Customers upset after Costco makes change to rotisserie chicken

Some Costco customers are calling “fowl” after the retailer changed the packaging of its mega-popular rotisserie chickens. 

Previously, the rotisserie chickens were packaged in a plastic “clamshell” container. Now, in what the warehouse club says is an environmentally friendly move, the rotisserie chickens are sold in plastic food service bags. 

The packaging shift began in March 2024 and has gradually rolled out to the entire United States, reported the magazine Consumer Reports.

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In the June 2024 edition of its magazine, Costco Connections, Costco explained that the packaging switch would save millions of pounds of plastic each year. 

“You may have noticed a classic Costco item in a different container: Kirkland Signature™ Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken now comes in a bag. Based on projected rotisserie chicken sales in 2024 in the U.S., the new packaging will save an estimated 17 million pounds of plastic every year,” said Costco.

“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,” they said. 

On social media, many people have expressed their displeasure with the new packaging, which they say is inferior to the previous rigid plastic design.

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“This was a rare Costco L tbh,” business writer Trung Phan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on June 22. 

The bags, he said, are extremely leaky, are less good for storing leftovers, and customers “can’t pick out good chickens.” 

Costco chickens used to be sold in a rigid “clamshell” type container.  (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Another user on X complained that the bags were leaky.

“Your new roast chicken bags leak like crazy. Whole trunk was soaked by the time I got home. Two bags both leaking,” said X user @rengle83. 

On Reddit, the r/Costco subreddit has been full of posts about the bags making their way into stores across the United States for the past few months. 

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“New rotisserie chicken packaging looks prone to leaks,” posted Reddit user “LoveOfSpreadsheets” on March 28, along with an image of a leaking rotisserie chicken bag on a store shelf. 

Multiple Reddit users pointed out that the new bags were not recyclable in their cities, whereas the rigid clamshell containers were.

Costco is the first company known to have gone from $0 to $3 billion in sales in fewer than six years. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Unfortunately at least in my area the bags are not eligible for curbside recycling. As a result, most of them will go to the landfill,” said Reddit user “bonsree,” adding that the packaging change is “a leap backwards in my book.”

“Can’t recycle plastic bags in my city. But we can recycle hard plastics,” said user “trowdatawhey”

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Costco’s rotisserie chicken has been priced at $4.99 at all warehouse locations for decades, and is one of the more popular items sold at the chain.

In January 2024, Costco CEO Ron Vachris said that revealed that the company sold 137 million rotisserie chickens in 2023, an increase of 20 million over 2022’s sales numbers. 

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Fox Business reached out to Costco for comment.