Is a Sam's Club membership worth it?
Is it your best choice?
Should you take the plunge or will you regret the yearly fee?
Here's what you need to know before you make the decision to fork over some cash for a
Sam's Club membership.
If you're not sure how often you're actually going to make it into the store to shop, you
should know that there's another option available.
Sam's Club does have a website, and you can shop there even if you're not a member.
You'll have to sign up for a Guest Membership, which is essentially an account that's active
for 24 hours and lets you order through the site.
There is, of course, a catch.
If you sign in with your Guest Membership instead of a regular membership, you're going
to be paying a 10 percent service fee on everything you buy.
Guest members also can't arrange to pick up their items at their local stores, so if you
need something ASAP, you're out of luck.
Which is best for you?
Only you can decide.
Before you head into Sam's Club and fork over some of your hard-earned cash for the right
to shop in their store, you should definitely look around to see where else you can pick
up a membership for the warehouse club.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of great deals out there.
For example, in March 2019, they announced a deal that let you downloaded their Scan
& Go app, and use it to buy your basic membership for the standard $45.
But then, if you went to the store and used the app to make purchases over $45, that amount
was instantly deducted from your bill.
That's basically a free membership!
That deal was for a limited time, but Sam's Club runs similar deals frequently.
Other special sign-up offers have included free gift cards and coupons off things like
hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, and cookies.
In other words, things you were probably going to buy anyway.
Groupon regularly offers deals on memberships, and so does Living Social.
If you're not in a hurry, it's worth checking around — you can absolutely score a free
membership or some other great deals if you do.
If you're mainly interested in a Sam's Club membership for the grocery items, there's
something you should know: You can order from them through Instacart, with or without a
membership, and — according to TechCrunch — you'll have your items on the same day
or in as little as an hour.
When is the last time any shopping trip took you an hour?
Sam's Club first started their partnership with Instacart in Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis,
and Austin before expanding to Los Angeles and San Diego.
It was such a success they announced they were going to expand into almost 1,000 ZIP
codes and 350 Sam's Club locations.
Instacart does charge for individual deliveries, unless you get a membership.
According to Grocery Dive, an annual membership, which gets you free deliveries, dropped to
$99 at the end of 2018 — but that membership fee means you can also use it for any of their
more than 300 grocery partners, not just Sam's Club.
It's another one of those things that you'll have to consider if you want to figure out
whether or not it's worth it for you and your family.
Medical bills and trips to the pharmacy can add up fast, and if anyone in your family
needs prescriptions filled often, Sam's Club discounts might make a membership very worthwhile.
Best of all?
It's not just limited to the human members of your family.
If you opt for the Sam's Club Plus Membership for $100 a year, it includes the option to
get certain free prescription drugs.
There's also a list of more than 600 generic drugs that you'll be eligible to get at a
cost of $10 or less, and there are some pretty extensive savings on brand name drugs, too.
And your furry family members can get their medication there, too.
Sam's Club pharmacies offer deals on everything from daily medication to preventatives like
heartworm pills, and if you have more than one cat or dog?
We all know how fast the cost of their meds adds up.
Bottom line?
Getting that Sam's Club membership and getting your prescriptions there can potentially save
you a ton of money.
If you're thinking about getting a Sam's Club membership, you're also thinking about buying
in bulk.
That's where things get tricky.
There are plenty of good deals to be had at Sam's Club — things like pasta, snacks,
and candy — but there are a lot of pitfalls, too.
Things like canned goods and soda are going to be cheaper elsewhere, and other things
are bound to go bad before you use them.
Did you know that sunscreen is only effective for about a year after you buy it?
If you bought a four-pack three years ago, that stuff you're slathering on your skin
isn't actually helping.
And other skin care products — like face cream — only keep their maximum effectiveness
for between three and six months.
Cheat Sheet says there are other sneaky problems, too: detergents, fabric softener, and cleaning
products will only be good for between six months and a year after they're opened.
So, if buying in bulk is your goal, take a look at how much of these items you go through
in your household.
In some cases, you might be surprised to realize it's not worth it.
In 2017, Supermarket News reported on what was the last phase of a Sam's Club overhaul.
Previously, they had carried private label products under a whopping 21 different names,
and all those products were getting consolidated into one: Member's Mark.
And it was a huge deal.
At the same time, they added around 300 new products and stressed that each and every
Member's Mark item had something — like an ingredient or recipe — that made it different
from anything else on the market.
