BJ's vs Costco vs Sam's Club?

[aja8888]

That's interesting information. While I was fully retired, I bought almost all of my gas from Costco. Now that I'm working part time, it's not convenient, so I've been purchasing gas from a local, non-major station. I did a bit of googling after seeing your post. Sounds like Costco is one of the best, BJ's not so much. The question is if that really makes much difference to an average modern auto? If I'm driving a Porsche needing 93 octane and costing a lot, maybe I'd be concerned. I'll have to do a bit of research and see if someone makes a bottle of additive to add to lower quality gas to bring it up to a higher standard each fill up.

All gasoline sold in the US must meet stringent ASTM standards. All gasoline has company - specific detergents and additives for various environmental and regulatory reasons. Top Tier advertising is legit but I can't recall any studies saying it is marginally better than any other brand. For instance, Chevron markets there Techron additive. I worked in the oil and gas industry for 30 years and have not seen or heard of much performance difference between motor fuels. .

 

[Masquernom]

I ordered some Lucas gas treatment. I'll throw it in the auto and pour some in the tank when I fill up when I remember to do it. Didn't cost much and probably won't hurt. I'm not going to worry about it too much.

 

[Dash man]

We live between a Costco and a BJ’s. When the Costco opened we dropped BJ’s. Both are great stores, but we prefer Costco because of the higher quality products.

 

[Dtail]

BJ's and Costco are about the same miles difference, but Costco is right near an interstate exit, so BJ's it is.
All things being equal, I would choose Costco.

 

[Luvtoride]

I like BJs best, because it is not as crowded and it is easy to get in and out. The biggest plus for BJs is that the app lets you use your phone as a scanner as you load your cart and check out without going to a register. BJs also lets you in without showing your membership card. They also have food and sundry items I frequently use. In another year or two we may decide to drop one of the memberships.

East west Gal, I agree with you. No hassle to park, shop and checkout (if you don’t use the self scanner on the app). The selections are enormous and have everything we need plus tons of gift and clothing items we like. In addition, we have the Capital One BJs Mastercard that we earn cash back (3% on BJ’s purchases I believe). We have redeemed $285 of cash rewards this year at BJ’s.

I may drop my Costco membership and just use my daughter’s if we need anything from there in the future.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

FWIW, BJ’s is running a special on a one year basic membership for $15. I’m not a member but am considering it.

 

[wrigley]

We have all 3 of them here. Bjs is literally right down the street so we are members there. The gas prices alone make it a good deal to be a member. Gas is normally 15-25 cents a gallon cheaper than most other gas stations and we have a Bjs MasterCard that we use strictly at Bjs which gives us another 10 cents off per gallon.

 

[audreyh1]

I have both here in Tennessee(no BJs), but recently let my Costco expire. There is only one Costco here and it is so packed you have a hard time finding parking and the isles are filled with people. I go to this Costco in a good mood and leave in a bad mood due to the crowds. I like their selection about the same as Sams, but Sams is much easier here to have a good shopping experience.

VW

I have been in areas (Atlanta for one) where the Costcos are so packed it’s just miserable. You can barely even find parking in their giant parking lots!

Fortunately our Costco is not like that. It gets very busy at times easy to avoid, and generally is easy to get in, finish shopping and fast checkout. Always plenty of parking even at the busiest.

 

[easysurfer]

Of the three, the only membership I have now is Costco. Not familiar with BJ's. Had a Sams Club membership but haven't renewed after they changed their shipping policy of no more free shipping no minimum for premium members.

Sams Club's website I like more than Costso as Costco doesn't have everything that's in store online but Sams Club seems to have that. For example, if I want to stock up on canned mushrooms, I find that at Sams Club online. Not on Costco. But if I go a Costco warehouse, I may find the canned mushrooms there.

One thing I don't like of the Sams Club by me is their drivers is just a regular person that drops off the order sometimes in no marked packaging (kind of like the way Instacart does). On the other had Costco ships in Costco marked boxes.

 

[audreyh1]

We don’t have a BJs here. Costco is a major source of our shopping for perishables/groceries. I’m very pleased with their food quality and also their wine selection. There are just two of us but we have no trouble with the larger amounts. We eat only at home (when not traveling) and most foods freeze beautifully as needed.

Sam’s Club, we had a membership in the 90s when we lived in another city. I wasn’t ever that impressed with their food quality and we dropped membership long ago. Haven’t actually been in one since the 90s.

 

[FIYes]

I prefer Costco over Sam’s. We haven’t had a Sam’s membership in years since a Costco opened in our area. There are no BJ’s in our area so I can’t comment on that.

In the eighties there was a Pace Warehouse in our area that we really liked. I was sorry when they went out of business.

 

[calmloki]

Tried Sam's Club maybe twice - didn't stack up to Costco IMO. Been a Costco member since one did need to be a business to join! Had to wrestle my way in arguing that the rentals were my business. Showing my age, but while gasoline quality may be held to stringent standards, funky old gas station tanks didn't seem to be - had experience with water in the gas, so Costco gas is all the cars drink, except for maybe twice/year range necessity on route.

