Sams Club VS Costco : Which One Is Better?

joecandlepower

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I belong to Costco at the moment and was wondering what the pros and cons are of each business.

Anybody here ever have experience with both of these companys.

Thanks...........Ken
 

Reptilezs

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i like costco pretty much because they are the only ones pretty close to us. they also have a pretty liberal return policy. i brought back a monitor about a yr later(the maker told us to bring back) and they accepted it and refunded us cash
 

Mike Painter

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From a buyers persepective they are both pretty much the same.
Costco employees get paid better and have better benefits. If a store decides to go union, the owner will assist them and the unions says they get the best deals from Costco.
The owner "only" takes home about two or three hundred grand a year. Most at the level he is take home several million a year.
 

gadget_lover

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It appears that you can buy at sams club without a membership. My dad was buying prescriptions at Sam's pharmacy so I bought him a membership. Costco requires a membership to buy.

I don't have a lot of experience with sams. Only been there a few times. I found the sams reminds me of an overgrown, under furnished walmart. The costco seems to be an open warehouse of commonly purchased goods.

The only problem I have with costco is finding the same thing two trips in a row. They frequently have products for a few months and then never again.

Costco seems to be selling some things in more reasonable quantities lately. I could be wrong.

Daniel
 

geepondy

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I generally find that Costco appears to be set up and ran better with lesser lines and the goods in a more organized manner. Plus I find the Costco housebrand "Kirkland" to offer really quality items from garbage bags to vitamins and drugs and of course batteries where you gotta love the Kirkland AA specials. The tire department at Costco blows away the one at Sam's in terms of service and quality of work but I am only basing above opinions on one Costco and one Sams. Maybe it's different from warehouse to warehouse. I had both for awhile but dropped Sams in favor of Costco.
 

Trashman

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Sam's club has "passes" for non-members, but they charge an additional 10%.

The Costco owner and founder, makes, I believe, only $350,000 per year(I just recently saw this on TV). Costco, every once in a while, has incredible deals where the goal is specifically not to make money, but to give back to their customers. An example is the Costco HID. They sold them for exactly one dollar over their shipped price, which is absolutely unheard of anywhere. We all know that Harbor Freight sells stuff at very reasonable prices, but they're selling the same HID spotlight for something around $130. This past Christmas, I got two pair of some really nice Ugg style slippers (leather and lined with lambs wool) from Costco and they were only $12 each. They are very similar to Ugg branded slippers, which sell for around $60. In fact, I actually like the Costco slippers much better than the Uggs, because they're lower to the grow and are more comfortable to walk in!

I do know that Sam's club has a kick *** warranty policy on their electronics items. If it breaks within the warranty period, you can just bring it back in, and if they can't fix it, they'll give you a new one! That is with the standard warranty that comes with most items. It also applies to their extended warranties, which are incredibly cheap compared to other places. For Christmas, I bought my dad an Epson Picture Mate Deluxe for $179 their. The extended warranty, which starts *after* the 1 year manufacturer warranty, was only $40 for three years. So, if the thing should stop working in the next 4 years, they told me that all I have to do is bring it back and if they can't fix it, they'll give a brand new one. I was also under the impression that they would most likely just give a new one on the spot, because the way she led me to believe was that if they can't fix it right then, it'll be replaced.

They both have lots of tasty food samples, too! Oh yeah, here's one big difference, in my opinion: Costco's pizza is much better than Sam's Club Pizza (the hot and free one). It might just be the location I went to, or the time I bought it, but they just seemed to be doing something wrong. Maybe the dough wasn't cooked enough, or was too sweet, or both...I don't know.

Overall, I can't really say that I like one more than other, from a buyers perspective.
 

mugs

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I shop at Costco. I've never shopped at Sam's, but everyone I know who's had experience with both prefers Costco. If Sam's is anything like Walmart, I would definitely agree. Costco's Kirkland brand is usually as good as or BETTER than the brand name alternative. They also have a lot of additional services (which Sam's probably has too): http://www.costco.com/Service/MemberService.aspx?cat=3397&cm_re=1-_-Top_Right_Nav2-_-Top_services

My father-in-law bought his last two cars through Costco, he got good deals on them.
 

