Costco vs Sam's Club

K_and_I wrote:
Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about? As someone stated, we could stock up enough at the last Sam's to carry us through. I am tempted to try the Costco for one year just to see if I'm missing anything. The nearest Costco to us is an hour away, but we do drive by there once a month or so.

I never see Costco gas in my Gas Buddy app near the top of the list, but there aren't many near us. What does yours show for Costco?

2gypsies wrote:
In a RV one trip to Costco for the summer would be plenty! :) Or... check out Sam's store locations along your route and stock up fully on the last store you can use. I can't believe you'd be buying fresh foods in such large quantities. Fred Meyers stores have very good prices and Canada has a good chain... can't recall the name.

These are the discount grocery stores from each chain. Food Basics (Metro chain), No Frills (Loblaws chain), and Freshco (Sobeys chain).
There may be other local stores that advertise/offer lower pricing.
Walmart's grocery section does it all for us, Canada or US.

Maybe I need to rethink it. Does Costco have enough of a gas discount (I have a F250 gasser TV) to worry about? As someone stated, we could stock up enough at the last Sam's to carry us through. I am tempted to try the Costco for one year just to see if I'm missing anything. The nearest Costco to us is an hour away, but we do drive by there once a month or so.

FWIW, a Sams Club membership card doubles as a charge card. It is also good at Wal Mart. (same company)

In a RV one trip to Costco for the summer would be plenty! :) Or... check out Sam's store locations along your route and stock up fully on the last store you can use. I can't believe you'd be buying fresh foods in such large quantities. Fred Meyers stores have very good prices and Canada has a good chain... can't recall the name.

CostCo by far in CA. For payments; cash, debit, or MasterCard. Whereas in the States it's Visa. Parking is usually crowded. We go pretty regularly, but with the toad, rarely the MH.

newman fulltimer wrote:
Fyi sams closed in anchrodge

Sam's closed in both Anchorage and Fairbanks. In Fbks Costco has bought the Sam's store and is remodeling it now. They're trying to get it open before Christmas, but who knows. It will certainly be open by next summer.

We belong to both. Almost every Sam's club has diesel whereas with Costco it's few and far in between.

Personally with a DP and toad, we'll continue to belong to both even if there isn't a Sam's in Alaska anymore. We find that Stateside Sam's has a lot more parking space - try to get a 40' DP into Costco's parking. We even find it hard to find a parking place for the Jeep at Costco. Sam's fueling areas have a lot more room also. I might have had to get creative a time or two, but I haven't found a Sam's I fill up with diesel at.

AND, most places, Sam's is right next door to Walmart. Even if you don't want the larger quantities at Sam's, the DW usually walks over to Walmart while I'm filling the DP and then I drive over and we load up the groceries.

Overall, I think Costco has better products but Sam's has a lot more parking space and more diesel fuel.

Bill

K_and_I wrote:

MDKMDK wrote:
Since you'll be transiting Canada, there aren't any Sam's Club stores up here, that I know of, any more. Started shutting them down in 2009.
Maybe that's why Costco gets more mentions?
Unless you meant specifically when you reach Alaska.
Costco is true cross border shopping, one membership works in Canada and the USA.

Thanks, that is a question I forgot to ask. We do plan to spend some time in Canada, so this would have some value.

I have a US Sam's Club membership, but not Costco. Tried Costco about 7 years ago, and didn't find the pricing on their bulk products to be significantly better than buying things in smaller quantities, so we let our membership lapse. Besides, we don't eat that many pickles, and they're too heavy to lift into the car in cases of 100.
Our Sam's Club does let us buy stuff we can't get in Canada, so we keep renewing.

downtheroad wrote:
Since you are traveling....and since you probably won't need the large quantities that are what Costco is all about....I'd skip it...

Unless you need items like 5 gallons of pickled artichoke hearts on you trip to Alaska...

You don't buy pickled artichoke hearts by the 5 gallon bucket? :B
We do use Sam's quite a bit here, so I assume we would use it or Costco about as much while traveling.

MDKMDK wrote:
Since you'll be transiting Canada, there aren't any Sam's Club stores up here, that I know of, any more. Started shutting them down in 2009.
Maybe that's why Costco gets more mentions?
Unless you meant specifically when you reach Alaska.
Costco is true cross border shopping, one membership works in Canada and the USA.

Thanks, that is a question I forgot to ask. We do plan to spend some time in Canada, so this would have some value.