Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I"ve been a Sam's Club member for the past 15+ years and have been hearing great things about Costco. Only problem is that there's a Sam's Club 5 minutes from my house while Costco is more like 20-25 minutes. However, there's a Costco very near where I'm doing clinicals and going to school for the next year at least.

What would be my reason to join Costco?

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco is way better across the board. Selection of meat, produce, and frozen food is way better. We don't have a costco in gainesville, but when I visit my parents I always go and bring back several packages of salmon filets. The fish selection at our Sam's is terrible.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I saved over $ 450 on tires alone for my Durango at Costco...that alone lured me in over 4 years ago. :tu :tu

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Been a member of Costco for years back when it was Price Club. Been in a Sam's Club and never been impressed. Have a Sam's Club 2 minutes from me and I drive 25 miles to the nearest Costco instead.

Go in and check it out, don't need a membershipt to look. :D

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Much better food choices. They treat their employees much better. Overall, a little higher end selection. The "house" brand, Kirkland label stuff, is 95% of the time better than the name brand equivalents. Very high standards. I keep memberships to both also, as the time saved when you are next to one or the other is well worth the membership. Every day groceries? Either one, Sams with a slight edge there.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

i belong to both and prefer sams, but that could be the location i'm in

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Their hot dogs and pizza that they serve. You don't need a card for those, but it's extra incentive to go there. :)

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I like Sams Club. Never been a costco fan. We did both for a few years.....never found too much at costco.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Don't need a card to buy alcohol, they'll loose the alcohol liscense if denied.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I am not sure the reasons for you, but for me....it is Costco and it isn't even close.... I have both within 4-5 miles.... In fact, multiple locations of both within the Valley.

I wish I had specific reasoning, but I really don't. Carried cards to both for a few years and then just dumped the Sam's card. I have been a few times since, never even thought about getting a card again.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

What Pete said. In a lot of consumer magazines, the Kirkland (Costco) brand gets very good ratings. We used to have a Sam's membership, and won't go back. We've been very pleased with everything that we've found there. :)

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

i prefer Sams. Has more of the things I buy vs Costco. The Costco is across the street and Sams is 5 minutes away. Plus, Sams has gas and Costco doesn't

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

One other advantage to Costco is that they extend the warranty on TVs and computers to 2 years from date of purchase.

I have a 32" TV we bought for the bedroom in October of 2009. It took a dump last month, and the manufacturers warranty is long over. Costco took over and had me take it to a repair shop where it's currently sitting. So far they've replaced the motherboard, and now are ordering a power supply board for it. Costco is handling the repair, and calls me every couple of days with updates. They've been absolutely fantastic the way they've handled it. A big :tu to Costco.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

My sister is a manager at Sam's and while she'll say "shop Sam's" she readily admits that Costco has better quality produce, meats, food, and items in general. Price-wise I believe they're close, but Costco caters to an individual where Sam's caters to small businesses (i.e. bulk items and maybe not as high a quality to keep prices down).

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Great prices and assortments but neither is known for their customer service. :sh

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

The Costco location right night to the school/hospital I'll be at ~ 3 times/week has a gas station. It's probably an individual location thing like Sams.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Thanks for the responses-I'm going to go check it out I guess. If I like what I see, I'll be carrying out some pork butts and a beef brisket today. :)

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

No Costco within a 2 hour radius of my house. Sam's is about 30 min. away, so that's my preference. My preference is based entirely on location.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco and I have a love/hate relationship, I love going there and my wallet hates me for it! I'd pick costco every time for selection and quality!

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco all the way!

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

LMAO! I know that feeling. I don't think we get out of there under $150...ever. We buy a lot of groceries there. Stock up on things for a couple weeks for packing lunches, and several dinners. :) Best prices locally on milk, too (we've got 3 kids).

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I've been a member of both and it's apple and oranges. They are much of the same thing, it's just what you prefer. For me, I'll belong to the one that's most convenient (which right now is neither, and sams is free for me, so it's sams right now).

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I don't know if this helps the decision any, but it may be worth a 3-4 minute read.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/m...07_ware_ov.htm

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Im the same way. Its like that for me at a Lowes or Home Depot as well. I go in for a light bulb and end up with all kinds of stuff.

