NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — You might think of membership sharing as something that only happens on streaming sites such as Netflix, but a new study has found that Costco could be giving up $1.75 billion to membership shares. Many people throughout the United States are weighed down by the number of services and websites they have to subscribe to, so they try to share with their family members by logging into their accounts. The same thing applies to Costco. As a result, the warehouse club will soon implement a policy where everyone entering one of the stores in the United States will have to scan their membership card upon entry. If your card doesn't have a photo, you will also need to provide a photo ID. In light of this new crackdown, FreeBets conducted a survey of 2,000 Americans without a membership and 2,000 who have one, to find out just how many people share Costco memberships. Here are some of the findings: Widespread Membership Sharing: 21% of non-members say they have shopped at Costco using someone else's membership Costco could be missing out on $1.75 billion in membership revenue to those shopping without their own membership High Repeat Usage by Non-Members: Non-members using borrowed memberships visited Costco 4.3 times over the past year on average 14% of Costco members admit to allowing someone else to use their membership, and 67% have taken a non-member shopping with them. Minimal Detection: Only 13% of non-members borrowing Costco memberships reported getting caught. On the other hand, 14% admitted allowing someone else to use their membership. Great Plains Food Bank starts program for farmers to aid in hunger relief FreeBets also gave a state-by-state breakdown showing where membership sharing takes place the most. North Dakota is near the bottom of the list, coming in tied for 44th. Only 11% of people admitted to using someone else's membership to shop at Costco in the Peace Garden State. On the other hand, the southwest has a lot more people sharing memberships. In California, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada, more than 30% of people have admitted to using someone else's membership. So why do people do this? Non-members cited a few reasons for borrowing someone else's membership. These include not being able to afford their own membership, living too far from Costco to justify the cost, and not regularly needing items from Costco. Many products entice non-members to shop at Costco, led by household essentials, which 83% of people without a membership admitted to being interested in. After that, some of the other things that peak people's interest are groceries (78%), electronics (65%), clothing (52%), and house and kitchen supplies (43%). That leaves one question. Will Costco's new policy work? Netflix's crackdown on password sharing has shown increases in memberships, but as a wholesale store, Costco's situation is not as cut and dry. However, early polls show that 52% of Costco members find the policy a mild annoyance, and only 12% said it goes too far. Time will tell if this restriction will work. To read the full study, go to the FreeBets website. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Today's Top Stories SIGN UP NOW