Costco seemingly has it all, as customers flock to the store for bulk shopping and stellar deals — especially with the promise of its iconic hot dog combo on the way out the door. However, the wholesaler may not be able to wear so many hats anymore, as it just discontinued its mobile phone services.
Sometimes, mobile carriers partner with retailers with the hopes of gaining new customers who visit those stores. According to a report by T-Mo, the brand who handles mobile sales at Costco, Wireless Advocates, has just stopped all business operations without notice.
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Video of the Day
It seems that even employees of Wireless Advocates were left in the dark as many learned the news in an early morning conference call or, for those who didn't receive an invite to the call, discovered their loss of a job when they arrived to work.
Wireless Advocates led the charge of retail sales of T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T at 535 Costco locations across the country, in addition to 65 military bases. Rumor has it that Costco was ending its contract with the brand anyway, but this entails a bit of a phasing-out process that didn't have time to happen with the abrupt shutdown.
It's not clear on what will happen next in terms of Costco's mobile sales, or what will happen to sales already in progress, but for now, it may be your best bet (for the time being) to opt for phone services elsewhere.