We have a membership to BJs. It’s less than 10 minutes from our house. Gas prices are good there. Some items in their produce section are actually really inexpensive…as well as some of the paper goods we use.
If Costco wasn’t 45 minute away, I might consider switching. But it’s just not close enough to make it worth my while to join.
The main reason we switched is mainly because the long lines at the HEB pharmacy were atrocious. At Sam’s, I can be in and out in 2 minutes.
Since we are empty nesters we have neither.
We just joined Costco this year after not for at least a decade.
We find stuff to buy. Maybe too much
I don’t think their gas is any cheaper than anywhere else. I’m in the minority though.
We did get their visa and that’s been a win. Been racking up rewards this years.
Question. Does the Costco Citi visa change foreign transaction fees?
We belong to Sam’s. There is no close Costco. Even at that Sam’s is 40 minutes away. My husband never wanted to join, but we received a good deal to try it out ($10 for 10 weeks). We tried it out because we were going to travel for Christmas and wanted to use cheap gas. We decided to keep it. We are Plus members which means that we get 2% back on everything except gas. We just got a Sam’s credit card because we were purchasing a new television and with the Plus and the cc we were able to get 5% back. That was worth it.
I don’t know about foreign transaction fees, but Costco in Canada does not accept Visa. They only accept MasterCard.
It does not. But check! There is tendency to change policies…
You do not need plus membership with Sams to get 2%. Get Citibank double cash card and you have 2% everywhere every time. We pay with it for everything (but gas and regular groceries we have better cards for those) including insurance, medical bills, utilities, sams etc.
What are the advantages of either? I don’t buy huge quantities. Don’t buy gas (drive an EV). I do most of my grocery shopping at our local coop, a regional chain, or TJs. I dont do much other shopping. Get my prescriptions (all cheap) at the CVS in baby Target 5 minutes from my house. Costco or Sam’s or BJ’s would be in another nearby town about 20-30 minutes away.
Then you do not need it 
.
I love TJ but prices went up everywhere… Now sometimes big packs at Costco are more cost effective, especially on sales.
There are some products that family prefers. We have deep freezer in basement so we have space for overflow. I now run to Costco only once a month and shell $$. I used to have a weekly run with family of 5.
I almost never visit Target, CVS etc.
Costco is closer to my home and I like it better, but I always seem to score a deal or two at Sam’s every year, to make my membership worth it.
Same here…Sam’s is 5 min from the house, so it seems a bit funny to use them mainly as a convenience pharmacy. The prescription savings have already paid for the membership. I just can’t leave Costco. It’s the hotdog/Pepsi for $1.50.
For us it is really no difference. They are both sitting at the same exit less than 5 minutes from each other but 20 minutes drive from home.
We are empty nesters and I go to Costco at least once a week, mostly for produce. It is cheaper (especially for organic) and tends to be more fresh (lasts longer) than produce from the grocery store.
99% of the time, I buy gas at Costco. I usually go before the store opens or after it closes. It is cheap and I like the fact that everyone goes in from the same direction. When we go on road trips, we plan our stops around Costco gas stations.
This is so funny. We usually do not buy anything at their food courts in either of them, except on the road between states…I guess we are not hotdog family and we do not drink soft drinks. Icecream was $1 at Sams and $2 at Costco during last trip. It was more like we already stopped at 2 Sams in last 24 hours, lets do Costco today 
I’ve only had a Costco membership (8 minutes away vs. 12 for BJ’s and 15 for SAMS), as a family of 7 it was well worth it. I discovered this summer that I love Kirkland garbage bags when I bought another brand from the supermarket, missed them. We buy a lot of our meat there, really not cheaper but good quality and bigger cuts. Toilet paper and paper towels (I love that the actual rolls are big). Ours doesn’t have a Kirkland liquor store, but the one 15 minutes away does. Used instacart during Covid, learned that I should no longer do the Costco shopping because I buy twice as much as what’s on my list, so H goes with my list. Cash back covers the gold membership cost.
We have BJs and Sam’s close by. Haven’t gotten to try out Costco (none around us) but friends in other places have gone Costco.
At first I wasn’t the biggest fan of BJ’s but find myself shopping there more often. Part of that is the package sizes are smaller so more economical since our family size is smaller now since kids left. Especially for salad items–instead of buying 6 peppers you can buy 4 or romaine hearts come 6 in a pack at Sams’s and 3 at BJs for relatively the same price. They have similar prices for most things. I like the meat better at Sams but BJ’s is winning me over. BJ’s uses coupons (their own–add on app or cut out) PLUS you can stack your own manufacturers coupons on top of them. Which is pretty nice.
Sorry coupons are great, but I’ve never mastered them 
too much trouble. I would rather go to Aldi, TJ, Sams or Costco. I will take sale, but dealing with coupons, putting them on app, loging, adding, claiming. No thanks. Life is too short.
I see that as well. Employees do seem to care about what they are doing.
We don’t have a Sam’s near us but I have visited some stores and have used their online shopping. My sense is that Costco’s customer base is slightly different – hence the much greater availability of organic/healthy products noted by @momsearcheng. Maybe higher income, but not sure.
Costco’s business model is to make money primarily from memberships and make very low margins on products (and negative margins on some things like rotisserie chicken and the beloved hot dogs). I know from my business dealings that they insist on being able to offer the best price for a particular quality level (usually higher quality levels). Then they sell with low margin. So, their customers, including me, trust that they don’t really have to comparison shop (which does lead to impulse purchases). But, they have immense loyalty in part because they deliver on that promise to use their volume purchasing to drive prices down.
Costco’s wine selection is surprisingly good and some of the Kirkland Select wines are great.
I think the Sam’s and Walmart online offerings are much better. (I have not used Sam’s in a long time). However I read that Costco is planning a major upgrade in its online operation this year.
Neither offers gas in my state. Too bad as that would make membership a complete no-brainer. But, I have found that a greater percentage of our wallet goes to Costco (and away from supermarkets, Whole Foods, health food stores). I am have the higher level membership that gets 2% back at year-end on top of the 1% from the Costco credit card. Sizeable at the end of the day.
I did not know @momsearcheng that the Costco credit card had dropped the 2 year warranty. That’s too bad. Is it now one year? What happens when they drop it? Does their obligation for two years remain for purchases at the time the two year warranty was in force? Or are they able to avoid that obligation (seems hard to do legally)?