Costco vs. Sam's Club PRICING differences

[CloudBee]

We currently have a Costco membership and will never get rid of that. However, I'm considering the addition of a Sam's Club membership and have a few questions.

Usually I get our Costco groceries delivered via Instacart. With grocery prices shooting up I have been making in-person trips about 1x per month for large hauls to save on the Instacart uncharge / tip. We still use Instacart regularly for perishable items that aren't shelf stable.

Yesterday I noticed a "$20 off your first order" for Sam's Club coupon in Instacart. You can shop Sam's without a membership, but pay inflated prices. I went ahead and filled a virtual cart with items we would normally be shopping for at Costco. I took the full price of my cart, added the $20 back in, added in the $2.99 "long distance travel" fee (it's a 25 minute drive vs. 15), and my cart total was $10 LESS than what Costco would have charged me for the same items via Instacart. And that's without the Sam's membership discount.

My Sam's cart consisted mainly of produce, with the exception of a small amount of dairy and meat.

I was surprised at the produce prices. In several instances I was being charged 2x more at Costco, although the Costco option in one scenario was organic.

If you are familiar with Sam's AND Costco, can you talk to me about the price differences and quality that you notice? I mostly have my eyes on produce, dairy, and meat. Sam's is a bit far for me to shop in-person on a regular basis. Honestly, I'm not sure I would make the drive to Sam's more than a few times a year as it's not near anywhere else I regularly shop.

Does Sam's have quality produce? How's their meat?

I'm trying to justify if I should pay the $50 Sam's membership fee for the additional savings, get my produce / organic ground grass fed ground beef at Sam's, while getting my pantry staples and packaged items at Costco.

Thanks!

[liverandonions]

I have both and use both for different things, I will say I do prefer meat and produce from Costco. Costco just generally has larger portions of everything too but Sam’s Club has way better snacks and if you don’t want to have a giant thing you can usually get a better quantity option at Sam’s. Plus they have scan and go, and usually way less lines and they open earlier

[flygirl]

We have both Sams and Costco. We got the Sams membership for $25 on one of their promotions. As far as the quality, we’ve never had any issues with produce or meat from Sams. They kind of trade off who is cheaper at times. For instance we got whole chickens from Sams before Christmas and they were a lot cheaper than Costco but right now Costco is slightly cheaper. Maybe Costco is quicker to react to price changes?
We’ve shopped at both for about 4 months now and I’d say they are interchangeable (for the locations we use) and we just pick by price.

[liverandonions]

Actually, the meat at Sam’s Club is still pretty good, but I have had some issues with their produce

[lilac05]

I’ve had both and prefer Sam’s.

Consider upgrading to the higher level membership. We shop there so much that our membership ends up being free (you get $ back from your purchases). The store opens earlier, you get free shipping, and free grocery pickup. Scan & Go is also my absolute favorite!

We have been happy with produce and meat at Sam’s, with the exception of bananas. Their bananas are usually very green in the store. Their peels go from green to too speckled for my kids to eat (but the fruit inside ripens at a normal pace…it just looks bad.

[orval]

I have both memberships but my Costco is far so I only get an instacart delivery once or twice a year. I mainly have it for car rental discounts.
I was just comparing prices as I needed a few items. Sam's was consistently cheaper in all categories. I have a plus membership and usually get the difference back in the cashback reward. The order I placed last week was for toiletries and pantry stuff, free shipping and it came the day after I ordered.
I buy a lot of my meat from Sam's. Ground beef, pork, lunchmeats. I don't seek out organic but the ground beef I get is the organic/grass fed because it is basically the same price. I also buy quite a bit of fruit -- grapes, strawberries, peppers, broccoli, romaine. It is all pretty good. When strawberries are in season in the spring, they are cheap for a huge container.
I also prefer Sam's

[tacokick]

Costco Same Day/Instacart prices are really high. I noticed some items were $5-8 more if I got it delivered vs going in person when I was checking it yesterday to see if what I wanted was in stock at a certain location. That really added up! I paid $80 less shopping in person than I would have if I had checked my fake cart out.