BatteryCharger

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I very much dislike the way Costco looks down on non members. A while ago my dad went to costco and had a whole cart full of things...about $200 worth. After they rang everything up is when he noticed his costco membership had expired about 2 weeks earlier. They would not accept his cash. Basically they said "you're not a member right now, so we're too good for your money" and made him leave with nothing.

A few months later I went to Costco with him to buy an air conditioner, because I still have a membership and he wasn't about to pay for another one after that kind of treatment. So, as he tried to write a check for the air conditioner, the clerk said "wait, does this check have his name on it?" (pointing to me, the member) My dad said no, and then the a**hole wouldn't accept the check from him. I could have written a check for it, but instead I chose to give him a series of 4 letter words and we went to lowes to buy the air conditioner. (and got a better deal anyway) I later called the manager of that Costco and he also had an "I'm better than you" attitude. (even though I'm still a paying member)

If they had Sam's club around here, that's where I would shop...but we don't.
 
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Ras_Thavas

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I have been a member of Costo for over 20 years.

I joined Sams club for a year when they opened one close to me, but never re-joined.

If you have a family to feed, and are looking to save money on food, then Sams club is your ticket. Sams has at least twice as much food as Costco.

Costco carries more electronics and home furnishings. They also seem to carry a better selection of higher quality items.
 

moonkat

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Regret I'm a member of all three - BJ's, Sam's Club, and Costco and like Costco the best. Reason I have three is they each have their advantages. Costco has the best meats at good prices, they display much of their merchandise on the web and have the best return policy (any time bring it back; yes I've tried it out). BJ's has good merchandise in fact both carry Kirkland branded products. They seem to have the best selection of TVs (I've been looking for large screen HDTVs for the last couple of years and 1080p s are becoming affordable), the pet foods we buy and good selection of men's clothing in my taste. Ditto the 48 packs of AA batts, but no online shopping. BJ's has a limited return period. Sam's club has the best selection of computer stuff (add-in drives, etc) but they treat customers like shoplifters. Only reason I have the current membership is I was out of town with nothing to do but visit Sam's Club down the road and decided to renew my old membership with a leftover credit.

Costco staff are consistently nicest and ditto trashmans stories. That return I mentioned was a recent Toshiba DVD-VHS combo player that stopped. I thought it was 2-3 years old and let them know but they still took it back and gave me cash credit. Turns out it was "only" a year old. Been a member since '84.
 

joecandlepower

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Thanks everyone for the good information.
I always can count on it here.

I recently started to get concerned with Costco's penchant for using eminent domain and so I got curious about the differences if any, between the two companies.

I really don't want to deal with companies like that, but if Sam's does the same thing, then there is really no need to change for the time being.
I guess I'll need to try a guest pass and see.

But thanks again for the help on the pros and cons on each company.

Ken
 

270winchester

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I shop at costco and since there are no Sams Club in CA I have to use the experience from the Sams I've been in Texas, and by far I like costco because it's not related to Walmart. And I really hate Walmart. The lesser of two evils I suppose? That and Costco treats their employees better than Walmart is another good reason/
 

Trashman

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270winchester said:
I shop at costco and since there are no Sams Club in CA I have to use the experience from the Sams I've been in Texas, and by far I like costco because it's not related to Walmart. And I really hate Walmart. The lesser of two evils I suppose? That and Costco treats their employees better than Walmart is another good reason/

No Sam's club in CA? Maybe not in Santa Cruz County, but there are plenty in SoCal.


I've never heard of The BJ Club as mentioned in a previous post, but it sounds fantastic!
 

gadget_lover

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BatteryCharger said:
I very much dislike the way Costco looks down on non members. A while ago my dad went to costco and had a whole cart full of things...about $200 worth. After they rang everything up is when he noticed his costco membership had expired about 2 weeks earlier. They would not accept his cash. Basically they said "you're not a member right now, so we're too good for your money" and made him leave with nothing.


