Category: Daily Living
Did anyone ever go to one of these stores alone and shop? What was your experience getting assistance?
Yes, Ihave both a Sam's and Costco membership and have shopped at both stores. I like Sam's the best for its variety and for the fact that they accept Food Stamps and Cash Aid.
I have had sams in the past and have a cosco card at the moment, i'd have to say sams is better as far as veriaty, but boath sams and cosco accept food stamps now. it really depends on what your spassific shopping items are, we mainly go for diapers and wipes. cosco is cheeper in that department, but their meats are verry expincive! sams also has more of a veriaty of frutes than cosco, but our cosco here has fresher froots and veggies because they keep them in a jiant walk in fridg/ freezer, we just got our cosco card a month ago, so we havent really had alot of time to go exploring alot, but I do know that the service is grate at both places, I know all the workers in the sams club, lol. and i'd have to say that cosco has one hell of a toy/electronics department. lol. because my husband has to go play in there every time we go.
I usually have someone take me to Sams, but once,I did go by myself. A lady named Amy, one of the cashiers, closed down her cash register and assisted me. She was extremely helpful, and I appologized for any inconvenience. She said that she was glad that I had decided to do my shopping at Samsclub, and that assisting customers was a part of her job. There was also a time when I had submitted an order online, but the club didn't have it ready in time. I had submitted it on a Friday morning, so I thought it might b ready by Saturday or so. well, here it was, Monday, and stillno confirmation email. I called and spoke with a woman named debbie. I explained that my transportation was limited. she began asking questions, so I explained that I was blind. She was indignant, saying that if I was really blind, I couldn't have placed an online order. She did have someone get the order ready, and when I went to pick it up, I brought my laptop with me. I asked for her, (she was the manager.) I showed her my laptop and let her hear it talk. She was extremely appologetic and told me that if I ever needed anything at all, to please call her. She personally inspected the order for accuracy. In short, I've never had a problem with Sams.
Ah, gotta love the club. I've gone but it was some time back. Still I found great survice and it was a good time all around.
I've never shopped at either place alone, but I really like the fact that you can buy in bulk.
Yup, saves trips.
haven't shopped alone...however, I love sams
are these like cash and carry places? sounds like it to me. we have them here, but they are for wholesale or retail establishments and not for genral consumer.
our costco is so huge and packed all the time with fast shopping fools who would rather run me over then be polite. It scares me half to death to go there with someone. I can't imagine going alone. Additionally most of the staff is non english speaking so getting help would be interesting. The website is easy to use and you don't have to be a member to shop. I'd love to visit a sam's. However, the nearest one is miles and miles away. an even better alternative for our family is Forever Yardsale, which is right down the road from costco. It is only open on weekends and sells stuff which costco isn't moving or which is damaged slightly. Every friday my good friend Terri and I have off together we go at 11:00 and sweep up those big bargains. For example I got a down vest for my daughter that cost $80.00 at the big c for $10.00.
Terri got 50 pounds of fresh step cat litter for $5.00
I shop at costco all the time. I love shopping there. Their fruits and vegies are usually really fresh and good. Their meats are a little expensive but I like the meat a lot.
We got tires replaced at Sam's club in a pinch once in Florida, and a pinch that was / those things wore out faster than anything I've ever seen. Sam's is a subsidiary of SquallMart.
I've never been to a big box store like Costco by myself, and I didn't know they were economical for families under 8 or so. But, if you're careful, you can get semidecent electronics there. Costco is just a carrier, unlike the Squallid Establishment who price-bargains all their product lines to the point of otherwise name brand products like Dell coming in with cheap parts from China. Either place is obviously gonna be fine for food as the FDA covers that score.
Turricane the store you mention sounds like something my wife would like: she shops at Dollar tree a lot and I'm surprised at what they turn up with sometimes.
I'm keen to know ... has anyone found that the savings one gets by shopping at those places offsets the inevitable taxi you'll need to carry bulk purchases home with you? As I understand it, the selection is different in, say, Costco stores than at the website.
As for assistance, Sam's has quite good customer service reps, positioned at the counters at the front of the stores, which are also used for membership card buying and renewal.
I've found that the savings do offset any transportation costs one might incur.
Even for families of two+, Sams bulk purchases of non-perishables is a huge savings. Also, getting the ten-pound rolls of ground-beef, and freezing them in chunks, will negate your need to travel for those items so frequently.
Awesomeness.