I don’t shop at Walmart so I haven’t done a big compare between the two but I think Sam’s does have a rep for being cheaper.

[tealblue]

Feb 7, 2024 10:30:14 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

I’ve had both and prefer Sam’s.

Consider upgrading to the higher level membership. We shop there so much that our membership ends up being free (you get $ back from your purchases). The store opens earlier, you get free shipping, and free grocery pickup. Scan & Go is also my absolute favorite!

We have been happy with produce and meat at Sam’s, with the exception of bananas. Their bananas are usually very green in the store. Their peels go from green to too speckled for my kids to eat (but the fruit inside ripens at a normal pace…it just looks bad.

I agree about upgrading to the higher level membership. I don’t have a Costco membership but have shopped there with a member. The upgraded membership allows curbside pickup and when I go in, I love the scan and go so I don’t need to stop and scan everything and pay. I just scan as I go and pay on my way out. I also get rewards to use as cash back which pays for the membership.

I regularly get my organic chicken breasts from Sam’s and freeze them. There are 8 breasts separated into 4 sections and easy to separate. The price of the chicken was so much cheaper than what I saw at Costco. I also get bananas and cut them and freeze them for my breakfast oatmeal. I get paper products, lunch meat, bread, chips all regularly. I don’t know about comparable prices but have been happy with almost everything there.

Edit- before we bought part of a cow from a butcher, I would get their ground beef and it’s been great. Actually better/less fatty than my cow.

[Roc A Bee]

I have had both but dropped Costco.

Scan and Go is game changer at Sam’s and made me never want to wait in a line again. They also have pickup if you have the higher tier membership.

Sam’s produce and meat at good. My kids like the produce there over other grocery stores.

[penguingrrl]

I personally would gladly pay a little more at Costco because they have a reputation for paying well and treating their employees with dignity and respect (set schedules, vacation, etc). Sam’s is owned by Walmart so I won’t go there since I also won’t shop at Walmart due to their history of employee abuses and of anti-competition measures.

[cherry1111]

Not sure about the price differences but I see deals for Sam’s memberships all the time. Check Groupon if you decide to get one.

[dontlook]

I have both but I got my Sam’s membership for $15. Check for deals. I don’t go to Costco anymore. My closest is a serious shitshow. It’s the busiest place in my town at all times of day. Sam’s has scan and go so even if it’s busy I can skip the checkout lane.

I mostly use Sam’s for produce, eggs, cereal, kid snacks. I’ve loved everything I’ve gotten. The produce is SO much cheaper than anywhere else. I haven’t bought meat so I can’t speak to that.

[thejen626]

Something else to think about… Costco treats their employees VERY well. They are paid well, treated with kindness, I know a lot of people that work for Costco and they’ve worked there 20 years and love their jobs.

Sam’s Club is Walmart which is notorious for treating their employees horribly and underpaying them. Walmart employees at one time were all on Medicare/food stamps because Walmart wouldn’t pay them enough or schedule them for full time hours. Like their employees would all be scheduled for 38 hours a week so they weren’t “full time” and didn’t qualify for benefits.

I boycott Walmart. I’ll never shop there.

[hermione]

I was always disappointed in the produce at Sam's Club.

[thebreakfastclub]

I'm not a Wal-Mart apologist, but if you order from and therefore accept the worker conditions at Amazon, I'm not sure Wal-Mart is any different.

[texasharleygirl]

I have both; but we pretty much buy almost everything at Costco. Their produce is by far the best IMHO. I only got the Sam's membership because I could order Equal in a 1000ct box for $12 which is more economical than the 800 ct at the grocery store. Only other items I have purchased at Sam's was household goods and soda's for my husband's 60th birthday party last year.

[sparty04]

I have both. I used to be 100% Costco but Sam's has really grown on me. I have their plus membership and being able to go first thing in the morning is awesome. Their produce is definitely cheaper than Costco (for what I buy, anyway). They have way better snacks and I love their bakery items. Scan and go is the best thing ever and I use the free shipping often.

