I guess the only losing side the is recycling company of the city.
This is really interesting. Growing up in Southern California, I remember always getting free boxes from Costco like this.
But for the past 15 years I've lived in the Bay Area, I can't say I've ever seen boxes readily offered- even to other people in the store. Maybe these locations are just so busy they run out quickly.
I kept thinking about this while shopping at Costco. The thing is, all the boxes that the products are shipped into Costco should be enough to send products from Costco to final consumers. There will be some inefficiencies in how shoppers pack their boxes, and also people taking more boxes because they need them for moving or something, but also there are people taking less boxes, or over-packing some boxes. All in all, I think a balance can be kept by the nature of the process itself, and it seems that way by studying my local Costco.
If a location is not doing that, it's probably intentional rather than a lack of enough boxes. Maybe they don't have enough floor space to store them? Maybe they are getting a very good deal on recycling?
In NL we also recycle most drinks bottles (you pay a small deposit on them which you get back when your return them).
Most often they are boxes for bananas or wine bottle boxes. Very convenient to carry stuff home if you forgot a bag.