So this is a question we’ve mulled over several times. We live close to a Sam’s Club and we debate every year whether or not we are going to get a membership. We have ultimately decided to, but I think this last year we’ve got the least amount of use from it than we ever have. You can see our short list of items we buy at Sam’s Club, but you can get better deals on everything else when the right sale rolls around at a non-membership warehouse club, but regular grocery or department store.
So we decided that we are not going to renew, BUT, we have been looking at Costco. Why? Well, from many friends and even many of you, we’ve heard that they have a great selection of high quality and even organic produce and meats for a lot less. We know many people who are trying to live thriftier and healthier that LOVE their Costco membership. We never bought meat from Sam’s Club as I was striving for more healthy meats (i.e. grass-fed beef, natural chicken, etc.) and even organic if at all possible with our budget. We have bought a bunch of produce at Sam’s Club when we go and it is a good deal, but we have heard even better reports about the produce, eggs and milk at Costco in terms of both price and more possible organic options. Costco also has some great in-store coupons that we have heard about and seen!
So we would like to hear from you as we have been mulling this over for a few months. A Costco membership is $55 for the year and a Sam’s Club membership is $35-$40 per year.
So, are you a member of either one? Should we fork up the extra money and go for a Costco membership instead of Sam’s Club? From what we’ve gathered so far, it might be a better switch.
If you are in the same boat as us and looking to join at Costco, we all might want to make decisions about this pretty quickly as there are some sweet bonuses for joining right now.
We received this email:
Awesome! This email came from Vocalpoint for Vocalpoint members. We’ve mentioned Vocalpoint several times as they are a site where people chat about companies, brands and products. The best part is that we receive free full-size products on occasion too! It’s great!
Well, now I am super happy that we are members as the issue of a Costco membership has been a discussion in our house.
So here’s the details of what you will get as a new Costco member for members of Vocalpoint:
So three free items and a $50 coupon book! With this free stuff, it looks like it covers that $15-$20 difference between the Sam’s Club and Costco membership. Plus the $50 coupon book is a nice bonus too 🙂
For you to also get the same free benefits by joining Costco: log-in to your Vocalpoint Account and see if this offer is waiting for you (or check your email and click through the offer).
If you are not a member of Vocalpoint yet (it’s free), then we suggest taking a few minutes and register and then come back and try to get this Costco offer or at least be ready for future free stuff!
So what’s the verdict….. Should we join? If so, it looks like now is the right time! Will you be joining?
Ruth
We’ve been considering. Our biggest hold back is that the nearest Costco is over an hour away. A friend told me that if you buy a higher-priced membership that they refund you the difference if you don’t save enough to cover it, so it always pays for itself (unlike the Sam’s Club membership, which I know would never pay for itself). I’ve browsed at Costco, and they sell far more items that I would be interested in buying than Sam’s Club does.
Cassie
Ruth, we have a similar issue where the closest to us is 30 minutes away. We would probably only go no more than 1x per month anyway. We live really close to a Sam’s Club, but we only went a couple of times the whole year!
Also, we did not know that Costco reimbursed you! That is great! The more I hear, the more and more I am liking that option! I have been in a Costco once with a friend a couple of years ago and liked what I saw then and agree that they did seem to have more things we would like than Sam’s Club has.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and letting us know that extra incentive! Have a great day Ruth – we appreciate you, you are awesome 🙂
Laura
Thanks for the info! I am trying to make the same decision right now. The closest Costco to us is 45 minutes away, but I’m like you and would only be going once a month. I’ve had to return chicken and roasts to Sams several times because they were rotten before the sell-by date. Gross!
Cassie
Hi Laura – I have heard other’s experiences from yours too about meats at Sam’s Club. I haven’t purchased meat there for years (ever since a local recall actually for both Walmart and Sam’s Club). I do find that they do have better quality produce than Walmart though. Thank you so much for your comment and thoughts! We really appreciate your comment and letting us know your experience! Have a wonderful day Laura!