Costco for me to keep on topic.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I'm a little bias due to the fact I worked at Costco in college and I live in Washington state where they started. Never been in a Sam's club and never intend to, can't stand wal-fart and don't apove of there.. well lets call it business plan. But thats here nor there, for me it's all Costco. Also my wallet really does hate it when I walk in there, never get out for less than 100$.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

We used to go to Sams before Costco opened but since then it's been dual memberships at Costco and BJs.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco hand's down. Well worth the travel for you! Amer Express card through them and use it for everything. Very nice rebate checks using Executive membership and Amer Express. Extended warranties on electronics. Best tire deals around. Haven't bought steaks at another store in 8 years! Great produce, milk prices, coffee prices, etc. I buy my liquor and gas there, also. I can never go there for one thing. Sam's Club was good, but for me was further away. I totally agree with the Kirkland brand foods and drugs - top notch. I get my OTC Claritin for pennies on the dollar. I've also seen cigars for sale, but have never bought any.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I think Sam's has come a long way but, in my view, the variety and QUALITY of product is far superior at Costco. I believe, in general, Costco's pricing policy is uniformly 15% margin across the board on all their products. I hope my information is accurate. It gives me peace of mind when shopping there that I can confidently expect to pay 15% above cost (in general) for any product I pick up.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I don't have a lot to add other than this... I don't have a Costco around here, but my brother shops there a lot. I mostly shop at Sam's for meat. My brother says Costco only has brisket flats and boneless pork butts. That would put them on the "don't shoplist" for me!!! YMMV.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

I went in and browsed a bit today as I didn't have a lot of time. Seemed to have a lot more options, but not so sure things I'd buy that Sams doesn't currently carry.

Poor comparison, but just for the pork products I was shopping, this was the comparison:

Costco Sams
Pork shoulder $1.99 $1.88
Spare ribs $2.29 $1.99
Baby Backs $3.29 $3.47

Probably packed in the exact same location.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Just saw a couple of flat briskets and the butts seemed to be bone-in. Looked like exact same packer Sam's Club uses.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Certainly could be... like I said... I really don't know... I was just going off what my brother said.

I wish we had one around here so I could compare:tu

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

My BJ's membership is up and I'm considering Costco now!

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco every time. Simply the best quality and service.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

Costco pwns Sams.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

The nearest Costco's for me is just too far away to make it price competitive. However, I let my Sam's card go this past winter for several reasons:

First: I have had awful warranty problems with Sam's on tires (Goodyear), plus the last tires they changed out (with me paying 75% on tires less than 25% worn), they used standard lug nuts on my Nissan Pathfinder (on 3 of 6 lugs on one front tire), ruining the lugs, and costing me 4 hours in time repairing the damage because I did not find the problem until months later when I was doing a brake inspection, prior to giving the SUV to our daughter. Sam's would not claim responsibility, but they were the last one to handle the tires/rims!).

Second, I found that many of the food items were more expensive on a can by can, or lb by lb basis than I could get at Walmart!!! WTF??? No use paying Sam's a fee every year, driving 20 miles one way, when there is a Walmart 1 mile away that is cheaper on most of the items I purchase. Electronics were almost always cheaper at Best Buys or Staples, with about the same driving distance, and a better support staff at either over Sam's.

Finally; about the only advantage I was finding at Sam's was bulk quantities. Once I found that cans of tomato sauce, or bags of rice, or boxes of sodas or so-on were cheaper on a individual basis at the local stores, I lost all reason for buying in bulk.

We had membership in Costco for several years, but seldom went because it was too far away. However, I will say that I saw a much better selection of middle to upper end products at the Costcos that we did visit from time to time (over at least half a dozen cities) as compared to Sam's.

Re: Costco vs. Sam's Club
 

To second one of his points, we hit up Sams yesterday, bought a 155 oz. thing of cascade, went to walmart later that day and saw it was more than $1 cheaper for the exact same thing. Wasn't worth the trouble to buy at walmart and return to Sams, but it's pretty annoying to pay for the privilege to pay more.