Costco rolls out national same-day prescription delivery
Costco prescription delivery via Instacart is now available nationally.
After recently expanding on a November 2019 same-day prescription delivery pilot with Instacart to seven states plus Washington, D.C., Costco is now offering the service at more than 500 pharmacies across 42 states including Washington, D.C., with nearly 100% coverage in each state.
The new offering allows Costco members and customers to complete their entire shopping trip online via Instacart, including essential prescription medications, and have it all delivered to their door. To start, Costco members and customers arrange for their prescription to be filled at their local, participating Costco location.
Once the prescription is ready, the customer will receive a text message from their Costco pharmacy. In the text, they will see a link with the option to schedule their prescription for delivery. Once the customer clicks the link, they will be redirected to Costco’s site where the customer can confirm their prescription, sign into their Costco or Instacart account, and continue to add groceries and household goods to their order if they choose. When the customer is ready to check out, they can select a delivery time and receive their order as fast as same-day.
In the wake of COVID-19, Instacart is offering contactless prescription delivery in participating states for most medications, allowing its shoppers to scan a customer’s ID for verification without a signature. Customers ordering prescription medications from Costco via Instacart must be over the age of 18, and are required to enter their date of birth at checkout and present a valid government ID at the time of delivery.
In the coming weeks, Instacart will roll out an additional opt-in customer identity verification feature that will allow customers to scan their own ID via the Instacart app and sign their own personal mobile device at delivery to verify their identity. Shoppers will still need to visually confirm that the ID belongs to the customer, but they can do this from six feet apart.
Shoppers pick up and deliver all prescription orders in a sealed, tamper-proof bag. Instacart’s prescription delivery service allows Costco members and customers to schedule delivery up to one week in advance. Instacart has dedicated a special care team to manage any relevant prescription-related inquiries. Customers can enter their ZIP code on Instacart.com or the mobile app to see if prescription delivery is available from a nearby Costco pharmacy location.