Should you pay for a Warehouse Club Membership?
Contributed by member SwapSavers owner of www.swapsavers.com
In order to purchase items at Warehouse Clubs (i.e. BJ’s, Costco, Sam’s Club) you have to pay a membership fee usually around $40-$50 a year. Before you pay the price for admission ask yourself these questions to figure out if it is worth it.
How far away do you live? Similar to a gym membership, if you live far away (20 minutes or more) from the Warehouse Club, the chances of you using it on a regular basis decrease significantly. If you live close by (5 minutes or less) and you are able to purchase milk and other staple items, the prices are considerably less then other stores. Also these staple items rarely go on sale at most grocery or other stores so the prices will always be less at the warehouse clubs.
Will you use the entire product? Most items sold at warehouse clubs are sold in bulk. If you have a large family or business, your odds of using up the entire food product before it goes bad increases. However if you have an average size family buying in bulk might equate to throwing away a lot of food.
How do the prices compare to nearby stores? This requires some research, but in the long run you will save either the price of the membership or you will save money from purchasing less expensive items at the warehouse club. If you already have a price log of items you purchase on a regular basis, bring it with you to the warehouse club you are considering and compare prices. You will need to do some math to figure out the price per unit for the bulk items. If you don’t have a price log create one for a few weeks making sure you write down the prices of items you purchase especially when the items are on sale since the sale prices can be noticeably lower then warehouse prices. Also keep in mind most grocery stores double coupons and warehouse clubs do not.
Does the warehouse offer a free trial membership? Before purchasing the membership, ask if you can do a month or more free trial membership (without the surcharge fees). BJ’s usually offers a free three month holiday membership in October. Obviously if you can try it for free first, you have more time to use the above questions to figure out if it is worth paying for the rest of the year.
Find more information and deal discussion in Hotcouponworld’s National Chain Stores forum
Tags: Bj's, Bulk Shopping, Club Store, Costco, Free Trial, Grocery Shopping, Membership, National Chain Stores, Price Comparison, Sam's Club, Warehouse Club, Warehouse Store
Warehouse membership is always a hot topic (to join, not to join….)
I explored this same question on my own website at:
http://www.once-upon-a-coupon.com/store-tips/is-buying-in-bulk-right-for-you/
Jennifer
We spend $50/yr, & have never even thought of it. Mostly use it for the gas, it is always $0.05/gal less. I need to fiqure how many gallons we use a month!
I figured out our monthly gas savings at Costco as of 6/7/09.
Just with the $0.05 savings of gas per gallon,
we save $38.40 per month, each month.
So, the yearly fee is worth it.
We get our gallon milk, eggs,
mozzarella cheese($3.42/2lbs-good price anywhere),
dried cherries & blueberries, frozen strawberries & blueberries year round.
These are always items for us that beat consistantly what we could get elsewhere with sales & coupons.
We also get a better quality-as with the fruits.
However, sometimes we can find a gallon of milk at a convienience store for less.
As for the gas, we shop 2 chain groceries for sales only,
and we typically earn $0.30 off per gallon of gas-BUT
it is only up to 20 gallons total,
AND lasts ONCE.
Then, you must build up your points again.
So, if we spend $300 in groceries at, it gives us a one time $6 savings.
The program that is offered is: gives you $0.05 gas savings for every $50 of groceries you spend,
up to a total of $1.50 per gallon savings for a total of 20 gallons.
The MOST you can ever save is $30 ONCE-then
you must build up again.
So you can see for consistancy, warehouse gas is best for our family in Pacific NW.
We buy some food products & new clothes.
We never buy paper products, never meat except lamb,
& at Christmas a whole Filet Mignon due to lack of availabiliy elsewhere, 6 pk Romain lettuce good deal, occaisionally fish oil tabs.
Would like to know what others purchase at Wholesale Clubs.
TIp- I share the cost of memebrship with a friend and split the cost….she gets the 2nd card for her family
I can definitely see both sides of the coin. There is a Costco that is more than 20 minutes away which we rarely go to (got the membership because they had a great deal on a TV). Probably won’t renew that one.
We also have a membership to Sam’s, which is about 10 minutes away. We go there quite often. Surprisingly, we have found the fruit from Sam’s to be of better quality (especially as of late) than at our regular grocery chain. With 7 kids, we take advantage of buying in bulk and definitely save more than the cost of the membership fee over the course of the year.
One tip for Sam’s club - you can go to their web site and see the actual prices for your local club. I used that feature to determine if what I would buy worth the membership cost.