit but she says I'm being petty over a store membership.
    via Miserable_Age3997

  • What is really happening is textbook boundary confusion. One person sees a membership as personal access to a store. The other sees infrastructure as a profit machine. The minute those versions collide, accusations of jealousy and lack of support start flying because there is nothing hustle culture hates more than being reminded that other people’s stuff is not a business model.

  • TL;DR: Brother used my Costco membership to run a resale business, I revoked his access, family says I'm being unsupportive.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • DangerousDave303 NTJ. He can continue to run his business if he forks over the $60/year.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Miserable_Age3997 Original Poster's Reply Exactly sir.. if he's making enough money from it to call it a business, then why can't he just pay for his own membership???
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Camaschrist You need to buy the executive membership and get a big check every year. The more he spends the bigger the check. I get about $300 back which pays for our membership plus. If you go to it tomorrow they will retro all purchases from your last renewal date.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Miserable_Age3997 Original Poster's Reply That's interesting.. I didn't realize they would retro the purchases like thats.. honestly though, the bigger issue for me was him doing all of this without asking and using my account for his greed..
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Osgood-Schlatters22 Or get the executive card and make money from their purchases! Businesses buy and resell from Costco all of the time.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Miserable_Age3997 Original Poster's Reply I get what you're saying but the part that bothered me was that he started doing all of this without even telling me.. i feel betrayed. I agreed to occasional shopping because I trust him..
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • SNChalmers 1876 Yeah like seriously, he's probably making more than enough to cover it. OTOH are all these people buying from him stupid? It's $60/year
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • NotSorry2019 This is the dumbest fight ever. He can go buy a business membership for about $100, while if you have the "give money back" membership you can wrack up cash back, so spend away. You are also allowed to have two people on a membership, and since it's a wholesale supplier, they don't care if you (checks notes) BUY MORE PRODUCT.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Lucky_Divide1979 Let him use Mom's card. Simple.
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Sad_Albatross 1590 So why can't he get his own membership? He can do what he wants after that, and face the consequences. Oh, Mom can pay for the membership!
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • Cute-Cupcake-73 Exactly. If the business is that important to him, the $60 membership should be the easiest expense he'll ever justify
    via Miserable_Age3997
  • still366 Get the executive membership and enjoy the money back
    via Miserable_Age3997

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family drama brother siblings family feud favoritism sister
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