Is a Sam's or Costco membership worth it?

[shawthorne44]

One thing that some people do when they start shopping at Sam's at Costco, is then start consuming more because they feel the need to "use up what is in the pantry".    I don't understand that myself, but I've known more than one person that did that.   As if having a giant jar of ketchup in the pantry was clutter.  

 

If someone in your family has a DBA (Doing Business As), you can get a business membership.  You can shop during expanded business only hours.  Also, the first year they seem to unofficially allow several cards under one account.   So, that first year we got cards for three of our friends as if they were employee's.   

[SamanthaCarter]

One thing that some people do when they start shopping at Sam's at Costco, is then start consuming more because they feel the need to "use up what is in the pantry".    I don't understand that myself, but I've known more than one person that did that.   As if having a giant jar of ketchup in the pantry was clutter.  

 

If someone in your family has a DBA (Doing Business As), you can get a business membership.  You can shop during expanded business only hours.  Also, the first year they seem to unofficially allow several cards under one account.   So, that first year we got cards for three of our friends as if they were employee's.   

 

Well, we don't exactly do that, but my family does consume more if there is more. So If I got a big bag of crackers for instance, they would eat them until they were gone the same as a small box. The difference is, we won't get another small box until next time I go to the store. So they are forced to wait. Same with fruit, juice, nuts, yogurt, etc.

[magnificent_baby]

Love Costco so much more than Sam's. I drive a good 45 minutes just to get there, even though Sam's is 15 minutes away. Costco's customer service is top notch, especially when compared to Sams. I have returned several items with NO questions asked. So many benefits over Sam's. They also have excellent connections that we have taken advantage of such as electronic concierge service, car rental discounts, hotel discounts. My sister uses their home/auto insurance. I feel their quality is higher. Love the credit card benefits as well. I realize not everything is going to be cheaper than local grocery stores, but the overall business model and the way they treat customers makes it worth the drive for me. 

[madteaparty]

Love Costco so much more than Sam's. I drive a good 45 minutes just to get there, even though Sam's is 15 minutes away. Costco's customer service is top notch, especially when compared to Sams. I have returned several items with NO questions asked. So many benefits over Sam's. They also have excellent connections that we have taken advantage of such as electronic concierge service, car rental discounts, hotel discounts. My sister uses their home/auto insurance. I feel their quality is higher. Love the credit card benefits as well. I realize not everything is going to be cheaper than local grocery stores, but the overall business model and the way they treat customers makes it worth the drive for me.

That and they are well known for treating their employees well. It shows.

[pinkmint]

I've never been to Sam's so I can only comment on Costco.

 

To me Costco is worth it for the $4.99 rotisserie chickens alone. LOL.

 

I never did the math of whether or not our basic $50/ year membership is cost effective. It just seems to me that it is. Certain things at Costco are a very good deal and certain things aren't. They're just bigger packages with the same price as regular grocery stores. But some stuff, like Kirkland Signiture (their house brand) bacon is by far the best deal anywhere. Plus their store brand is amazingly high quality and sometimes superior to name brands.

 

Our family is not huge and we don't spend a ton of money there but I try to buy the items that really are a good value compared to other stores.

[BooksandBoys]

I love Costco. In the region I just moved from, I easily paid for my membership in egg savings alone. Gluten free bread was also a great price, and we enjoyed the options on alternative milks.

I am experimenting with Sam's now that I've moved, but it's not looking good. Few gluten free/allergy friendly options. Groceries around here already gave reasonable egg pieces. Sam's doesn't seem to be beating anything.

We don't have Aldi here or in my previous area of the country, but, Aldi prices are superior (my mom has Aldi where she lives, so I shop there a few times a year).

[GailV]

We just joined Sam's so 1) older dd could get her contacts there (the savings on that paid for the membership), and  2) also use the membership while she's at school -- she's living off campus this year, so purchasing giant amounts of things like toilet paper** and frozen fruit (for smoothies) in on a single shopping trip every few weeks will be a wonderful convenience for her.  No Costco in her school's town, so that's not an option for what we need.

 

**Last year she and a friend were visiting one of the off-campus houses, and the friend needed to use the bathroom.  She asked where the toilet paper was, since there wasn't any on the holder.  The people in the house said they were out, and had been out of t.p. for a few weeks.  Dd and her friend were appalled, to say the least.  

[heartlikealion]

I can stop at Sam's and feed the kids for very little if we need to shop and eat on a budget. No one should probably be eating those enormous hotdogs and drinks, but sometimes you are hungry and that less than $2 purchase is a life saver sometimes.

[laundrycrisis]

Costco is great for electronics and small appliances because of their return policies.  We also get our eyeglasses made there - the quality is good and the optical employees I've dealt with have been very good.  We don't buy a lot of food there because we have a local grocer with comparable prices (Woodman's) and more convenient hours.  But we get a lot of household things there - cleaners, paper products, garbage bags, kitchen items, towels, etc. 

[shawthorne44]

I can stop at Sam's and feed the kids for very little if we need to shop and eat on a budget. No one should probably be eating those enormous hotdogs and drinks, but sometimes you are hungry and that less than $2 purchase is a life saver sometimes.

 

Also, when DD was a toddler and failure-to-thrive, we used to go on weekends for the samples.  She'll happily eat the food samples people give her, and one of every sample was more food than she'd normally eat.   Then if she really liked something, we'd buy it without caring about the price.