R i g h t a r d i a: Costco v. Sam's Club: When you pay peanuts, you get monkies

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Costco v. Sam's Club: When you pay peanuts, you get monkies

Comparing Costco to Sam's Club in Pinellas County, Florida is a bit "apples and oranges." Costco has a new facility and Sam's Club has an older and smaller facility. Both facilities are a couple of miles from each other near Gulf to Bay boulevard.

Rightardia used Sam's club for a monthly run of staples and office supplies for the past year because one of the spouses got a Sam's club Card at work. We saved a lot of money with one big monthly run to Sam's Club versus several runs to the local Publix supermarket.

We read in a leading consumer organization that Costco had better prices. A Sam's Club basic membership cost $35 while Coscto costs $50. However, you get one per cent of your purchases back at the end of the year with Coscto.

If you purchase an executive Costco membership, you get 2 per cent back. Since we purchase $400 to $500 is staples and office supplies, we bought the executive membership.

When you first walk into either store, the layout is similar. All of the big screen TVS and computers are near the entrance. The service counter is also near the entrance.

As you roam around the Costco store, you will notice the store is more organized and the aisles are wider and better maintained.

You can actually find employees in the aisles and they will go overboard to help. In Sam' Club, many aisle employees appear to want to avoid customers. I remember asking a Sam's Club store employee for a stapler so I could close a bag of coffee I had just ground. He was unable to help me.

In contrast, when we asked an an aisle employee for help with mattresses in Costco, he showed exactly where they were by walking us over to the mattress display. We said we would have to order online because we needed a California King. He indicated we could bring the mail order item back to the store if there were any problems.

There is a big enthusiasm gap between many Costco and Sam's Club employees.

As one checkout person put it:

If you pay people peanuts, you will hire monkeys.