A FINANCE expert has revealed the reason why Costco employees check receipts and it’s not for the reason you might think – they’re actually looking for a key sign.

All shoppers must have their receipts looked over by an employee before leaving the Costco warehouse but most think it’s to prevent theft.

However, compared to other stores, theft hasn’t been a major problem for the retailer.

In fact, the company continues to put up impressive numbers where others have struggled.

“We ended the fourth quarter with 71 million paid household members, up 7.9% versus a year ago; and 127.9 million cardholders, up 7.6%,” said Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

“And that’s on new openings over the past year of — just under 3% increase in new locations.”

TikTok user @FinanceUnfolded has revealed the actual reason why Costco makes sure to check all receipts.

“The real thing they’re checking for is that the top and the bottom of the receipt match to make sure it was actually printed on that day,” said Mark, who runs the account.

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However, users in the comment section also explained that workers are counting the number of items as well.

“They count the items and check the item number on receipt,” wrote one person.

“It’s both because we forgot to scan something and they told us,” wrote another person.

A third person claiming to be a former Costco employee said this wasn’t the case.

“That was not told to me when I checked carts,” they said.

A fourth person argued that it was for theft prevention, writing: “Why do they need to know the receipt was printed that day Genius?! Theft prevention.”

On Costco’s website, the company explained that receipt checking is a standard practice at all warehouse locations to verify purchase receipts when customers exit buildings.

“We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers. It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases,” it said.