The Costco Prank

Would-be pranksters: get out a pad and pen. You’re going to want to take notes.

Rob Cockerham, prankster extraordinaire, recently noticed something that (surprisingly) no one else ever has: the price tags Costco uses on its shelves are just basic text in a common font, on plain white paper. Hence, they’d be remarkably easy for anyone to create.

So Cockerham (it’s fun to say — try it) created his own Costco price tag template and plugged in as many wacky product names and prices as he could think of. He laminated the tags and stuck magnetic strips on the back. That’s all there was to it, though he sent out a bundle of the fake price tags to an army of followers around the U.S.

The result, as you can see in the photos here (and there are tons more at his website) are priceless. Beneath an iPod Touch, he put a “RIDICULOUSLY SMALL LAPTOP” tag. In the frozen meat section, he put “GOAT BALLS.” I think my favorite is the “WINDSHIELD TOUCHSCREEN,” although the “SWEETENED LARD” also made me laugh.

His creations were so admired by his followers, that many of them made up more after they ran out of the ones Cockerham sent them. Which one is your favorite? And what new ones would you add?