Sam's Club and Costco - same thing?

[Liz CA]

We are trying to figure out if it's worth it for us. I won't be doing any grocery shopping. There are only two us now and I have an organic market I like very much. But...thinking of electronics (our TV is on the way out)...the constant upgrading and replacing of outdated computer accessories, etc.

 

Are Sam's Club and Costco pretty much the same or are there definite differences?

[amey311]

if your main goal is electronics, i'd look at the return policy for both and any other additional services. I know costco has changed their "you can bring it back whenever for the rest of your life" policy to a more limited one with some electronics (so you can't get a full refund on the computer you bought last year when it's become out of date or whatever). They also offer some kind of concierge service if you buy computer things thru them: http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePage.aspx?ProductNo=11217032 you can also see information about their warranty and return policies there.

 

I can't speak to sam's club because we're not members. I avoid Wal-Mart and related brands.

[arliemaria]

I haven't been to Sams in a long time, but I think Costco has more high quality and organic items.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Isn't Sams owned by Wal-Mart? That alone would be enough to sway me toward Costco. Not that I need swaying :D

[Jennifer in SC]

We have had memberships to both. I love Costco.

[Sage0707]

We have memberships to both Sam's and Costco and we GREATLY prefer Costco! We purchased our TV from Costco 3, maybe 4 years ago and couldn't be happier with it.

[YourFidgetyFriend]

I've had both and prefer Costco. I've only had Costco for the past few years.

 

Although, Costco is such a bastion of awesomeness that it has encouraged quite a bit of extra spending over the years.

[Momof3littles]

Costco carries more high end items and organics or not certified but almost organics (things like hormone-free/antibiotic free products).

 

Costco carries a lot of Coleman products (whole chickens, thighs, breasts that are all organic, hormone and antibiotic free Coleman bacon or hotdogs, etc.).

 

Costco extends the warranty to 2x (I think?) whatever the manufacturer's warranty is. Their return policy is very good as well.

 

Another factor I like is that Costco is known for paying better wages to their employees, and the CEO makes a somewhat reasonable salary. The last I checked it was like 350K or something, not millions.

[BamaTanya]

I have a membership to Sam's because of my dad's company. I go rarely, but there are a few things that are good deals. Often, however, I think, "I can get this for a better price when my regular grocery store has a sale."

 

Things we have or currently purchase: chairs, mattresses, frozen foods, Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (we don't have one of those here, either :glare:), household cleaning products, individually packaged snacks, vitamins and other supplements, tires, gas . . .

 

That said, from what I've read here and other places, Costco must be amazing. People really love it.

 

I don't know anyone who loves Sam's. I think we tolerate it because it's our only warehouse choice.

 

I wish we had a Costco to compare the two. It might be good for our Sam's to have a little competition.

[RainbowSprinkles]

So sorry, meant to start my own thread...

[Happy]

I have both memberships. I've been a member of Sam's club for nearly 25 years. One of the big things I like about Sam's is their hours. Open at 7:30am for business members. Do you know how nice it is to be able to shop early before the hordes get there?

 

I like Sam's meat and frozen items. They carry Nature's Own breads, which I love. I love it in the summer when they do a shrimp kiosk. We buy a pound or so and feast.

 

We've purchased a lot at Sam's over the years.

 

We've been members of Costco of a couple years. I love their produce. Love their packaged granola/trail mix stuff. Love their fancier style redi-made foods.

Gas is generally cheaper at Costco. My friend says milk is, too, but we buy milk at the Walmart near Aldi. Gotta love price wars.

 

The last best thing about Costco is being able to use our American Express...it's how we track a lot of our spending especially business spending. Sam's doesn't take Amex.

 

I'm glad I have both.

[LG Gone Wild]

Sam is cheaper but better hours and shopping layout.

 

Costco has much better stuff and higher quality overall. We use Costco for electronics.