Kara
I am a total Costco devotee. Also, it really doesn’t take 30 minutes to get to the Costco in South Ogden; closer to 15 or 20. I know credit cards can be a menace, but if you sign up for the Costco American Express card (which also functions as your membership card), you get an annual cash back award in February. It’s something like 3% back for restaurants/entertainment, 2% back for everything purchased at Costco (including fuel, I think, which is also cheaper at Costco) and 1% back for all other purchases. Depending on how much you spend, the cash back can be enough to cover the expense of your membership. We don’t carry a balance on ours and just treat it like a debit card…that gives us free money in February! 🙂 I have to say that I’m very impressed with Costco’s customer service and return policies. Really hassle-free! And it does seem like they have an increasing range of organic/health food items. If you want to “try before you buy,” you’re welcome to come with me on my next trip! I just went yesterday, so I’ll probably be going sometime next week. 🙂
TONA
We moved from Colorado to Spanish Fort, AL and Sam’s are everywhere. I miss Costco for their selection of healthy foods, odd foods like quinoa and brown rice mix(love it) and Mott’s natural popsicles, things we eat. Sam’s is ok but you have to get the Discover card and it pays you back like the Amex for Costco does…all gimmicks to me! Ugh take one card at both places! I think for what Sam’s lacks in Coupons vs Costco who uses coupons to entice….it all balances out for me. I would choose Costco for items and milk prices vs Sam’s here…milk is $2. higher a gallon in Alabama! I did keep my membership for Costco that was expiring this month b/c they will NOT give you your money earned in February if you do NOT renew(watch out). So my rewards cash was going to be large enough in February that it was to my benefit to renew the Costco again and cancel after I get my reward check, then I will have to call Amex to get a new Amex card b/c the Amex now is through Costco, etc. Just like Discover is through Sams Club. Does that make sense? Anyway I hit the Costco in Birmingham last weekend and stocked up but my closest store is 3 hours !!! Sam’s is 4 miles from my home and the gas is cheaper for us. I think Costco has a better food selection but they both have the same home goods, sports goods, tools, tires, etc.
Stacy
Cassie, Costco has 2 levels of cards. The first cheaper level (I think it’s the one you are looking at buying) basically just allows you into the store. You do get coupons which makes it nice. The other level is about $100 or $110 and they guarantee that if you don’t spend enough to earn 2% back and make up half of the cost of your initial purchase (membership card) they will reimburse you the difference at the end of your 1 year membership. I haven’t really had to use their customer service, but I’ve heard it’s exceptional. I hope I got that info correct. I bought a Costco card a year ago and just passed my 1 year membership. I didn’t spend enough to make up the $50 (or 1/2 of the original cost of my membership) so they reimbursed me. At that time I decided to roll my reimbursement into another 1 year membership. My only regret is that it does take me about 20 minutes either way to get to the one just North of us or just South of us. Good luck!
Eva
I am currently a basic Costco member and I split my membership with my best friend (you can get 2 cards/membership), we each pay half of the membership. The main card holder registered on file will receive all coupon mailings and notification (you can get these at the customer service inside the store too), and the secondary card holder can be changed by the primary card holder. (My friend’s sister no longer wants to be a member, so my friend cancel her sister and switch to my name). Also after you sign up for membership, you can get a full membership refund (I don’t know within what period of time) if you don’t like it and cancel. One of my other friend just to open an account to buy a TV, and she cancel her membership after 1 week and get full refund of membership price and Costco didn’t back-charge her on her TV either. If you purchase items from Costco, you can return it any time for full refund without any time limitation, even after 1 year. I mainly use my membership to buy Gasoline since it’s cheaper, but rarely buy any food b/c they all come in large packages and I end up toss it all away. There are items Sam’s club will carry but not Costco and vice versa. But I believe Sam’s club carries more baby products compare to Costco. The only baby formula Costco carry is regular Enfamil powder or Kirkland brand equivalent, plus Similac powder occasionally. My baby use Gentlease or its generic, so I get those at Sam’s club. I share membership at both Sam’s club and Costco.
