What is the Costco 4 second rule? It’s actually more commonly known as the 5 x 5 rule. 5 seconds from 5 feet away. That’s how effective your packaging needs to be at Costco. You don’t have time to experiment. Members are looking for new items all the time, and on average, from about 5 feet away, that take 5 seconds to decide if they’re interested, or not. This rule has been around for a while and I think, although the 5 feet is probably still valid, the member is down to 4 seconds. Correct, even more crucial to get it right.