Should I quit Sam's and join Costco?

[spinbaby]

Costco is 30 miles farther away, but Sam's Club is having a Sarah Palin book signing today.

[Orsino]

1. Signing or not, Wal-Mart does not deserve another fucking cent of your money.

Costco is better by far, unless the distance is prohibitive. Even shunting some of your business in that direction would be an improvement.

[Kajsa]

3. I didn't know Wal-Mart owned Sams Club.

Sams Club is off limits for me, now.

I seldom shopped there anyway.

Costco is much better.

[Zomby Woof]

12. It was named for Sam Walton, the Wal-Mart founder

[Kajsa]

19. Hi Zomby Woof!

:)

Ugh- I will not step foot in there, again.

:(

[Zomby Woof]

20. Heya Kajsacakes!

I'll say this - at least when Sam was alive, he made sure most of Wal-Mart's goods were made in the USA, and he didn't care much for imports where they could be avoided. I imagine he wouldn't care at all for the Chinese crap they specialize in these days. His death created a free-for-all greedy streak in his heirs. He was greedy enough, but he had SOME limits. His heirs rode the outsourced manufacturing wave all the way to China Beach.

Not much else to recommened about the old bastard, however, lol.

:hi:

[hippywife]

23. They didn't just ride it.

They created it.

[Zomby Woof]

26. GM and many others beat them to it

But Wal-Mart made it more (in)famous than anyone else.

[hippywife]

32. I know but, I'm betting those others

look like amatuer attempts in comparison. :hi:

[Kajsa]

31. That's interesting,

at least he stuck with 'Made in the US'.

:)

[Deep13]

2. yes nt

[Kajsa]

4. Yes, you should.

Costco is a good store and they're blue.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Costco is great and they have a rep for treating their employees well

Wally world, not so much.

[Moondog]

6. If I had the ability to go to Costco

there is simply no way I'd be putzing around with Sam's.

[spinbaby]

7. Yeah, but it's far away

An extra hour and a half driving plus the cost of gas. Also Costco is in a shopping area that's unbearably congested on weekends when we'd actually have time to go.

[Moondog]

8. I see your point.

But all we have anywhere within a few hours of here is a Sam's. First chance I get to dump Sam's for a Costco, I'm taking it!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. If you shop correctly you only need to go once every month or two

I bought a food saver and we buy in bulk. Last trip we spent about $300.00 on bulk items but we now have enough food in the freezer to last till sometime in January. Enough T.P. A gallon of cooking oil, a gallon of E.V. olive oil, enough garlic to last for about 6 months etc.

We use Costco to provision the house, not for weekly shopping.

Last trip I broke all the bulk stuff up into meals for two and shrink wrapped and froze most of it. I did the math and our main course dinners ended up costing about $1.06 for each dinner for two and I'm not talking beans and rice. I'm talking New York Steaks, Salmon, Flank steak, Chicken, Brie, Pasta etc.

Costco is an all day event for us when you figure in the re packaging and storage but we only do it about once every two months or so. It's one of my favorite days. We supplement the more obscure items from the local grocery stores and try to hit the farmers market once every week or two for fresh veggies.

Done with the right mindset, Costco is worth driving a long way for. I almost never set foot in Safeway anymore. And as a matter of principle, I never, ever set foot in Wallyworld.

[quakerboy]

21. your costco must be cheaper than mine

Cause steaks and salmon cost enough they would immediately destroy that cost curve for me here. The salmon fillets we got are $3 each, for instance. I actually find that Winco beats them on price per x on many products around here. Not on eggs or string cheese though.

That said, referring to the op: Sams club? Really? I know people who are broke and shop there. If you ain't dirt poor, I don't see any excuse for going to Walmart.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

29. I have no animosity toward anyone who shops at wally world.

If that's all you can afford, that's where you should shop. I am still fortunate enough to have a choice and I choose not to shop at Wally world. Under different circumstances I might feel differently. You do the best you can. I find this whole "being broke" thing to be relative. I haven't worked since July but I have benefits from my union, unemployment, etc. that allow me to get by in a manner that still allows me to live in a manner that I can still spread Brie on my homemade baguettes.

I suppose I could be in Somalia and have to be a pirate in order to feed my family. It's all relative.

[quakerboy]

34. Sorry it i was unclear.

If you have to shop at walmart to feed your family, I understand that. I don't like it, mainly because I think there are often better choices that can be found even in dire straights, but I can understand it.

But when you have the choice, then I don't see any excuse for it. And I would assume that most people on this board (not all, but most) have that choice.

[NJmaverick]

9. That's a tough call

I think I might let that one thing pass. Have they done anything else like this?

[spinbaby]

11. They sell Hannity's book n/t

[NJmaverick]

13. Do they sell any books from the left?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

14. Of course.

[hippywife]

24. They've done many worse things than

just that one thing. Was that a serious question?

[rcrush]

15. Hmmm $50 for a membership. Is it worth it?

I cant spend $50 on much these days.

[spinbaby]

16. True, there is the $50

But it's only $10 more than Sam's and I'd have to renew there soon anyway. I was thinking more of time and gas. What really infuriates me is that they're going to have that woman clogging up Sam's Club while people are trying to shop for Thanksgiving. It's a bad weekend anyway, and this makes it just impossible.

[barb162]

25. IMO, no. I had a membership for two yrs at Costco and I found their

prices as high as the local chain and other grocery stores. One exception, their pies are excellent and a good price.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. Depends on the Costco

Some have gas pumps, and when I was a member (none reasonably close to me today), the savings on gas alone was enough to pay the costs. Milk was another big savings.

[TommyO]

17. Back before I found out how evil Walmart is

I used to shop at Sam's all the time, especially since the nearest Costco was 37 miles away, and Sams was only eight miles away.

Once I made my mind up not to renew Sams, there was a new Costco that was farther from home, but just minutes from the office I used to work at, so Costco was a no-brainer. I haven't looked back. Now that I'm living in NJ, I'm within easy driving distance of two Costco stores and one BJ's (my brother has a free membership through the company he works for), and no Sams Club!

If you can handle the logistics, as described by other posters, go for the Costco membership.

[Mudoria]

18. I wasn't that impressed with Costco..

Sam's and BJ's are closer so that simplifies things.

[Deja Q]

22. How many MPG does your car get? And will it make a real difference?

[quakerboy]

27. yes

why shop at walmart?

[Generic Brad]

28. I made the switch this year

No regrets. I love their customer service.

[Tommy_J]

30. Another yes vote

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. I agree with Grovelbot

Donated today and got a new star.

[gmoney]

37. Might be worth pointing out

That ALL the national warehouse clubs are hurting locally owned merchants... since driving is a concern, maybe the money you save on gas and the time savings would justify going to your local grocer or hardware store or whatever, whenever practical?