[ChandlerMom]

Costco's business model is that they make their profit on membership dues and markup products no more than ~10%. I might be able to find milk on sale at a local store cheaper, but I know I'm never going to get screwed over by Costco. I can return anything without a receipt, tho that rarely happens. The employees seem genuinely happy to be there -- they are paid well, get great benefits, and those that went off to war were guaranteed their jobs on their return. Pretty awesome. This shows in their helpfulness. Last year we bought the display for a glassware set and an employee volunteered to unpack a different design and pack the glassware in that box so we wouldn't have to worry about getting it home. The glassware set cost $10, and we haven't broken one yet, btw. We stopped by to pick up a b'day cake and a guy working in the bakery overheard us and offered to get dc's name added to the cake immediately. It was such a nice touch. Costco is concerned about things like sustainability and environmental impact of their business. We buy a lot of organic and nearly-organic foods there.

 

In comparison, Walmart/Sam'sClub has a business model of moving into a town, undercutting the competition for 5 years, then raising prices steadily once they're destroyed the local companies. They have a rep for treating their employees badly, and will put one microwave "deal" next to others that are not deals at all, so you think getting the nicer one is a deal, too. You definitely have to comparison shop to not get taken advantage of!

 

Overall their prices are comparable on the basics, Costco does more high end stuff, and in the end I like feeling like I'm doing business with a nice company that is out to make a profit (and does, reliably) but not by screwing over its members or employees. When we shop at Costco, I can relax and know if I find something ti's unlikely I could get it cheaper anywhere else, except maybe if it were a loss-leader item for a store.

[SJ.]

I haven't been to Sams in a long time, but I think Costco has more high quality and organic items.

 

Same here.

 

We toured both a long time ago before deciding. We chose Costco because they carried organic items and Sam's Club did not. I haven't been in a Sam's Club in years.

 

I highly recommend touring both.

 

SJ

[cjzimmer1]

For many years, we only had a Sam's so that's the membership we had. a few years ago a Costco opened. I've gone two different times to comparison shop (literally take a list and go to one and then drive to the other on the same day).

 

Here's my observations:

 

Costco has a much larger produce selection than Sam's.

 

Package sizes are slightly smaller at Costco.

 

Costco carries "fancier" food items than Sam's.

 

Sam's membership is cheaper than Costco.

 

Costco tended to be a few cents per ounce higher on products than the same product at Sam's

 

Ultimately when I looked at the products I bought, Sam's was a much better deal for me. I only go to Sam's every few months because it's about 30 minutes away(and Costco is equally far away from me) so I don't every buy much produce there as I have good options within a few minutes of my house. I like the bigger packages at Sam's because the whole point for me shopping there is to stop up on things so more is better. I'm not interested in the "fancier" food from Costco since I cook nearly everything from scratch and am simply looking to stock my pantry with basic ingredients. Lastly, several products that I buy very regularly (at significant discounts from what I can find anywhere else including the internet) at Sam's are not even carried by Costco.

 

So for me, while Costco looked like a fun place to shop, it didn't really have the products/price/sizes that made having a membership there beneficial to me. But from all the threads I've read on this board, I'm in the extreme minority to prefer Sam's over Costco but wanted to let you know not everyone is completely enamored with Costco.

 

Best advice is simply take a tour of both and take notes about products with their sizes and prices that you are most likely to purchase there. Take your lists home and compare and see which is a better deal for you.

[ChristusG]

We have a membership to Sam's but rarely use it. I have heard amazing things about Costco. If the closest one wasn't 45 minutes away, I'd think about getting a membership too.

[Heather in AL]

*snip*I like Sam's meat and frozen items. They carry Nature's Own breads, which I love. I love it in the summer when they do a shrimp kiosk. We buy a pound or so and feast.

*snip*

Gas is generally cheaper at Costco. My friend says milk is, too, but we buy milk at the Walmart near Aldi. Gotta love price wars.

 

Our Costco carries N.O. bread, and they do the shrimp kiosk, too. Maybe yours does, as, well, and you just haven't noticed because you buy these at Sam's?

 

For many years, we only had a Sam's so that's the membership we had. a few years ago a Costco opened. I've gone two different times to comparison shop (literally take a list and go to one and then drive to the other on the same day).

