What Could Costco Learn From Sam's Club And What Can Sam's Club Adopt From Costco?

My wife and I are regular Costco shoppers. The membership warehouse has become one of the three grocery brands that we get most of our groceries from, pulling in at the #2 spot backside Trader Joe's in annual spend these days. If we could get an even greater share of our groceries there, we would, but sometimes 96 ounce jars of mayo only aren't practical.

I had always been curious near Sam's Club, only had never given the concatenation a chance. With an American Limited promotion giving targeted AmEx customers a free Sam's Club membership (in the course of a argument credit), we had nothing to lose. So, we decided to give it endeavor, in the hopes that it could provide some dainty staple complements to the items we regularly stock up on at Costco.

Sams Club vs Costco

Now that I've shopped at both chains, I idea readers might have an involvement in a Sam's Club versus Costco review. And so, here information technology is (terminal updated for 2021). I didn't desire to but provide my opinion, but wanted to dig in to compare things like membership fees, return policies, branded credit cards, payment methods, hours of operation, number of locations, service offerings, detail quality, price, and quantity, and even relationship with employees.

What follows is my have on the Sam'due south Guild vs Costco debate. I'd love to see yours in the comments also.

Membership Fees:

A lot of the value of being a member is dependent on the perceived value you get from the price of membership. However, we're just going to compare here on straight up price, not value (since everyone has a slightly different perceived value).

Costco membership toll: $lx for the basic "Gilded Star" or "Business" memberships, and $120 for the upgraded "Executive" version of each, which offering enhanced perks, including cash back rewards of 2% (up to $1,000 cash dorsum) on qualified Costco purchases. At that place are a number of ways to shop at Costco for free without a membership, for one-off needs, but information technology would be difficult to sustain for regular purchases.
Sam's Lodge membership price: $45 for the basic "Order" and $100 for "Plus" memberships, which offers enhanced perks, including cash back rewards of two% on qualifying purchases (upwardly to $500 annually). Sam's too offers early shopping hours and free shipping for Select Plus members, which are nice perks. In that location are also a number of ways to shop at Sam'due south Club without a membership, including a free ninety-day trial membership.

Winner: Sam'due south Lodge. If we're looking strictly at price alone, you have to give the nod to Sam's Club on this one, at all membership levels. Note that the enhanced membership for Costco offers a college cap on cash dorsum ($1,000 vs. $500), but you'd accept to spend over $10K annually to come across a benefit in that location. That's more than I'd recommend not-business consumers spending at whatsoever i retailer.

I have run the numbers on if a Costco Executive membership is worth the toll (as well as standard). The answer for me, is "yes", but I did recently ask Costco for a membership fee rebate (pro-rated, as I fell brusk of break-even). They obliged.

Return Policies:

Costco'south and Sam'due south Club render policies can exist found here, respectively:

Costco'south return policy
Sam's Lodge return policy

Winner: Costco (slight edge). Both Costco and Sam's Club have refreshingly generous return policies, which makes shopping at either a huge perk. For starters, both offer full refund on the cost of membership if yous are unsatisfied with information technology. Both offer return of items at any fourth dimension. There are some items that come with restraints at both retailers for good reason (e.g. certain electronics, batteries, tires, cigarettes, and alcohol). Where Costco gets the slight edge is that they have a shorter list of non-returnable items or items that must be returned within a time frame. Costco'south extended warranty on appliances and other big purchases is too outstanding.

Branded Credit Carte Perks:

For this comparing, I recollect information technology's of import to look strictly at how the card benefits y'all at the retailer, versus it's other perks.

Costco Anywhere Visa:

doubles as your membership card
$0 annual fee (must exist a Costco member)
4% greenbacks back on gas purchases at Costco and other gas stations (up to $vii,000 spent per year)
3% back on restaurants and almost travel purchases
2% back at Costco and Costco.com
1% cash back on all other purchases

Sam's Lodge MasterCard:

doubles as your membership card
$0 annual fee (cash back reward bank check only goes to Sam's Guild members)
5% greenbacks back at U.S. and Puerto Rico gas stations and on gas at Sam'due south Club (on commencement $half dozen,000 per year in purchases, then 1% on purchases after)
3% cash back on dining and travel
3% cash dorsum for Sam's Lodge purchases (Plus members) or 1% cash back (Guild members)
1% cash back on other purchases
No foreign transaction fees

Winner: Costco. The Sam's Club credit carte has a really sweet perk in 5% cash back at all gas stations that might make information technology worthwhile, fifty-fifty if you don't regularly shop at Sam'due south (note: to get cash back rewards, you must be a Sam's Lodge member). However, if we're weighing the value of these cards on their connection to the retailer, the 2% cash back at Costco and Costco.com is a huge perk that stands out betwixt the ii cards, as it doubles the ane% you would get at Sam's with the Sam's Club MasterCard (though that does increase to 3% if you have the $100 almanac Plus membership). The Costco menu rewards improvement emerged from the huge shift from AmEx to Citi a few years ago.

