Recently we joined Costco and will let our longtime Sam's membership expire. The only real reason is we moved to Pebble Creek in CS and Costco is very close, several minutes closer than Sam's. For the things we buy I don't really think we'll see much difference it's just a more convenient store. Like changing HEB because you moved across town.

A couple of things I've noticed though that seem rather "behind the times":
1. Costco only takes Visa credit cards. it's been over a decade since I've seen a retailer refuse Mastercard and all other credit card brands.
2. #1 prompted us to get the Costco Visa card and at a glance the rewards are pretty good. Specifically 4% cash on gas and EV charging and 3% on restaurants. BUT, the devil is in the details, right? Those rewards aren't available until January of the following year and then they are a credit on your Costco Visa card. Really? We run the rest of our lives on a Citi Double Cash card and I redeem that cash as soon as the statement drops then I put it in our savings account to earn a few points of interest. I'm not waiting for a year to receive rewards and the delta between 4% and 2% (gas/EV) and 3% and 2% (restaurants) isn't worth it. I'll make that up with the interest in the savings account. This seems awfully convoluted and honestly had a seen it before applying I likely would have used repurposed an idle Visa card for use at Costo. It gets 1.5% from USAA and that's good enough.
3. One thing I really liked about Sam's is the Scan and Go app which if you aren't familiar let's you scan items as you shop then check out on your phone and head to the door. No cashier's and no long lines waiting for the cashiers. Costco still requires a trip to a cashier and/or the self checkout register. Less efficient for sure.

At this point I won't be surprised if we switch back to Sam's this time next year. I know Costco has a cult-like following but right now I just don't get it. Maybe they'll win me over with something else in the next 11 months, we'll see. Just curious if I'm the only one wondering when they'll catch up to how the rest of the world works with these things.

Or maybe this is a Dear Diary post, who knows? LOL

I've never been inside a Costco. Makes you think. I've been in the parking lot of the one on Coit in Dallas and looked through the doors but that's it.

We have both memberships and I agree with the tech stuff (FWIW the reopened Sam's near me in Grapevine is completely digital, no checkouts).

The Costco by my house is going in the opposite direction requiring scanning of membership to enter (not just flashing the card) as well as requiring running items across a scanner and over to a holding table (verus just scanning everything in your basket w the gun), assuming to combat theft.

The Visa thing is what it is and I don't worry about it much (since I have one), years ago the Costco card was AMEX which many people do not carry.

I think that the Kirkland brand has a lot of loyalty and Costco in general is seen as a little more upscale w more choices but I usually just go to the one I'm closest to when I'm running errands.

We have both and only go to Costco for certain items and not on a weekend. Sam's scan and go technology is hands-down a differentiator. Costco has higher quality linens, etc, for our rental properties, but otherwise very similar in our opinion. Once our boys graduate A&M we will likely drop Costco mainly because we avoid the place due to the amount of wasted time in lines and the congestion in the store.

Both here, but we also have both within 2 miles of the house. There's stuff at Costco (mainly organics, produce, & Kirkland brand stuff like diapers) that make the membership worth it. We do way more TP/laundry type purchases at Sam's because of the curbside pickup/delivery. Bank of America cards (3.5% cash back at wholesale clubs & 5.25% gas) are better than either of the clubs own cards.

YouBet said:

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I've never been inside a Costco. Makes you think. I've been in the parking lot of the one on Coit in Dallas and looked through the doors but that's it.

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Same here, never been in one. I have nothing against it, I live 4 hours from the nearest one. My sister on the other hand, she is a cult member and probably one of the Costco Elders as devout as she is to the store.

Sam's is not THAT much farther than Costco in CStat.

We have memberships at both. We like different things each one carries. We enjoy the bargains Costco puts out there. Never know what you'll find.

We do a lot of driving and have switched to buying tires there. Better experience than Discount and we love that they fill the tires with nitrogen.

Also like Costco for appliances. They roll up installation takeaway and warranty into the price.

Finally they'll take debit cards.

techno-ag said:

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Sam's is not THAT much farther than Costco in CStat.

We have memberships at both. We like different things each one carries. We enjoy the bargains Costco puts out there. Never know what you'll find.

We do a lot of driving and have switched to buying tires there. Better experience than Discount and we love that they fill the tires with nitrogen.

Also like Costco for appliances. They roll up installation takeaway and warranty into the price.

Finally they'll take debit cards.

