warehouse clubs

[willidan]

Is anyone a member of a warehouse club? Anybody have any pro or con stories to tell? I'm thinking of joining Sams, but haven't quite gotten to the point of justifying the $50 a year membership fee.

Edited 11/14: I'm convinced. I'll take some of my Christmas money and invest in a membership. Thanks!

Comments

[holyschist]

I'm a Costco member and I've done Sam's in the past when I didn't have a Costco. I find it worthwhile for a few reasons:

1) $1.50 polish dogs. Yeah, they're not the healthiest thing in the world, but there isn't really a cheaper quick meal out available, and if we're really hungry and just want to grab something quick, I'd rather spend pocket change on it.
2) Prescriptions. Depending on your situation and whether you can get generics, it can be worth it just for prescriptions. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend's OTC allergy meds alone justify our membership.
3) Stuff I would normally buy but which is much cheaper at Costco has included: batteries, camera memory cards, backup hard drives and jeans. We also get food there on occasion, but since we live in an apartment, our ability to bulk-buy food is limited. We get a lot of frozen fish, chicken broth in cartons, sausage, and muffins there. Sometimes cheese and meat. We don't get produce there (with just two people), but if we had friends to split a flat of fruit or a giant thing of veggies with we would.
4) Large electronics/furniture/other big one-time purchases. Their computers are not necessarily top of the line, but I saved quite a bit getting my DSLR there.

If you have a friend who's willing to split the cost of the membership with you, that's a good deal. I'm not sure if you have to be at the same address to get separate cards (I split my Sam's membership with my roommate at the time), but if you have a friend or two who are willing to split larger purchases of spoilables as well as the membership, you might not need separate cards.

I DID do the math on upgrading to an "executive" membership to get a rebate, and figured that to merely break even on the additional membership fee, we'd have to spend $250/month at Costco. Not happening. But the $50 fee is totally worth it to me--not just for the money saved, but access to products I think are pretty great--the Italian sausage my local Costco carries is amazing.

[merrycaepa]

^ What she said about sharing an account - my mom did that with a coworker for a while, and it worked out really well.

Oh, and about the Italian sausage - Costco has a great range of semi-gourmet meats and cheeses at supermarket prices.

[jumpuphigh]

In reading the rules of membership, Costco says that you have to be family (although they do include same-sex relationships) to share a membership. I guess they don't really crack down on that rule much then.

From the website:
† A household card is available to any cardholder’s spouse, domestic partner or any immediate family member over the age of 18 and living at the same address.

[merrycaepa]

Huh. This was years ago - possibly over a decade ago, so perhaps the rules have changed? Also, we were Sam's members at one point - maybe that's when she shared the membership? (Sorry, I was really young at that point),

[jumpuphigh]

I'm typing this on my laptop purchased through Costco and have been extremely happy with it. It was a laptop at the higher end of the mid-range quality laptops and cost about $250 less than what it would have cost in any other electronics store plus their concierge service is absolutely fabulous. It's two years old and still has better specs than many laptops on the market today.

[holyschist]

I think it depends on what you're after in a laptop (and possibly local selection). :-)

[jumpuphigh]

Also, their stock seems to change quite frequently. I'd picked out a laptop for my mother through them and when I went to get one for myself a few weeks later, they no longer carried that one.

[holyschist]

Definitely! I think all their electronics stock turns over fairly quickly, so if you're comparison-shopping or researching, you have to move quickly.

[jumpuphigh]

Since my way of shopping for big ticket items is to gather as much information as I can and then pounce when I see something that I want at a great price, it works out for me.

[willidan]

Sharing membership sounds like a really good idea. I'll ask around at work. Thanks!