Cassie
Hi Eva, Sharing memberships is very smart. Thankfully we are past the formula stage and so that is good information for others’ needing baby formula and supplies to note. I appreciate you leaving your comment and ideas! Thank you so much Eva! It is much appreciated.
Pat Kleinmaier
We have both Sam’s and Costco as we enjoy shopping at both. Though we buy much more at costco. We like Sam’s as we travel a lot and find out where they are so we can stop along the way for a bite to eat and use their restaurants and save on gas. We have the American Express card and the 110 membership at costco and just the business card at Sam’s. The samples of food are much better at Costco which is a plus for us. We always buy our tires at either costco or sam’s as they rotate them for free. Not all items are returnable for a year at Costco. the electronics are only 3 months I think but Sam’s is only 30 days. We have never experienced a problem taking things back to costco. Even toys at Christmas, if you buy them early and then they mark them down the week before Christmas you can take them back for the price you paid and then buy the marked down ones. Sometimes it is a big savings, but if they sell out at least you have the ones you want. the toy prices are usually good too and they carry things you can’t find at Walmart or toy r us. We are lucky as we have 2 Sam’s in town and one is across the street from Costco so we can compare prices easily. Hope that helps
Cassie
Hi Pat, What a great assessment! From your comment and our family’s needs, it sounds like Costco might meet our family’s needs better. It would sure be nice to have it close, but it might be too much of a temptation for us 🙂 Thank you so much Pat, we appreciate you!
Debbie P
I love Costco. Their gas is cheap, produce is fantastic, and they have great healthy food options that don’t cost an arm and a leg. I love to buy their greek yogurt, quinoa, ground flax seed, soymilk, etc. They have 4 packs of pork roasts that are the best I’ve ever had. Very little fat, so they’re ready to shred when you cook them in the crockpot. Their strawberries are divine too! Definitely get a membership! It’s worth the drive!
Cassie
Awesome! I don’t think we will be buying much of the name-brand shelf items (as they are cheaper with coupons and sales) but it is the fresh and organic items that I am really, really wanting to try it for that reason. We love Greek and specifically Fage yogurt and I did see online that the ground flax was a super price!! That sounds good so far! Thanks so much Debbie for your input! We always love hearing from you 🙂
Ashley
We decided to try Sam’s Club and Costco. We upgraded to eValues membership at Sam’s Club then later downgraded and use the money back to buy our Costco membership. We LOVE Costco. The coupons we were receiving for being eValues members are the same as what Costco puts out in their coupon booklets. The meat is fantastic and it’s overall a fun place to shop. We’re about to ask for a refund for our Sam’s Club basic membership since we just don’t shop there anymore.
Also wanted to mention some of the deals we’ve found to be better than what we’re able to get with coupons in our area. Garbage bags are something like 200 for $13, 186 loads of Costco laundry detergent for $10.xx with a coupon, baby wipes for $0.18 per wipe after coupon, there’s a ton of great deals. They also have more household items than Sam’s Club. We just picked up newwrtzs
Ashley
Whoops, two year old hit enter! I meant to say that we got 8 person 5 piece dishes for $50. We were looking for something very similar at Bed Bath and Beyond for double this. It’s also a fun place to go with the family, our little guy loves the samples and Costco has more than Sam’s.
Cassie
Awesome information Ashley! Thank you for all of your thoughts on this. It certainly seems like the consensus is Costco over Sam’s Club! Thank you again Ashley, we really appreciate it!
Cassie
newwrtzs is definitely the work of a toddler 🙂 I know that all too well – lol!
Sharla
I want to do this offer, but the vocalpoint website seems to be having problems. I click on the deal, but it just takes me to a blank page. Has anyone else had problems with it? Or do you have contact info for vocalpoint? I submitted my question to them twice via their online form, but a phone number would be nice. Thanks!
Zee
Im having the same issue as Sharla, and when I manually typed it out it told me that the offer was not available in my area???