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Does shopping at Sam's club save money?

post #1 of 13
6/4/09 at 7:27pm
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Just wondering if paying $40 for the membership is worth it?
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post #2 of 13
6/5/09 at 4:33am
I didn't find Sam's Club to be worth it (here it was $80 to sign up!). They don't accept coupons and some of their prices, unit cost wise, are outrageous.

BJ's though I have had amazing luck with. They are definately worth a membership too. Cheaper membership fee and can use multiple coupons on one item which is amazing.
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post #3 of 13
6/5/09 at 4:39am
We don't belong to Sam's Club anymore...the ones near us were kinda dirty/gross. So we joined BJ's as soon as they rolled into town and now we belong to Costco too. For us, it's worth it because we don't pay any membership fees (company perk from Dh's work).

If I didn't save any money, I wouldn't shop at those places. But that's me. I do carry a price book, so I know how much things are at my regular grocery store, Target and then places like Costco/BJ's etc If you don't do that, it's really hard to know if you're getting good deals IMO. If you know your prices, it's a piece of cake.
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post #4 of 13
6/5/09 at 5:02am
For us no, BJ's was much better. My mom also preferes Costco to Sam's, for a year she had both and compared- they wound up keeping Costco. I prefer BJ's as they accept coupons (Manufacturers as well as their own).
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post #5 of 13
6/5/09 at 8:27am
I didn't think it was cost savings. It cost us as a business $100 to sign up and I know over a year I didn't save that much in return. The only thing that I found to be cost effective was the largest box of toilet tissue but if I watch for sales and use coupons I can get better deals at the local stores. I don't forsee me becoming a member again. They are fixing to open up a new one in the town above us but I won't be using it. We have no other wholesale stores available within a reasonable distance for us so I just stick with the local grocery, dollar stores, thrift stores and walmart. Plus all of them let me use coupons.
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post #6 of 13
6/23/09 at 8:49pm
It depends. For us, the nearest Sam's club (or equivalent) is a 2 hour drive. By the time we factored in gas and meals for an all day trip, we did not save any money, so we stopped going. When we lived in the city, and Sam's was easily available, we did save some money.
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post #7 of 13
6/24/09 at 4:52am
It really depends upon what you use and how much of th eproduct you use and how fast. some items you can definately save on money by buying it in bulk other items it is more costly at a warehouse club, you just really need to know your prices so you can compare. Sam's Club a lot of times will offer 1 day passes to get in free, if you can get one of those I would make a list out of your frequently used items go to the club and walk through it and write down the price and size of the container next to the item and then when you get home you can figure out if it is of benefit for you and your family.
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post #8 of 13
6/26/09 at 2:02pm
We buy most of the things we use regularly at Sams. Like everyone else said, you have to watch the unit price to make sure it is not more expensive. We buy most of our meat there and separate it when we get home. It usually is cheaper than the other stores even with their sales.
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post #9 of 13
6/29/09 at 9:31am
I think I might not renew. We got it to save on gas, but the savings isn't as great now that gas has gone down. Anything else I buy there (diapers) I can have MIL pick up.
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post #10 of 13
6/29/09 at 10:26am
i think if you're on a hectic schedule and can only do something like once a month shopping, it would be cost effective to go to one store and stock up. it's walmart based, and what walmart does is average out the sales prices for the year to give you a general, constant low price. so it's possible to shop around and get better sales. but again, that depends if you can shop around.

i miss shopping at Sam's because of the convenience factor. we could get all our meats for the month in one trip at a reasonable price quickly, and then divide it at home. but we decided not to renew, and i've really been watching for sales at my local stores. if there's not many stores in your area to comparison shop, then it wouldn't be worth it. we have many stores within a 5 mile radius that make shopping around much more cost efficient for us.
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