Sam's Club vs. Costco

Sam's Club and Costco have a specific business model based on low prices that are compensated by low costs, high volume, and membership fees. This video makes direct comparisons between the two while talking about how they grew into the largest chains of their kind.

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Company Declines:
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[TheMrTsavs]

Ive read that the Costco in Iceland is the most shopped at store in the world when compared to the country's population with ~70% of all Icelanders having a membership.

[CDLClipper]

worked at both, and can say that my time at costco was 10x less miserable and stressful than at sam’s

[majorhoolahan]

I ended up having memberships to both one year, and my first thought walking into Sam's Club was "Woah, this is just a Walmart version of Costco" right before I remembered that it's literally owned by Walmart.
In my experience Costco had a wider selection of products, the floor at Sam's Club was much more open comparatively.

[Dan-cmow]

I know a lot of people who are diehard Costco fans, I've never met someone who was vocally supporting of Sam's even if that's where they go.

[stratoplayer]

Costco member here. My family has always preferred Costco over Sam’s mainly due to variety and quality of goods sold there. The only time we had Sam’s memberships was when we moved to an area that didn’t have a Costco within a reasonable distance from our house.

[jcgardiner]

Worked at Sam's Club through college and Wal-Mart DEFINITELY had an impact on things. They were hardcore about the 37.5 hour work week (absolutely no OT) and generally didn't do much to make working there long-term an option. We now have a Costco membership (after 20 years they finally opened a location within 3 miles of the Sam's Club) and we love Costco. Costco just feels cleaner and brighter and you can sense that the employees are, for the most part, happier.

[edkrassenstein]

Remember in that movie Idiocracy when they go into Costco and the greeter says, "Welcome to Costco, I love you." That's how I feel about Costco. I can justify the price of membership off the number of hotdogs and gallons of gas I get there alone.

[RosieTos]

I've been going to Costco since I was a kid. The cash back thing is no joke though my grandparents have never actually paid for a renewal its always covered by the cash back.

[NightriderXP]

The Waltons, the family that owns both Walmart and Sam's Club, treats their customers AND employees like criminals. I'm currently a Sam's Club member but would switch to Costco in a heartbeat if they would build a store closer to home...

[MicahPainterJr]

As an employee at Costco, I have been treated extremely well. I literally can’t think of another company that treats their employees as well as I’ve been treated here. I plan to work the rest of my career here! Thankful to all those who shop there!!

[AZREDFERN]

If they cost the same, and Costco treats their employees slightly better, then I side with Costco. My first job was Walmart. It was a easy yet hectic job that required no skill that anyone could do. I didn’t care about the pay because I knew it was a starter job and anyone could fill my shoes. But they treated us like shit. A packed trailer at the fastest would take 3 hours to unload. But we would sometimes get 3-4 trucks a night, and yelled at for taking too long. If we hit overtime, we were expected to take that time off before the end of the week, but the remaining crew was still expected to unload the same amount of trucks. On 2 truck nights, we would try to do one before and after lunch. But we would still get yelled at and sent to the floor to stock shelves and deal with customers. Turnover was about 3 months until someone just stopped showing up because that was our situation every single night. But again, we could quit at any time, and we usually did.

[AkiraMeow]

I love going to Costco as a kid with my relatives because we'd usually always come back home with goodies and treats. The employees are super nice and helpful.

[IAmNotAFunguy]

You didn't mention that the free samples are another standout of both stores. They give out free samples of products that aren't selling very well and if customers like it they may buy it.

[Sonicfan]

I'm a Costco member, even though I don't really buy much from the store. They've had some incredible deals though, so for only $60 a year, it's worth it. Plus the fact that they treat their workers like actual human beings makes me feel good that I'm supporting an ethical business.

[blakiniknorguild]

Surprised you didn't cover Costco's early days. We were one of the "founder" customers at Costco in Kirkland, Washington then Warehouse #2 in Spokane, Washington. What was the most humorous part was every hour there would be a buzzer going off. At the time warehouse clubs were new and people didn't understand. So to drive business they would have a percentage of the employees go outside and rotate cars in the parking lot to make it look like people were shopping there. It was funny to watch everyone go outside and shuffle cars but it worked.

[Someone-qykv]

Coatco takes absolutely wonderful care of it’s employees. They pay a generous living wage, bonuses, vacation/sick, extremely good and cheap health insurance. Plenty of opportunities to move up in the company.

[Rampagegames]

I worked for Costco for a couple of years and am now a member. The discount on gas alone justifies the price of the membership. They treated me very well as an employee.

[mollymollie]

We’ve been Costco members for over ten years since it became available in the area we lived in at that time. The Kirkland products are such high quality, and I have a lot of respect for how they treat their employees. WM is notorious for poor treatment of employees. Plus, we go with the higher membership because, we never get out of there for less than $300. I also like all of the organic products and additional services they provide, for example, we got our solar through Costco, and it was a great deal. Costco is always fun, SC, not so much, and their generic brand is not anywhere near the quality of Costco. We have a SC about 5 minutes from us, but we drive 30 min to go to Costco, the quality of the products, the integrity of the company and how they treat their workers, plus the great food, products and deals…we’ll be customers for life.

[BugsyFoga]

I remember Sam’s use to sell these big cans of Planters extra large Virginia peanuts with sea salts that I use to get every time I went there, kind of bummed they stopped doing that .

[SpaceRaptorJesusJedi]

I prefer Costco, having been members of both.
In my experience: Kirkland Signature is slightly better than Members Mark, and Costco seems to have a wider selection of random premium goods, which also gives you a better "treasure hunt" experience that retailers strive for these days.

I recently discovered the KS 1L shampoo/conditioner duo I buy for $18 is actually Pureology Hydrate which retails for $134.