Well we only have a Sam's Club and a BJ's, no Cosco where I live. We find that Sam's Club has more of what we can use, but neither store is great. For one thing, most of what they carry, we don't want/don't need. For instance, we use cloth diapers, cloth wipes, clloth napkins, cloth pads, menstrual cups, sea spunge tampons, reusable tissues, wash cloths, reusable cotton facial rounds, scrubbing gloves and reusable cleaning cloths, we don't use disposable plastic like plastic plates or glad wear, we use real glass or plastic drinking glasses, not paper cups, maybe use 1 pack of biogradable paper plates a year all told, we don't believe in styrophome, try to minimize our use of plastic bags like zip lock, etc so the cleanex, pads, tampons, wipes, diapers, paper plates, paper napkins, styrophome cups, paper cups, etc aren't anything we're after. We bought the paper towels in a 18 or 20 role pack and that lasted foreever, toilet paper is always a good deal though, that's one thing we're not going to buy in a reusable form. We're green, we're not crazy. lol We buy organic grassfed or pasture raised meat, and I wouldn't touch most of their irradiated factory farmed meat with a ten foot pole. If you feed your cats or dogs raw however, Sam's meat would be good, it's human grade, at least, far cheeper than the grassfed meat, but much better than the non-human grade meat in most commercial dog foods. If you want to take some time with some canning jars, are throwing a huge party or have a large stand alone freezer, some of the sauces you can buy in large containers are great, but you'll have to portion them out for ease of use. They don't carry any organic cleaning supplies or organic body care products, so no laundry detergent, body wash or dish soap for us from Sam's. The raiser blade refills however are a freaken awesome deal. I paid about 22 bucks for a package of 18 refill blades, which each last for several shavings of the legs and under arms, and they came out to be just over half price when compared with the small 3 or 4 refill packs you buy elsewhere. They also do have organic olive oil from a pretty reputable company for a great price. They also occasionally have really great flavored K Cups, although often they have just 1 or 2 kinds, and if you don't like them, then it does you no good. Some of their large bottles of things like tylonal are a good deal as well. The main thing is to research. Some things are a much worse deal at Sam's and they count on your assuming that bigger is cheeper per unit. When you go shopping, pick a few things you buy regularly and price them out, then after recording this in your Victor Reader Stream, writing it on your Braillenote, etc, take that to Sam's and really comparison shop. For instance, the large blocks of extra sharp cheddar were almost twice as expensive as the same thing at Wegmans once you figured out the price per pound, but the large chunks of imported cheeses were a great deal. If you see a big ticket item, get on your IPhone and price it other places, or your regular cell and call someone and ask them to price it on the web, and make sure it's really a better deal, because some times it's not. Also, stick to your guns. If you use a particular salad dressing because it has no nasty soy oil or canola oil, don't just buy an off brand with bad ingrediants because it's cheeper. If you research a highchair, carseat, excersaucer, etc at Babies R Us and put that on your baby shower regestry after careful research, and you happen to see that same one at Sam's for cheeper, by all means, buy it. But if you see a different brand, stop, research it, especially something safety rated like a stroller or carseat, check it's safety rating and don't buy it if it's not as good, even if it's cheeper. Having your own reusable shopping bags, especially large ones can reallly help. Also, using rolling suit cases can help if you have to take public or para transit and you'll be transporting things on your own. Never, ever, buy dog food from a discount store. I mean, I know that that should go without saying, but just thought I'd reidderate. They do often have nice large, inexpensive dog beds though. Paisley and Tova both got theirs from Sam's. Electronics can really be a good deal, but research and check as some are the same or worse than at other stores, and keep in mind that spending 100 more at Best Buy is worth it for one of those warintees where you can do pretty much anything but submerdge it in water and get it fixed and restored for up to 3 to 5 years. Surprisingly, Sam's is good in some ways for green living, for instance, buying tin foil or plastic wrap for portioning out your own home made cookies, muffins, home made TV dinners, etc is great and you can buy it in bulk. Also, I mail out lots of perfume oils in sales and swaps, and the boxes of bulk bubble mailers are far cheeper than those you can buy individually at Fedex or the UPS Store. It comes down to being an informed consumer. Do your research, go in hoping for good deals, but expecting to be screwed, optimistic, but realistic, and check unit pricing. Their tires are a really good idea and have a guarintee. As long as you or your spouse knows about what are and are not good tires by brand, getting your tires there can save you enough money to pay for your membership many times over, so that I really recommend. Also, getting your gass at Sam's can almost always save you significantly. Obviously drive past other stations on the way and make note of prices at the pump, but we have saved hundreds getting our gas from Sam's. So, it all depends on what you want and need, how informed you are, how lazy or energetic you are about researching, how picky you are about quality on a given product and whether or not the employees at your local bulk discount store speak English well enough, are friendly enough, etc to be of help to you or not, as this varries from store to store.
NaturallyLiving...
Your post was so interesting to read! :) I wouldn't mind going green especially with food and cleaning products however it is so expensive! I think more people would do it if the prices went down!
However, that's getting off topic...
I really like Sam's club although I'm not a member. I really can't make a full judgement on it however I'm hoping to have my first shopping experience there soon! I'd like to see what they can offer!
My gf and i will most likely go Sams before long, it'd be local to use plus i already know some of the stuff so that cold help in some respects. My family has always had great luck from them
I agree with alot of what is said, I prefer costco when it comes to overall greatness, but sams club has offered more variety in the sense of obscure things I have needed in the past..
Once again, costco is just amazing