Payment Methods:

Costco payment methods: Costco accepts all Visa cards, likewise as cash, checks from members, traveler'south checks, debit/ATM, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Photo identification and approval by a supervisor or director may be required. A valid government-issued photograph ID is required if you lot plan to pay by check. Cash, checks and EBT are not accustomed at Costco.com, Costco Gas Stations or Costco Car Washes.
Sam's Guild payment methods: Sam's Social club credit, Walmart and Sam'south Club credit cards, VISA checkout, greenbacks or check, debit card, American Express, MasterCard, Discover, Visa credit cards, Walmart credit, SNAP.

Winner: Sam'south Club. Costco's move to Visa (all cards) should result in easier payment for a lot of customers (versus AmEx exclusivity previously), however, Sam's Club accepts SNAP and the 4 major credit card providers: AmEx, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard.

Number of Locations:

Number of locations is less important than proximity to your residence. Be that as information technology may, more than locations increases the potential that there volition be a closer location to your residence.

Costco locations: equally of the fourth dimension of publish, Costco has 572 U.s.a. locations.
Sam'south Club locations: as of the time of publish, Sam's Club has 600 Us locations.

Winner: Sam's Club. Slightly.

Hours of Operation:

Costco hours:

Monday – Fri: 10 AM – eight:thirty PM
Sat: 9:30 AM – vi PM
Sunday: 10 AM – 6 PM

Sam's Club hours:

Monday – Fri: 10 AM – 8 PM (annotation: Sam'due south offers "early shopping hours" for "Plus" members only are 8 AM – 10 AM).
Sabbatum: 9 AM – 8 PM (early shopping hours for "Plus" members only are 8 AM – nine AM).
Sun: 10 AM – 6 PM

Winner: Sam's Club. Sam'south offers longer hours on Saturday and the early on shopping hours for Plus members.

Item Diversity:

Costco item selection: Costco claims to bear only near 4,000 SKUs. For the size of their warehouses, this is somewhat hard to believe, but they focus on fewer items equally function of their strategy of focusing on quality.
Sam's Club item selection: Sam's Order hasn't shared the number of SKUs that they acquit, still, it is clear that they pack significantly more SKUs into their locations than Costco does.

Winner: Sam'south Social club.

Item Quality:

Costco item quality: Costco's pick to limit (and even cutting back) their SKUs has allowed them to focus more on quality of item. Costco'southward food and alcohol pick (if that'due south your thing) includes a strong lineup of generic "Kirkland" branded products, which are typically very high quality. I created a Costco alcohol price list for those who are curious and an extensive review of Costco Kirkland dog food & cat nutrient.
Sam's Order item quality: while Sam'south Society did acquit a few higher end products and organic options, I constitute the overall selection here to be limited compared to Costco. If name brand products is your thing (I wouldn't recommend it), yous volition be much happier with the familiar brands at Sam'south Club. If organic and healthy options are your affair, you volition not. Random related note: I bought a giant container of black pepper at Sam's Guild that absolutely ruined a few dishes due to its poor taste. I just don't call up that would happen at Costco.

Winner: Costco. I tend to be pretty judicious when it comes to what I put in my body and Costco's food pick is much more focused on items that are organic, with uncomplicated natural ingredients with less preservatives and fillers, and raised with a more than sustainable focus (east.m. hormone-free, muzzle-free, grass-fed dairy, meat, and eggs). At Sam's Society, there is much more of a focus on pop brands, which non-coincidentally oftentimes have much less healthy ingredients, in general.

Item Prices:

Winner: Inconclusive (simply possible slight edge to Costco). This one is tough considering of the difference in production selection and production attributes. Costco has fewer SKUs and generally higher quality products, which makes price comparisons hard, if not impossible. I actually brought in my Costco receipts and used my phone to compare prices on similar items (i.e. similar volume and qualities such every bit organic).

Costco does have a notably larger pick of products with its high-quality generic "Kirkland Signature" shop brand, whereas Sam'due south Guild is much more focused on popular (and often overpriced) proper name brands. I think that'due south important to note.

In a very express sample size, I found Costco to come up out ahead well-nigh two out of every 3 apple-to-apple tree comparisons (excluding brand name), looking at cost per volume. Could this be due to limited SKU (which cuts toll for the company)? It's possible. Simply I don't have a wide enough sample size to conclude this definitively. And every individual shoppers results are going to vary based on their purchase preferences.

