Sam's vs Costco memberships...?

DubfromGA

DubfromGA

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I've been a member of Sam's for almost a year now. The local store has great meats.....generally. Their fresh produce and salmon are excellent, too.


I've never shopped at Costco before, however we just had one open.


Anyone here members of both?

Any comments on either from a meat lovers perspective?
 
Both are within 10 minutes from me and we prefer Costco. We used to have two memberships, but that was a waste, so we got rid of the sams one. Some things are a little better at one, and vice versa. I just notice little things, like the pizza is better at costco (both have an amazing 2lb block of extra sharp extra aged cheddar for 10 bucks. Its a steal. I havent been to sam's in a while, but I know costco has a big bag of macadamia nuts (tons of great deals on nuts in their kirkland signature nut jars), fresh salmon, brisket flats and packers, great coffee, 14 oz of tellicherry peppercorns for 4 or 5 bucks, and a ton of other stuff.

Costco also has kingsford comp briquettes on sale in the spring/summer.

Really, they're both good. I like costco, but if sams is closer, I might say go there.

I think costco has better meat sometimes, but I might just be biased inside my brain (I haven't done a comparison in a few years). Both have excellent meats and seem to be on par with each other in that respect.
 
I like the ribs and brisket that I get at Costco. I usually buy my butts at Sams, they are about 30 cents a lb cheaper.

Sams has a better selection of restaurant supplies. If you are into vending that will make a difference.

Costco is closer so we go there most of the time. But Sams does have things that Costco doesnt. Ive never needed something that Sams didnt have but Costco did.
 
I have had both. Dumped SAms and now Just go to Costco. Better Service, Better Meats.
 
We have a membership to both. Our Costco only has boneless butts, and rarely have brisket. I like the butts and sometimes the ribs at Sam's, but mine rarely if ever has packers.

Gas at both is almost the same on any given day, and around here is 15-20 cents less per gallon.

I like comparison shopping between the two as for us, they are both less than three miles from home
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
We have a membership to both. Our Costco only has boneless butts, and rarely have brisket. I like the butts and sometimes the ribs at Sam's, but mine rarely if ever has packers.
Click to expand...

Ask the butcher. I've been to the Chicago and Naperville location recently and both have had flats and they might have had packers, but I can't remember. I know they at least had flats.
 
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I used to be a member at costco, I drove by it every day to and from work. I always bought ribeye loins there. One day they were out and I got one at Kroger, I never got another one from costco again. This does seem to be isolated to one Kroger store. I have tried others and the meat quality is not the same.

They did have a large selection of other things and the pork and chicken were good. If I still drove by there I would still be a member.
 
We regularly shop at Costco but rarely for meat. I get better deals at our local Ralphs/Kroger markets, and in smaller portions.
 
We're members of both, but letting Sam's lapse. Joined RD and don't need Sams meat any more. Most importantly they've gotten a little slimy on their return policy. They pissed me off on some flea and tick stuff that made our dog sick.
 
I drive past Costco to get to Sams.

Like with most places, might be just the opposite in your area/stores, but by me, Sams is the way to go.
 
Sam's is closer so we go there for bulk items. Sam's around here only has over-trimmed flat and small butts (12 lbs for two). The ribs are pretty good.

Costco around here rarely has briskets at all and only boneless butts.
 
The only problem I have with Sam's is they don't accept Visa.

What's up with that?
 
Here in Northern VA, Costco has USDA Prime NY strips, Ribeyes and Tenderloin. Most of the time, we buy the packer NY strip and slice at home. They are really good. Costco also has St. Louis ribs (Farmland brand) and they are pretty good as well. I am just purchased their chicken thighs in the freezer packs. We did some thighs a few weeks ago, and they all seemed very good as far as skin color and consistent size. They also seem to keep their refrigerator items cooler than SAMs.

I also buy all our ties from Costco. They seem to have better prices and better follow-up service.

SAMs has cheaper cigs (bad habits are hard to let go of), better selection of restaurant supplies, better prices on Soy Sauce, and a few other items.

Neither of them are out of the way for us, so, we hit both about once a month.

Overall, Costco is cleaner and has better customer service all around. SAMs, well it has a few items that are worth stopping there.

For the membership price, I would think it would be worth it to try them for a while.

wallace
 
We have memberships to both Sams & Costco. Like others have said, each seems to have a few items that the other does not. Overall, we find Costco to be cleaner, better lit, and better customer service.

Two things I especially like about Sams:
1) Business member hours. I can get in at 7am and be out in 20-30 mins, and the store is not very crowded. Our Costco is usually jam packed with shoppers, and most of them can't drive a cart to save their life.

2) Self checkout. Costco has self checkout, but only Sams has the handheld scan gun, and it works *much* faster and more accurately than the scanner mounted in the checkout machine at Costco. I don't even have to unload the whole basket, just point the gun & pull the trigger.
 
SAMs will accept VISA as long as it has a "debit" account attached to it. We use our VISA at SAMs and just click the credit button. They still get our money, but the points or whatever the hell we get for using credit card option is applied.

I think we have spent about $1,000,000,000.00 dollars and have accumulated enough points to buy a toothbrush...............

wallace
 
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