When I think about clubs, I’m always reminded of that old joke (originally attributed to comedian Groucho Marx) about not wanting to belong to any club that would have me as a member. But there are lots of clubs I can join that will save me money — from AARP to AAA to Costco to Sam’s Club to Amazon Prime — and I’m happy to be a member of any of those.
Warehouse shopping clubs are descendants of the shopping co-ops that used to dot the country’s small towns and farming communities. Today’s warehouse-style shopping clubs probably owe their heritage to California entrepreneur Sol Price — who opened the first “Price Club†store in San Diego in 1976 in an old aircraft hangar once used by Howard Hughes. Price Club later merged with Costco.
Read more: Costco vs. Aldi: Who’s cheaper?
Warehouse clubs have for a number of years faced increasingly tough competition for your shopping dollars from online retailers, most notably Amazon, which boasts a market value of $355.9 billion — making it larger than Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, JC Penney and Sears combined.
As a consumer, it’s a good time to compare the value of a traditional warehouse club membership (like Sam’s Club) with Amazon and its Amazon Prime membership. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do — and show just how and why you might choose one over the other.
In order to compare, as much as possible, “apples to apples,†we have picked the $100 Sam’s Plus membership from Sam’s Club, just a buck more expensive annually than the $99 annual Amazon Prime membership.
Sam’s Club has the immediate and obvious advantage over Amazon of offering both brick-and mortar-stores as well as online shopping. Amazon does have a handful of retail sites — in Seattle, San Diego and Portland, with plans for additional stores in Chicago; Dedham and Lynnfield, Massachusetts; Paramus, New Jersey; and New York City.
But that pales in comparison with the 655 outlets operated by Sam’s Club across the United States and Puerto Rico. So if you are near any one of those 655 outlets, Sam’s Club has the advantage of in-person shopping.
Here are a few of the other things you get when you sign up for Sam’s Club:
See all of today’s best deals and discounts.
Amazon Prime also includes a lot of benefits, although many of them relate to getting free digital content, rather than discounts.
Here are a few highlights:
Read more: Amazon vs. Walmart: Which one really has the best prices?
If we do a quick, highly unscientific, “mystery shopping†poll of three random items from Amazon and the same (or similar) items from Sam’s Club, then Sam’s Club appears to win on price, but only by a hair.
A 55-inch smart TV from LG (the VIZIO SmartCast 55-inch Class Ultra HD Home Theater Display — E55u-D2 to be specific) costs $578 at Sam’s Club and the same amount (well, $577.99) from Amazon. Amazon does have a variety of other sellers for this kind of item, so it is possible to find a refurbished one for less.
But what about just getting some coffee for your morning brew? Well, Sam’s Club wins this one handily — with a price of $16.98 to get a 32-ounce package of Starbucks Pike Place Roast Ground Coffee if you buy it in-store (compared with $26.35 if you order the same item from Amazon).
How about something that will help you keep those New Year’s resolutions to get in shape? For that, we selected the stylish-looking Fitbit Blaze watch and fitness tracker. At Sam’s Club, you’ll pay $198.98 — and at Amazon, the same item is $199.61 (although it is available for as low as $190 from another Amazon seller, as long as you’re willing to wait at least a week for shipping).
Read more: 10 secret tricks to save more on Amazon
The great thing about getting both Sam’s Club and Amazon Prime memberships is that they are complementary.
If you’re a big consumer of digital content (music, video and eBooks) — and you shop Amazon regularly anyway — then it won’t take you long to make back the cost of your Amazon Prime membership on reduced shipping costs (and monthly fees you don’t have to pay for other streaming music and video services).
Meanwhile, Sam’s Club provides discounts on everyday items — whether you buy them in Sam’s Club stores or online — to quickly make back the cost of a Sam’s Club membership. To get an idea of how quickly you could earn back the cost of the $100 annual membership, take a look at your monthly grocery list, then use the Sam’s Club website to compare the cost of the same items if you bought them there.
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