Costco's Cake Ordering System Is Kind Of Archaic, But Members Love It

One typically thinks of archaic as a bad thing — a reference to "before times" when everyday tasks were more cumbersome and we didn't have the internet always at our fingertips. Certainly, modern conveniences have made cooking, shopping, and eating far easier in many ways — why would anyone want to clip coupons when they could scan their phone, or drive to get groceries when they could have them delivered? 

But there are still a few precious tasks that continue to carry on the old-school way — and it's perhaps because they're such a rarity in this world of instant deliveries and apps for everything, that they feel all the more precious and charming. Enter, ordering cakes at Costco. Everyone's favorite jumbo-sized big box store is adapting with the times, tackling big changes in 2024, and generally staying hip to modern shopping conveniences like same-day delivery. But when it comes to its bakery, specifically the cake ordering process, Costco remains firmly analog. You'll find no option to pre-order your cakes online, as many other big box stores offer — instead, plan to head to your nearest store in person. While this might sound like a headache, instead of being annoyed by this arguably outdated process, Costco loyalists defend it with their lives. A quick scan of Costco-related Reddit threads reveals praise for the system's straightforwardness, with comments like, "Super easy ... Haven't had a glitch," and, "it's the lowest tech customization process known to man, but it just works."

Most people wouldn't want to go a day without their smartphones, and would never want to revert to the pre-internet days of phone books or other analog methods. But in the case of pre-ordering cakes from Costco, it's something of an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situation. To preorder a cake for your big day or gathering you'll need to go to your nearest store in person — as in, physically. Head to the bakery section and scout out the cake ordering station. There, you'll need to fill out a paper form with the required info, such as your desired flavor, icing, any message or design, and contact info. Then, you'll need to drop it into the cake orders box. It's as simple and fuss-free as that, but if you have any questions, you can just flag down an associate who can help you. 

Lest you think the entirety of Costco's bakery is stuck in the dark ages, not so. Like the store as a whole, which is loaded with hidden shopping hacks you'll wish you knew sooner, the bakery is brimming with not-so-secret-perks that make life better and sweeter. These include free cookies for kids, scored birthday cake options that makes cutting perfect slices a breeze, and in some locations and instances, the option to buy frozen Kirkland baked goods in bulk, for the ultimate cost-saving tip that means fresh cookies whenever the craving hits.

When it comes to Costco's low-tech cake ordering process, it's not just shoppers who love the charmingly retro approach, but employees who reap its benefits too. Everyone's experienced moments of frustration with tech designed to make life easier, but that in reality, does the opposite — think frozen Zoom screens, glitchy websites, and buggy apps. With a pen-to-paper system, there's less room for error. Both placing and processing cake orders are simple. Details can't get lost in a website system, and online order forms can't crash, because there are none. Similarly, busy employees don't have to bear the burden of taking customers' orders or making a million custom designs and flavors, since the form presents just a few limited options. The process is, well, literally a piece of cake. 

Pretty much the worst that can happen is that you forget to plan ahead and pre-order — to be safe, you'll want to place your order one if not two days ahead of pickup time, to ensure the staff has ample time to prepare your order. If you need a cake in a hurry or simply forget to plan ahead, Costco's bakery can still save the day. Just grab one of the ready-to-go premade options from the Costco cake selection, which typically includes plenty of all the usual suspects of favorite cake flavors, plain or inscribed in icing with birthday messages, ready to be sliced and enjoyed.