A Busy Mom’s Situationship with Warehouse Clubs :: There’s A Clear Winner
My family has had a Sam’s Club membership for as long as I can remember. I fondly remember so many Saturdays spent running errands there, riding in (or on) the oversized shopping cart and snagging a food sample from every apron-and-hairnet-clad employee offering one. I loved the thrill of getting a treat from the Cafe on the way out and then “helping” my dad Tetris the giant boxes in the trunk.
I grew up on the Southshore and, for the majority of my life, Sam’s was the only wholesale club option. In 2013, Costco opened its first New Orleans location. Since it was a mere 7 minutes from my home in Mid-City, I signed up as a member immediately. I kept my Sam’s membership and would buy certain things from each store.
Fast forward a decade or so later and I find myself knee-deep in small children and living on the Northshore. Until about 2 months ago, Sam’s Club was the only wholesale club option over here. When Costco opened *directly across the interstate* from Sam’s in September, I jumped at the chance to renew my lapsed membership. Like a huge population on the Northshore, I was SO EXCITED. 
Wanting to avoid the grand opening rush for the first week or so, I logged into my online Costco account to do a little browsing. I realized pretty quickly that there didn’t seem to be an option to place an online order for curbside pickup. I thought that was strange considering (1) it’s 2024 and (2) almost everywhere offers the option for ordering ahead since Covid. I actually called the store to see if I was missing it somewhere on the website or if maybe they were getting “settled in” before starting that, but nope. The very friendly customer service lady I spoke with told me that I could order online for Instacart delivery only.
Hmm, didn’t like that….
I do have an Instacart membership I purchased via a Target promotion, but I very rarely use it. I’d read that the prices of items were often marked up (sometimes 15-25%!) for purchase through Instacart, so that was a bummer. I already pay for the Instacart membership AND the Costco membership AND tip the delivery driver — I don’t mind paying more for convenience but it’s hard for me to justify paying SO MUCH more. I have to save where I can.
Since I wanted to shop in-person for my very first trip to the new Costco and have what parents have dubbed “the Costco vacation,” I sort of shrugged off the lack of grocery pickup. When I made my inaugural trip about 2 weeks after it opened, my 5-year-old and I spent almost 90 minutes wandering the aisles. (I have 2 other children who were in daycare, so while a solo trip would’ve been my first preference, I’ll take what I can get!) We enjoyed several samples and learned the new store’s layout. And I also learned that the way to get my pickiest eater to eat just about anything is for a stranger wearing food prep gloves to offer it to him in a cupcake wrapper and call it a “sample.” The kid who had picked out every morsel of sausage from his jambalaya at dinner the night before ate THREE Lit’l Smokies. Go figure.
When I was ready to check out, we made our way upfront and I scrolled through the app to find their equivalent of Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go feature. For those unfamiliar, Scan & Go lets customers scan the barcodes of their selected items and pay conveniently all through the app. No waiting in lines or unloading and reloading of the cart. Just a quick check on the way out the store to verify you’ve paid.
I asked a nearby friendly employee if there was something I was missing and she directed me to the self checkout area — where I needed to unload my cart of groceries, pass each item over the mounted barcode scanner, place it on the side where it could be weighed, and then reload my cart after everything was scanned. A store employee did offer to help expedite the process by using a scanning gun, which made me realize how much quicker it would’ve been if I had been able to use the gun myself. (In this particular instance, she started scanning things from the area of the cart closest to where I was standing, so I was scanning items with the mounted scanner that she had already scanned with the gun. We had to stop the process, void the transaction, and start completely over again.)
I do understand that this is a normal process that I’ve gone through probably thousands of times elsewhere, but it just felt very unnecessary and especially tedious after experiencing the ease of Scan & Go for years. Despite the friendly employees, abundance of free samples, and excellent product selection, I still felt increasingly frustrated with my Costco experience.
I Love You, Costco… but Sam’s is where it’s at.
Clearly, Costco’s business model accomplishes what it’s meant to — they are a beloved brand with successful locations the world over. If it’s working for them, there’s no need to change. But as a customer who needs a more streamlined shopping experience during this stage of her life, their options don’t really work for me.
I still shop Costco for some of my family’s favorite items that I can’t find elsewhere, but those trips are farther apart since I need to pencil in the time to visit the store. The majority of time, we shop at Sam’s. I order nearly everything I need for grocery pickup or delivery, and since I’m a Plus member, both of those services are included in my membership (I do add a tip for the delivery drivers). If there’s something they don’t have in stock for pickup or delivery, it almost always ships for free and arrives within 1-3 days. Should I want or need to make a trip into the store itself, I can use Scan & Go and skip the checkout lines — even if the store’s crowded!
As a busy mom of small children who works full-time and greatly appreciates her time, energy, and money spent, the shopping options that Costco offers pale in comparison to all that Sam’s Club does. Maybe when my kids are older and shopping trips aren’t quite the “event” they feel like now, I’ll change my mind.
But for now, I’m just really hoping Costco will change their shopping options.