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No it isn't that much farther, nothing here really is. We had gotten to the point where we weren't going to Sam's a ton anyway so we decided to give Costco a shot. It's just a strange thing for it to have such a loyal following and right now I just don't get it. Beyond the key role it played in Idiocracy to me it's not anything special.

This thread makes me feel like it's a tomato/tomato. Appreciate the feedback though.

Longtime sams customer that switched to Costco to try it out. Other than a few select items that we tried and didn't like, everything we could get at Sam's.

My complaint is the kirklands brand, we prefer sams products over kirklands, on almost everything. We'll be back to sams after this membership finishes. Sams checkout as you go is next level, can't believe they don't offer at Costco. I'm pretty sure they use the same training techniques as the SS for membership check in at door. They don't play at all.

Kirkland wine is also high end low price point wine. They do a good job from buying from quality vineyards. They also have a higher percentage of organic and/or non artificial food offerings.

In short, there is a cult like following because of the perceived value. Higher quality at warehouse pricing.

Jabin said:

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Something I don't like about Costco is that you cannot tell if something is in stock at their local store without visiting it in person.

At Sam's, you can check online.

For all of Costco's vaunted customer orientation, that seems very anti-customer. Its purpose is clearly to force the customer into the store in order to increase impulse purchases.

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You can easily check Costco store inventory for any item in the app on the Warehouse tab.

Costco was born out the Fedmart branch.

The CEO and founder of fedmart got pushed out. This was after Sam Walton had talked to him and the CEO/founder explained his model. This led to Sam creating Sam's club. The old fedmart CEO created price club and it merged with Costco to create the Costco we know today.

Price Club is where the OG hotdog and food court was born.

DeLaHonta said:

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Jabin said:

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Something I don't like about Costco is that you cannot tell if something is in stock at their local store without visiting it in person.

At Sam's, you can check online.

For all of Costco's vaunted customer orientation, that seems very anti-customer. Its purpose is clearly to force the customer into the store in order to increase impulse purchases.

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You can easily check Costco store inventory for any item in the app on the Warehouse tab.

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I don't think that's correct for their website. As just an example, I selected my warehouse on the website and searched for towels. There is nothing to click to show only towels currently in stock in the warehouse. Nothing on the search results shows that info, either. It only shows if delivery is available and/or if it is online only. However, when I click on an item that is not "Online only", I'm told that it may not be available at my local warehouse.

The Costco help page suggests that the only ways to find out are to call them or to visit their warehouse.

I'm hopefully missing something.

cgh1999 said:

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One of the "advantages" for Costco's policies of scanning ID at entry and their checkout method is that their shrink percentage is less than 1/10th of the LOW end of retail shrink. (0.11%) This allows them to keep prices lower.

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Curious how that compares to Sam's shrink level. You don't have to show ID at the door generally though occasionally they do that. But yeah I can see the benefit of knowing whom the building.

Costco takes any Debit card with a PIN, regardless of whether it's a mastercard/visa/whatever. My credit union ATM card is also a mastercard. I pay for things at Costco with it in Debit mode, no problem.

YouBet said:

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I've never been inside a Costco. Makes you think. I've been in the parking lot of the one on Coit in Dallas and looked through the doors but that's it.

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I think I was in one years ago but have no need living in suburban condo to shop in bulk

Jabin said:

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DeLaHonta said:

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Jabin said:

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Something I don't like about Costco is that you cannot tell if something is in stock at their local store without visiting it in person.

At Sam's, you can check online.

For all of Costco's vaunted customer orientation, that seems very anti-customer. Its purpose is clearly to force the customer into the store in order to increase impulse purchases.

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You can easily check Costco store inventory for any item in the app on the Warehouse tab.

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I don't think that's correct for their website. As just an example, I selected my warehouse on the website and searched for towels. There is nothing to click to show only towels currently in stock in the warehouse. Nothing on the search results shows that info, either. It only shows if delivery is available and/or if it is online only. However, when I click on an item that is not "Online only", I'm told that it may not be available at my local warehouse.

The Costco help page suggests that the only ways to find out are to call them or to visit their warehouse.

I'm hopefully missing something.

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Click on the Warehouse tab at the bottom of the app before you search, and it'll show you the inventory for that particular warehouse. If you're on the regular Shop tab of the app, it won't, even if you have your warehouse selected.

I don't have the app and am in no hurry to add it to my phone. Thanks for the tip, though.