"So let me show you how to do it.
Right here we have our corned beef.
Member's Mark, of course."
And that means that if you're not taking Sam's Club private label brands into consideration
when you're trying to decide whether or not you want a membership, you're overlooking
something big.
The Kitchn says there are a ton of great products on sale under the Member's Mark name, and
not all of them are food.
There are things like frying pans, storage containers, and plastic plates, and there
are also — of course — things like their private label snacks, frozen foods, and everything
you'll need to throw a killer party.
And since you can't get these exact items anywhere else, well, that just means getting
that Sam's Club membership has a big benefit.
Part of the fun of going to Sam's Club is looking through that middle section to see
what's shown up there.
You know the section, it's where all the latest and greatest books, movies, and video games
are, the clothes, and all the seasonal goodies you'll find in your cart before you even know
what happened.
Sam's Club has something even better than that: auctions!
That's right: Sam's Club auctions off a number of closeout items on their website, and you
have the chance to get them at ridiculously cheap prices.
You don't even have to sit at your computer to watch the clock tick down: just enter a
proxy bid of how much you're willing to spend, and if the auction ends with the item at a
lower price than what you bid, you'll automatically win with a bid that's $1 higher than the last
person.
But in order to take advantage of this one, you'll need both a membership and an approved
credit card on file with Sam's Club.
What's the worst thing about shopping?
If you said the people and the crowds, you would be correct.
If you agree, here's some food for thought.
Opt for the more expensive Sam's Club membership option, and you'll be able to get in, do your
shopping, and get out in the hours before all the other card-holding members show up.
Many locations open at 7 a.m. for their Plus members, and that just might be worth it,
right?
That's not the only perk you'll get if you go this way — you'll also get cash back
rewards, free shipping, better deals at the pharmacy, and discounts on eyeglasses.
That is, of course, all in addition to all the benefits of a regular membership, and
whether or not it's worth it depends on you, your family, and whether or not you're willing
to get up that early.
In 2018, a whole bunch of Sam's Club members were shocked when they showed up at their
neighborhood store to find it closed.
There were a lot of reasons for the business decision, but one of the things that didn't
sit well with a lot of people was the fact that they hadn't given anyone — not even
their now-unemployed employees — a heads' up.
"Yeah, nationwide 63 Sam's Club stores closed today or will close in the coming weeks."
That's right: around 63 stores ended up closing, and it was a sign that there were changes
to come.
Among them was a shift to target more higher-income families, move away from catering to small
businesses, turn some of those locations into online fulfillment centers, and overhaul their
grocery business.
Depending on where you live and what you're looking for in a warehouse store, this could
be either good news, or bad news.
And in some cases, it might have made your decision for you.
Most of the stores that were closed were ones within 10 miles of a Costco, because that
was just some serious competition they didn't want to deal with.
Speaking of Costco, are you missing out if you opt for Sam's Club instead?
Fortunately, comparisons have been done.
Cheapism took a close look at the two, and found that while Sam's Club had more payment
options, Costco had slightly better prices.
They also noted that Sam's Club has self-checkout lanes and a free pickup service, also a bonus
there.
And what do actual customers have to say?
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Costco has an overall satisfaction
rate of 83 percent.
Sam's Club is below them, but just barely with their 80 percent satisfaction rating.
When it comes down to it, it's all about what services you're going to use most, which private
label brands you like best, and what's closer to you.
So, you still haven't decided if Sam's Club is right for you, and that's all right.
Sometimes it's tough to tell just how useful a store is going to be, and let's be honest
here: there's just something weird about paying for the privilege of shopping at a store.
It's kind of like paying for the privilege of going to someone's house, cooking for them,
and then doing the dishes.
It's weird!
Here's the good news: Getting a membership is actually so low-risk you could call it
no-risk.
Sift through the Terms and Conditions of Sam's Club and their membership program and you'll
find that they have a 100 percent Satisfaction Guarantee on Membership.
That means that if you decide — at any time during the year — you're not happy with
your membership, you can cancel for a refund.
Don't believe it?
They say, precisely:
"We'll refund in full the actual amount you paid for your current annual membership at
any time during the membership year if you aren't satisfied."
So, there you have it.
Go ahead and give that membership a try — you might just find a ton of stuff at crazy cheap
prices, and a whole bunch of stuff you didn't even know you needed.
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