I've also plant Costco's pharmacy prices to be cheaper than Sam's Club or whatsoever other pharmacy. Nosotros purchase our dog's insulin there and it is consistently the cheapest location in boondocks.

Services:

Buying groceries is one thing, simply what about other service based product offerings? These are membership retailers, so the service part of the deal is important to a lot of members. Hither's what they both offering:

Costco service products: pharmacy, cheap flu shots, optical/hearing centre, tire/battery, gas, photo, business organisation services, travel, auto-ownership program, in-shop eatery (food court buffet), insurance.
Sam'due south Lodge service products: chemist's shop, cheap flu shots, optical/hearing centre, tire/battery, gas, photograph, business services, travel, machine-buying program, in-store restaurant (nutrient courtroom cafe), insurance.

Winner: Tie. Do the lists look similar? They are. I'd give Costco the slight nod in grouping insurances offered and Sam's the nod in other business concern services. Other than that, they are strikingly identical, right down to the types of foods offered in the in-store eating place and their prices (frozen yogurt and pizza, FTW!).

Employee Pay & Benefits:

Final but not least, I retrieve it's of import for any consumer to place a value on how well the businesses they frequent cull to treat their rank and file employees in terms of pay, benefits, work hours, holidays, and more than.

Costco Pay & Benefits:

Costco pay: cashiers @ ~$15.54/hour, warehouse stockers @ ~$20.91/hour
Costco benefits: Wellness, dental, life, disability, Ad&D, vision, pharmacy plans. 401K match (almanac contribution to their business relationship, which is based on a percent of eligible earnings. This pct increases with employee's years of service). Employee stock purchase plan.
Costco piece of work hours: meet higher up.
Costco Holidays (no business hours): New year's day's Twenty-four hour period, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence 24-hour interval, Labor Twenty-four hour period, Thanksgiving, Christmas

Sam'south Club Pay & Benefits:

Sam'southward Club pay: cashiers @ ~$ten.48/hour, stockers @ ~$nineteen.32/hour:
Sam's Club benefits: Wellness, dental, life, disability, AD&D, vision, pharmacy plans. 401K match (up to half dozen% of bacon). Employee stock purchase plan (with visitor match).
Sam's Club work hours: see above.
Sam'south Club Holidays (no business hours): New Yr's 24-hour interval, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas

Winner: Costco. Without getting full PTO details and insurance costs, it's difficult to fully compare the benefits package betwixt the two. Only when it comes to pay (at least in the samples that have reported their pay to a 3rd party), Costco is the clear winner, with cashiers making almost 50% more and stock staff making about 7% more, on average, than their Sam's Gild counterparts. It'due south besides been said that Costco pay increases happen more frequently and in that location is a much higher cap than with Sam's Club/Walmart employees. Additionally Costco employees don't have the potential to become fatigued into extended morn and Saturday hours every bit Sam's Club employees practice, or 3 boosted holidays to work (Memorial, Independence, and Labor Days). And then there's reputation. Costco has been said to treat employees very well, while Walmart has a long history of the opposite.

Sam's Lodge Vs. Costco: Review Summary

Winner: Costco.

If the name of the game is saving coin and yous don't care besides much about the ingredients in the foods that you put into your torso, you may be able to save some money at Sam's Gild. And yous may accept a little more luck finding the production type you lot are looking for. Sam's likewise gets the nod in hours of operation and membership cost ($15 or $twenty savings per year, varying by membership level).

It's worth noting that fifty-fifty though I've been a loyal Costco client, I visited Sam's Club wanting information technology to succeed (the more than inexpensive foods for me to stock up on, the better!). Even so, having shopped at both and doing meaning research for this article, I simply like Costco much more than. Their huge choice of generic Kirkland brand products provide an excellent value, and their foods are more focused on quality and health. I come abroad from Costco with a full cart of products every time, but with Sam's, I could only find a few handfuls of products that I felt practiced about purchasing. I feel much better virtually maintaining a toll of membership at Costco and don't believe I volition renew my membership at Sam'due south unless they significantly increase their organic selection in the side by side twelvemonth. The Costco Visa, with its two% cash back rewards at Costco is another huge perk.

Additionally, Costco pays and treats its employees meliorate, which makes me experience more positive about being a customer. In low-cal of the 2018 news of Sam's Order closing 63 stores and laying off x,000 employees without alarm, I feel fifty-fifty more than strongly about this verdict, and highlighted how to get your Sam's Club membership fee refunded and switch to Costco.

Costco Vs Sam's Club: what's your accept?

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