Costco Display PCs Stripped Of RAM And GPUs As Theft Concerns Rise

Forget rotisserie chicken and oversized barrels of mayo, Costco’s hottest commodity right now just might be RAM and GPUs. With prices of computer memory, storage, and graphics cards going for two to three times more than normal, shoplifters have been hitting big box stores like Costco and Walmart, and those business are now taking action.

Proving that even a membership card can’t stop a determined hardware heister, Costco has reportedly begun gutting in-store display PCs, removing components like RAM and graphics cards before the units ever hit the floor. This comes from a string of reports on Reddit where thieves, including one alleged Instacart shopper (who isn’t required to have a member’s card to enter the store), decided that the "demo" in demo unit actually meant ‘let me demonstrate how fast I can open a tempered glass side panel’. It seems like our current memory shortage has turned simple DDR5 sticks into the new catalytic converters, with some 32GB kits tripling in price over just a few months.

Costco customers wandering through the electronics aisle are now greeted by gaming rigs that are powered on and pulsing with vibrant RGB lighting, yet strangely hollow inside. Similar to a sports car without an engine, these zombie PCs feature conspicuously empty slots where the expensive bits should be. We’re uncertain what the shopping experience will be like either. Upon purchase, will Costco reinstall (and hopefully test) the parts for the buyer or will the components be supplied separately for the buyer to install at home?

Sure, retail theft is nothing new, but due to their small sizes, RAM sticks can be quickly pocketed in seconds and resold for hundreds of dollars on the secondhand market. Thus it’s no surprise that Costco has reverted to a more old-school approach: the display models act as visual placeholders, while the actual guts of the machine are kept under lock and key somewhere else.

Industry experts suggest this RAM-page might soon spread to other big-box retailers like Walmart as prices for silicon continue to skyrocket due to AI-driven demand. For now, if you’re looking to admire the latest gaming setup at your local warehouse club, you’ll have to settle for a cardboard spec sheet and lots of imagination.

Aaron Leong

Tech enthusiast, YouTuber, engineer, rock climber, family guy. ’Nuff said.

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