What do you prefer?

I used to have Sams club membership years ago...never renewed it, and now am thinking about getting it...but am kinda debating between Sams and Costco.

Thanks...

This is a GREAT thread idea. I'm getting a membership when I get home, too, and I also didn't know which one to go with. Thanks, Tara!

My pleasure, Eskino.

I used to actually work at Sam's club. Then when I moved, I let the membership run out...and never renewed it.

When i needed some stuff from there, I go with someone who already has membership and pay them. But I know both Sam's and Costco have great food items...that I would love to get, along with some toilet paper I have to get. :P I just don't want to pay close to $50 for a year if I'm not going to like it really...and I heard a great deal about Costco... so I wondered if there were anyone out there who've either used both, or have Costco...

I actually have both. Hubby gets a Sam's membership through his work and I have a Costco membership for my business.

They usually have somewhat different foods where I live.

Sams has better meat and a wider variety of drinks (juices, V8, etc.)
Costco has a huge dairy/specialty deli area (I can get Laughing Cow cheese, a huge block of Dubliner, and even Babybel) and has the organic wild frozen blueberries that I eat in my yogurt every morning.

Both of them are hit or miss on produce - sometimes it's great and sometimes not. I haven't tried the bakery goods at either.

Oh, and I prefer Sam's photo center to Costco's, but that's because I've been using Sam's longer and the lab manager knows me by name.

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We have both in our area. I have never been to Sam's, Angie has and likes Costco better for us, we shop at Costco about every 6 weeks and buy a lot of our items there. Have no idea if that helps you.

Oooh, good input.

Which is better for college-student type stuff, do you think? Small appliances, dishes, foods that won't spoil outside of a mini fridge?

Since I have never been to Sam's IGLOO GIRL I can't say...but I will tell you when my son was in college (living at home) and when my daughter was (living on campus/apt.) we bought a lot of things they needed at Costco. The biggest problem there I would think for college students is that you have to buy a lot of thing in bulk...how many kids need/have room to store 20 rolls of toilet paper!

I think anyone can go into the store and ask to check it out...this way you can see which one works better for you!

Thanks for your input, PhotoChick and Gary!

Also, Eskinomad, wherever you end up getting membership at, how about dividing them with your friends? For example, toilet paper. You can buy it and then your friends can pay for the half and you get them the half of the box. I know it took me 1.5 years to use all toilet paper that I bought at Sam's Club when I moved into my apartment. So if you can find someone to do that, that would probably help a lot..even with food.

Yep - I absolutely plan on doing that. I also do a lot of safe-sex conferences and stuff around campus, so it'll be great to be able to get family planning stuff in bulk, so we can use more of our funding on better stuff. No one else in the group has a membership either. But wow! A year and a half - that's a whole LOT of toilet paper! Better safe than sorry, I suppose!

In the DFW area, Costco seems to be better than Sams. Cleaner, brighter, and we like most of the Costco brand items. Costco just works better for us.

I'd have to agree with kahnfv...the last few times I've been to DFW area (last time was about 1 year ago, so things may have changed) and when I lived there, Costco was much better than Sam's, in the cleanliness aspect, in the helpful employee aspect, and in the availability of brands aspect.

I also noticed, with a lot of Sam's bigger merchandise, you could get the same item cheaper without paying membership fee at their sister company Wal-Mart. Never compared food prices though.

I don't have a membership to either, but I do read Consumer Reports, and I remember an article awhile ago comparing Sams and Costco. It's online here: Sams Vs Costco

The family I nanny for shops at both, so I eat food from both, and I tend to be more impressed with the food when it comes from Costco.

Thank you for the report, Harpo.

Thanks for that link HarpoChicoGroucho.