Costco vs Sam's Club

[K_and_I]

The DW and I are planning a trip to Alaska next summer. We are members of Sam's Club as they are the only wholesale club in our area. As I read trip reports from others on an Alaska journey, I can't help but notice that more people report shopping at Costco than Sam's. Is this because of availability of Sam's in the area? We could join Costco for the year if there is any real benefit to doing so. I've never been in a Costco, so I just don't have anything to judge this on. What say ye (or y'all)?

[c_traveler2]

K_and_I wrote:
The DW and I are planning a trip to Alaska next summer. We are members of Sam's Club as they are the only wholesale club in our area. As I read trip reports from others on an Alaska journey, I can't help but notice that more people report shopping at Costco than Sam's. Is this because of availability of Sam's in the area? We could join Costco for the year if there is any real benefit to doing so. I've never been in a Costco, so I just don't have anything to judge this on. What say ye (or y'all)?

Costco in Anchorage,AK and Grande Prairie, Canada sell diesel.

[Tee_Jay]

Three Bears has stores in many Alaska road accessible towns, and carry a lot of Costco items, with a mark-up.

[K_and_I]

Thanks for all of the responses. A Costco membership is probably not warranted just for the trip (as mentioned), but I was thinking this may be a good excuse to try them out. I've got 9 months to think about it 🙂

[PA12DRVR]

Can't speak to anywhere else, but, as previously noted, Sams is closed in Los Anchorage. There are still Walmarts in the area.

We use Costco for our bulk shopping; if needed, we can find the occasional "stuff" for one meal (for 2 of us), but not everything is sold in smaller than bulk lots.

We don't use Costco for gas, preferring to use a local chain with rewards program.

[MDKMDK]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

K_and_I wrote:
Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about?

In my area, YES ! Regularly 4¢ cheaper, but I have seen it 15¢ less than other stations !

They are always near the top of Gas Buddy's lowest priced fuel, although none seem to have diesel.

I have both Sams and Costco memberships. While both tend to be in "high population density" ares, Sams does have one stored in Traverse City, MI (high summer volume but pretty low the rest of the year).

We use the Sam's Club in Port Huron for gas and the Murphy USA in Fort Gratiot for diesel and gas. Both are usually among the cheapest.
Sam's in Traverse City probably dodged the recent axe because it may be the only Sam's Club north of the i-69 and Tri City area in the mitt?

[Grit_dog]

K_and_I wrote:
Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about? As someone stated, we could stock up enough at the last Sam's to carry us through. I am tempted to try the Costco for one year just to see if I'm missing anything. The nearest Costco to us is an hour away, but we do drive by there once a month or so.

Don’t see the fuel discount advantage being of much/any use.
You’re stopping every 200 mi tops with a gasser towing.....through largely rural or wilderness areas. I don’t recall many, lol, roadside Costco’s on the way to AK.

It’s like $60 a year and either you use Costco or you don’t. Not really a trip planning consideration IMO.

[D_E_Bishop]

In our area Costco gasoline and diesel is priced at $0.05 per gallon cheaper than cheapest local area gas station. They have a list of stations that are checked every morning and prices adjusted.

As for value and quantities, I don't see much difference between Sam's Club and Costco, especially in our area. There are three Costco Stores within 10 miles of our home, there is one Sam's Club about 15 miles from our home. Two of the Costco Stores have gasoline, the Sam's Club doesn't.

The Sam's Club had a really good deal on tires for the DW's Explorer, Sam's didn't take credit cards for tires or batteries, Costco took AE. Now I think Sam's takes MC, cash or debit. I don't used the debit card because once I forgot to tell the DW I did and it applies only to her account.

Costco and Sam's tend to sell the same items but made by different manufacturers, some things like beer and spirits overlap, Wine not so much. Sam's tends to carry stuff more prevalent in the mid-west and east, Costco tends to carry stuff from the West.

When we did our 2011, 13k miles trip east, we asked for a list of stores from Sam's. We were told that it was on line. Costco has a brochure with all the stores and what features each has. Costco's list is published twice a year.

Without a guide to the stores, it was harder to find Sam's Club store and even harder to find the ones with gasoline, not listed on line at that time. We do have a couple of regular stops where we purchase Walmart gasoline, and there isn't a Costco close by.

I haven't been to too many Sam's Clubs so I can't comment on parking lots but the one near us is a total pain and my DD is a Suzi. It is worse than the worse Trader Joes Market and their lots are always a topic of conversation when talking about grocery shopping.

I pay for my brothers Costco membership, he pays for my Sam's Club membership, he buys more gas from Sam's Club because it is closer but he lives in a very rural area and I in the big city

So all in all, I prefer Costco even when fueling the Winnie and the towed.

[pigman1]

Costco has a very weird policy on fuel. In US, they accept Visa, not Master Card. In Canada, no Visa, only Master Card. Duhhh??? Discover OK at both and NO cash

[theoldwizard1]

K_and_I wrote:
Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about?

In my area, YES ! Regularly 4¢ cheaper, but I have seen it 15¢ less than other stations !

They are always near the top of Gas Buddy's lowest priced fuel, although none seem to have diesel.

I have both Sams and Costco memberships. While both tend to be in "high population density" ares, Sams does have one stored in Traverse City, MI (high summer volume but pretty low the rest of the year).

[rirish1]

I just returned from Alaska. To the best of my knowledge, most of the sams clubs in the pacific northwest and Alaska have closed. I was going to have my prescriptions filled by Sams club. Luckily they were able to transfer them to Walmart.

[MDKMDK]

K_and_I wrote:
Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about? As someone stated, we could stock up enough at the last Sam's to carry us through. I am tempted to try the Costco for one year just to see if I'm missing anything. The nearest Costco to us is an hour away, but we do drive by there once a month or so.

I never see Costco gas in my Gas Buddy app near the top of the list, but there aren't many near us. What does yours show for Costco?

[MDKMDK]

2gypsies wrote:
In a RV one trip to Costco for the summer would be plenty! 🙂 Or... check out Sam's store locations along your route and stock up fully on the last store you can use. I can't believe you'd be buying fresh foods in such large quantities. Fred Meyers stores have very good prices and Canada has a good chain... can't recall the name.

These are the discount grocery stores from each chain. Food Basics (Metro chain), No Frills (Loblaws chain), and Freshco (Sobeys chain).
There may be other local stores that advertise/offer lower pricing.
Walmart's grocery section does it all for us, Canada or US.

[K_and_I]

Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about? As someone stated, we could stock up enough at the last Sam's to carry us through. I am tempted to try the Costco for one year just to see if I'm missing anything. The nearest Costco to us is an hour away, but we do drive by there once a month or so.

[jerseyjim]

FWIW, a Sams Club membership card doubles as a charge card. It is also good at Wal Mart. (same company)