Costco Customers Are Mad Over New Rotisserie Chicken Bags

There's major drama at Costco where the old, dependable rotisserie chicken containers are being phased out for bags and customers are already complaining about leaks. 

In the latest edition of its Costco Connection magazine, the company announced the switch from a plastic container to a plastic bag is being done in the name of waste. 

"The new packaging will save an estimated 17 million pounds of plastic each year," the company announced. "The bag also takes less space to transport; one pallet of the new bags is equivalent to five pallets of the old packaging, so Costco can remove 1,000 of its freight trucks from the road each year. The use of fewer transportation vehicles will eliminate over 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually." 

The Save the Planet marketing message isn't sitting well with people who say the bags are leaking and those who aren't down with the climate change messaging. 

"So Taylor Swift can use a jet daily to get lunch in Miami and dinner in Milan but I NEED TO EAT CHICKEN OUT OF A BAG?!?!?" one person wrote on a Reddit thread where a customer showed leaking bags sitting in the rotisserie warming station. 

At its 2024 shareholder meeting, Costco revealed that it had sold 137 million of the $4.99 chickens. 

Some of those customers are living with a new reality that if they want a $5 chicken, they might need to get creative to prevent chicken broth from spilling all over their car as a customer claimed earlier this month. 

Many are suggesting dropping the chicken bags into the plastic bags that are available in the meat department. 

It's not just the customers who are struggling, according to Reddit insiders. 

"(M)y bf used to work in the costco deli years back and even the workers are suffering. they had a whole system using the plastic containers, it was more efficient and easy to skewer the chickens into its packaging. plus, i love how i could’ve just carved the chicken in its packaging and keep it in there, now i have to use my own container.." Ok_Refuse_3332 wrote on the social media platform. 

Grabbing a chicken for dinner tonight? Take a roll of paper towels with you. Don't get burnt by a faulty bag. Be prepared. 

Or get on eBay and buy the "vintage" Costco chicken container someone is selling for $5,000.