I love Costco for their clothes, Kirkland brand, and other random things that they have.

If I had to pick one membership it would 100% be Costco though. Sams is definitely worth trying and you can usually get a free or very cheap first year.

[VillainV]

I find that the pricing isn’t consistently lower at either location, but depends more on which store has what items on sale at any given time. For big ticket items (electronics, home items, etc) I prefer Costco because their return policy is so much better and their customer service is way better. For groceries, I agree that Costco is better for bakery items and fresh produce. Packaged items I find Sams has better prices usually.

[ssmjlm]

The Sam’s club parking lot is worse than the 7th circle of hell because it’s next to a Walmart so I have no desire to go there.

Costco is just always busy. But the parking lot doesn’t suck at least.

[sent]

Feb 7, 2024 19:12:29 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

The Sam’s club parking lot is worse than the 7th circle of hell because it’s next to a Walmart so I have no desire to go there.

Costco is just always busy. But the parking lot doesn’t suck at least.

Ours are the exact opposite. Sam's is busy only on Saturdays but the parking lot is huge. Costco is busy all the time and worse on the weekends. The parking lot gets beyond full. Ironically the Costco is right next to a Walmart which is almost never crazy busy and has way more parking! 

[dontlook]

Feb 7, 2024 19:49:21 GMT -5 sent said:

Feb 7, 2024 19:12:29 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

The Sam’s club parking lot is worse than the 7th circle of hell because it’s next to a Walmart so I have no desire to go there.

Costco is just always busy. But the parking lot doesn’t suck at least.

Ours are the exact opposite. Sam's is busy only on Saturdays but the parking lot is huge. Costco is busy all the time and worse on the weekends. The parking lot gets beyond full. Ironically the Costco is right next to a Walmart which is almost never crazy busy and has way more parking! 

My Sam’s has its own parking lot. My Costco is in the middle of a shopping center. Finding a parking spot feels impossible. H usually drops me off and parks a few blocks away and comes back for me.

[mlkgls]

I have both, although we use Sam’s more out of convenience and I wait until they run a discounted promotion to renew. The Scan & Go feature in the Sam’s app makes shopping a breeze.

I’m mildly claustrophobic and refuse to go to Costco without my H. The parking lot looks like a Black Friday shopping frenzy ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. I hate it and avoid at all costs, but I do like some of their clothes.

[CloudBee]

This is all very helpful. Thank you!

Their website has a $25 membership promo. I may enroll.

[pinkplasticdoll]

You can frequently find membership deals for Sam's where its like $20 and then a bunch of coupons, they are out about once a quarter.

The sam's clubs around me dont have a lot of organic produce, they have conventional produce but just lack in organic. I use Sam's for prescriptions because there are some medications that are free if you have the higher tier and I use that perk for my dad's medication. I do prefer the meats and produce at Costco but I like that I can order and pickup with Sam's. They both have their perks and disadvantages so we keep both memberships.

[freshsqueezed]

We have both and find that Sams is often cheaper on identical items. The other thing is Scan and Go…it makes shipping so much easier at Sams.

We tend to use Costco for looking at non food items. Maybe this is a me issue but I often feel like Costco is a niche market when it comes to food. I feel the same though about Trader Joe’s and there seems to be plenty of people doing full grocery trips there so again probably just me.

[noodleoo]

I'm jealous of those of you that have both! We don't have a Sam's Club here and the Costco isn't close and is insanely busy, but we recently got a membership and love it. H is obsessed and he goes quite frequently. I've only been to Costco once alone, I hate crowds and it gives me anxiety. However the membership has more than paid for itself the last few years between the savings on appliances (new fridge last year, new dishwasher this year) and rental cars for our vacations.

We have a BJs that is much closer but its not nearly as good.