*snip*

But from all the threads I've read on this board, I'm in the extreme minority to prefer Sam's over Costco but wanted to let you know not everyone is completely enamored with Costco.

*snip*

Best advice is simply take a tour of both and take notes about products with their sizes and prices that you are most likely to purchase there. Take your lists home and compare and see which is a better deal for you.

 

:iagree: This was us--- I had a membership to Sam's dating back to before I met dh. We shopped there for years and then Costco opened. Sam's was a 5 minute drive away, while Costco was 30 minutes. We kept hearing about how great Costco was, and finally took a tour. We bought a membership on the way out.

 

The best thing you could do is to take the above advice and tour both places. If you don't have a "list", make one while touring whichever store you go to first, and then compare. What you buy might be different than what others buy, so one store my work better for you. For us, that's Costco, as we like their "higher end" items and organics. We also buy their electronics, housewares (I got a great set of kitchen knives for $30 two weeks ago), and the like. Also if you upgrade your membership to just above the basic level, you get cash back if you spend over a certain amount. If you don't spend over whatever amount that is, you get a refund on the upgraded membership, so you can't lose (at least, that's how it was explained to us.... this is our first year with the upgraded membership).

 

Also, at our Sam's, I noticed their prices were higher than the Wal-Mart just two blocks down the street!! And, as a pp said, many items (green beans, ketchup, etc) I can get much cheaper at a grocery store's sale.

 

We let our Sam's membership expire after getting our Costco one. The only thing we miss is the frozen, marinated salmon from Sam's!

 

Oh, and Costco sends out coupons regularly, so I often find things that have those coupons ($2.50 off a 24pk of V8 cans, or $3.00 off a 300 count bottle of vitamins--- I'm just pulling those numbers out of the air, but that's the gist of it.) We have bought frozen foods, pork chops, beef jerkey, cat & dog food, health & beauty items, household cleaners, coffee, and even beach towels with coupons... I have yet to see a store's sale price match the price when I have a Costco's coupon.

 

So, tour both and have fun!! One of the two stores is bound to be right for you! :001_smile:

[MelissaMinNC]

Costco used to - I don't know if they still do - have a terrible (imo) membership policy. If you renew your membership late, you pay full price, but you don't get the full year. They're not that close to us, so I wasn't always there the exact month that my membership expired. One time I went 2 months later (didn't even realize it). I had to pay the $50 (is it more than that now?) to renew, but it was still only good for 10 months. I felt really ripped off. I think there may have been a class action suit against them for this, though, so maybe it's changed now.

 

I did buy my cell phone from them about 4? years ago, and it's been great. They gave me a better deal than Verizon, and I'm still using the phone.

 

I don't know anything about Sam's so I can't compare. Generally, I liked the products at Costco, but we just don't have the room to store 50 rolls of paper towels or 20 lbs of ground beef or whatever, so it's not practical for us.

[H_Household]

Costco is so much better than Sams IMO. Get an executive membership which gives you cash back and then also get an AMEX and get cash back there too. I get two checks a year that more than pays for my membership. Plus they have coupons. They are great with service and returns. The only thing Sams is better with is their hours.....that's it!

[prairiewindmomma]

If you try to renew a lapsed Costco membership within 3? months of its expiration, then, yes, you have a shorter membership time. That said, you can receive your membership dues back in full at any time if you are unhappy.

 

We have memberships to both....we only have one to Sam's because I need to have access to pick up some of my aunt's prescriptions if she is unable to do so. They also carry Torani syrup and chux pads, which Costco does not.

 

We really enjoy Costco more, and it is generally less expensive for us than Sam's. Our membership is paid for by one Rx refill which is cheaper than our mail-order copay.

 

If you spend more than $200/month at Costco, it pays to have an executive membership to get your cash back.

 

FWIW, Aldi is cheaper for butter.....

[EmilyinND]

We prefer Costco...but there isn't one near us so it's Sam's...

[Amy1k]

Costco! :D There's no competition in my book. I love Costco. And I get about $500 in refunds ever year between my Executive membership and Costco AmEx.