That's kind of surprising. Not the fact that their rules say you have to be a member, but the fact that
the checker did not do what ours does and offer to renew it on the spot and add teh $35 to your bill.

I never expect to get club member privleges at clubs where I don't have a membership. That's a pretty close analogy to what goes on in a membership only store. Your dues help offset the overhead of the store, so it's not in the members best interest to allow non members to buy there.

Teh check hassle reminds me of the push-ups that my brother in law goes through to buy things at the Navy base. My mother in law has rights to buy there because she's the widow of a retiree. She has to show her military ID and she has to pay. In return, he gets lower prices and no sales tax. It's worth it to him.

Daniel
 

270winchester

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Trashman said:
No Sam's club in CA? Maybe not in Santa Cruz County, but there are plenty in SoCal.


I've never heard of The BJ Club as mentioned in a previous post, but it sounds fantastic!

As far as I know there are no Sams in the Bay Area either, you would imagine a place with such a high concentration of people would interest Sams....
 

BatteryCharger

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gadget_lover said:
I never expect to get club member privleges at clubs where I don't have a membership.

Certainly, but there's a huge difference between somebody who's not a member and somebody who recently was a member and was obviously unaware that his membership had lapsed just days earlier. Plus they were very rude about it...

In the end it just cost the store more money by refusing to sell, since an employee had to go put everything back. :rolleyes:
 
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bwaites

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I have never had the kind of response to an inquery or problem that BatteryCharger did, and that would be unacceptable in my book.

However, I have had my membership expire, the clerk has always offered to renew it on the spot, as at least one other has mentioned.

The way I understand it, Costco is, by definition, a private club and cannot sell to non-members under it's articles of incorporation.

They have "Mystery" shoppers who try to get clerks to do so, using some of the same things that BatteryCharger mentions, recently expired membership, buying from someone elses checking, etc. If they sell under those circumstances, they can be fired.

So it does not surpise me when they won't sell, that is what they are trained and expected to NOT do.

I am surprised that they did not offer to renew a membership, though.

I'll take Costco 10-1 over Sam's Clubs. My experiences with Sam's Clubs is that, like Wal-Mart, their produce and meat aren't as fresh or of the quality of Costco's. Costco meats are becoming almost legendary in their quality.

Bill
 

mugs

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BatteryCharger said:
I very much dislike the way Costco looks down on non members. A while ago my dad went to costco and had a whole cart full of things...about $200 worth. After they rang everything up is when he noticed his costco membership had expired about 2 weeks earlier. They would not accept his cash. Basically they said "you're not a member right now, so we're too good for your money" and made him leave with nothing.

A few months later I went to Costco with him to buy an air conditioner, because I still have a membership and he wasn't about to pay for another one after that kind of treatment. So, as he tried to write a check for the air conditioner, the clerk said "wait, does this check have his name on it?" (pointing to me, the member) My dad said no, and then the a**hole wouldn't accept the check from him. I could have written a check for it, but instead I chose to give him a series of 4 letter words and we went to lowes to buy the air conditioner. (and got a better deal anyway) I later called the manager of that Costco and he also had an "I'm better than you" attitude. (even though I'm still a paying member)

If they had Sam's club around here, that's where I would shop...but we don't.

At my local Costco they have a sign at the register that says if your membership has expired the cost will be automatically added to your bill that day. Did they give him the option of renewing on the spot? Maybe your incident happened before they had the capability of renewing at the register. But it's understandable that they wouldn't let him buy the stuff without a valid membership. They're very strict about not letting you use someone else's membership also.

If you'd expect better service at Sam's club, I think you're being a little optimistic. If Sam's employees are at all like Walmart's employees, they're a great deal WORSE than the Costco employees I've encountered. I drive farther and pay a little more to shop at Target instead of Walmart.
 
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thatguybme

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I would vote for Costco over Sams as well.. when I lived in Richmond, VA we had both, but now we only have Sams...

There was an magazine article/national news segment about a year ago on how great Costco was.. If i remember correctly they do not mark anything up more than 15% of their cost.. It specificaly mentioned that restaurants were buying wine by the case there, since it was cheaper than buying from the local distributor..
 
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