[DotAndBuzz]

I haven’t shopped at a wal mart in about 20 years, and Sam’s club is owned by Walmart, so they’re out for me as well.

Costco is a touch more expensive but treats their employees really well. You also get a percentage back on all your purchases at the end of the year, and we’ve bought so many big ticket items through them, then gotten literally thousands back in our year end check (generator, furnace and air conditioner, mattresses, wine fridge, etc). Name brand, and appliances are installed and serviced by local small businesses, you just get the Costco price. A friend books her vacations through them too. I’m talking like $2k back as store credit, but you can take it to the customer service desk and they’ll convert it to cash for you.

I use that giftcard for gas at Costco for months, and it’s like free gas. But friends of ours just take the cash and deposit it into the bank.

Costco for life

[orval]

Feb 8, 2024 11:09:15 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

I haven’t shopped at a wal mart in about 20 years, and Sam’s club is owned by Walmart, so they’re out for me as well.

Costco is a touch more expensive but treats their employees really well. You also get a percentage back on all your purchases at the end of the year, and we’ve bought so many big ticket items through them, then gotten literally thousands back in our year end check (generator, furnace and air conditioner, mattresses, wine fridge, etc). Name brand, and appliances are installed and serviced by local small businesses, you just get the Costco price. A friend books her vacations through them too. I’m talking like $2k back as store credit, but you can take it to the customer service desk and they’ll convert it to cash for you.

I use that giftcard for gas at Costco for months, and it’s like free gas. But friends of ours just take the cash and deposit it into the bank.

Costco for life

I have had a Costco membership for many years.  I have never received a percentage back on my purchases.  How does this work?
I definitely get money back from Sam's Club after every purchase.  

[sadlebred]

Feb 8, 2024 11:26:31 GMT -5 orval said:

Feb 8, 2024 11:09:15 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

I haven’t shopped at a wal mart in about 20 years, and Sam’s club is owned by Walmart, so they’re out for me as well.

Costco is a touch more expensive but treats their employees really well. You also get a percentage back on all your purchases at the end of the year, and we’ve bought so many big ticket items through them, then gotten literally thousands back in our year end check (generator, furnace and air conditioner, mattresses, wine fridge, etc). Name brand, and appliances are installed and serviced by local small businesses, you just get the Costco price. A friend books her vacations through them too. I’m talking like $2k back as store credit, but you can take it to the customer service desk and they’ll convert it to cash for you.

I use that giftcard for gas at Costco for months, and it’s like free gas. But friends of ours just take the cash and deposit it into the bank.

Costco for life

I have had a Costco membership for many years.  I have never received a percentage back on my purchases.  How does this work?
I definitely get money back from Sam's Club after every purchase.  

Are you a "Gold Star" Costco member? If so, no cash back. If you are an "Executive Member" you get 2% rewards back. There is a price difference in memberships, and you really need to spend several thousand/year to make up the $120 membership fee for Executive. They do have something about refunding part of the membership fee if you don't make it back in rewards. Someone correct me on that. I couldn't find it on the Costco website.

[DotAndBuzz]

Feb 8, 2024 11:53:55 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

Feb 8, 2024 11:26:31 GMT -5 orval said:

I have had a Costco membership for many years.  I have never received a percentage back on my purchases.  How does this work?
I definitely get money back from Sam's Club after every purchase.  

Are you a "Gold Star" Costco member? If so, no cash back. If you are an "Executive Member" you get 2% rewards back. There is a price difference in memberships, and you really need to spend several thousand/year to make up the $120 membership fee for Executive. They do have something about refunding part of the membership fee if you don't make it back in rewards. Someone correct me on that. I couldn't find it on the Costco website.

Yes, this.

it really pays off when you use it for big ticket items (HVAC, cars, tires, vacations, generators, mattresses, etc). But even when we have years where we don't buy those, we still get a couple hundred back just from general purchases. I don't use it for my weekly groceries, and shop there maybe once a month, and before I host an event (family Christmas, snacks for a team, whatever). But we've always gotten money back.