Something of note: Costco employees seem to be uniformly cheerful and helpful - my understanding is that they are treated very well by their employer. Makes a difference.

Comparing Costco's $5 3# rotisserie chickens flying off the spits and shelves to the sad old scrawny bird corpses drying in other stores is just no contest.

 

[tutan]

We have 5 Costco warehouses within 5 miles including a business center. Another one is coming in a year or two. I think people are willing to drive farther to go to a less crowded one but that’s no longer possible. Yesterday we almost didn’t want to go inside after getting gasoline. I wish we had a BJ here as an alternative and provide competition.

 

[skipro33]

SAM's here is far and away better than COSTCO if for no other reason than it's much less crowded. I find all the same things AND there's an app I can use to self-checkout while I shop. That is also a single reason alone to shop SAM's. Now I noticed this week they have an arch to roll through on the way out of the store. I don't even need the app, it somehow knows who I am and what I put in the cart.
The only downside to SAM's is that they remove some of my favorite items after I'm hooked. Most recently is a jalapeno and artichoke dip. Ha!

 

[Chuckanut]

No BJ's within several thousand miles of me. The nearest Sam's Club is a 10 hour drive to another state. So it's Costco or bust.

 

[euro]

Never heard of BJs before. Looked it up. They are in

• Connecticut.
• Delaware.
• Florida.
• Georgia.
• Maine.
• Maryland.
• Massachusetts.
• New Hampshire.

Explains why as there is nothing out west as these all seem to be in the eastern time zone.

Also North Carolina... In fact, I like BJs quite a bit. As other have said, you can get smaller units than at Costco. Specific to our situation, BJs actually has enough parking spaces and is generally less crowded (at least whenever I'm there). That said, Costco is still a strong option also.

 

[Koolau]

I have been in areas (Atlanta for one) where the Costcos are so packed it’s just miserable. You can barely even find parking in their giant parking lots!

Fortunately our Costco is not like that. It gets very busy at times easy to avoid, and generally is easy to get in, finish shopping and fast checkout. Always plenty of parking even at the busiest.

Yes, I can identify with the big crowds and the parking issues at Costco. It's especially bad at Christmas time. What a zoo, but prices are too good to pass up. It's one more in a series of things I include in the "Price of Paradise."

 

[dg001]

I moved a couple of years ago, and really miss BJ's - they don't have them in my new state. We had both BJs and Costco before. One big difference for some families is that BJ's is open till 10 pm (yes, I do my shopping late!). BJs gas is also usually cheaper than Costco gas. Some BJ's products I found to be much better, but Costco has more variety and "name brand". Obviously this is not a one size fits all answer, but its good to have choices!

 

[Sunset]

Costco charges more online for most products plus possible shipping charge, than they do in the store.

Sam's charges the same online as in the store. I did drop my Sam's as they closed the close one, and the other one is simply too far away.

 

[jazz4cash]

We have all three in the area. DW likes BJ’s but Sam’s is much closer and we go there more often. I might cancel Sam’s just because of long lines to check receipts at the exit. I‘ve gone into Costco a few times and I didn’t see much difference except the crowds. I would never get in that Costco gas line. BJ's and Costco charge the sam for gas. Sam’s is 9 cents/gal higher for regular. Sam’s premium is more than the surrounding stations per Gas Buddy.

Since the thread was resurrected I just wanted to mention (again) that the receipt check hassle at Sam’s club is greatly improved with their new technology.

 

[bbqcoder]

I have both memberships (BJs & Costco). They have pluses and minuses.

Costco has better eyeglass department and also sells sunglasses. They also sell hearing aids which BJs does not.

BJs has better selection of pet food than Costco and is never crowded.

Those are the main differences I’ve found.

 

[Koolau]

I keep both Sams and Costco simply because we don't have a Costco when we're on the mainland. Typically, I'll save the cost of my Sam's membership fee just from the reduced price of fuel when we're on the mainland. If I had to give up one or the other, I'd (reluctantly) give up my Sam's membership. Costco is typically (but not always) cheaper than Sam's.

 

[Texas Proud]

SAM's here is far and away better than COSTCO if for no other reason than it's much less crowded. I find all the same things AND there's an app I can use to self-checkout while I shop. That is also a single reason alone to shop SAM's. Now I noticed this week they have an arch to roll through on the way out of the store. I don't even need the app, it somehow knows who I am and what I put in the cart.
The only downside to SAM's is that they remove some of my favorite items after I'm hooked. Most recently is a jalapeno and artichoke dip. Ha!

My DW like that dip also... and one club here had jalapeno cheese she liked... not anymore..

They used to have a raspberry chipolte sauce that was great... but IIRC only about one year...

 

[audreyh1]

If that’s the La Terra Fina Artichoke and Jalapeño Dip our Costco suddenly stopped carrying it a year ago after carrying it for many, many years. We sorely miss it! A few other Costcos still have it. We found some in AZ.

 

[srblanco7]

We have BJs and Costco memberships. BJs is roughly 5 mins away and Costco is 25 mins. BJs is always less crowded whereas going to Costco means you'll be fighting thru crowds (even on weekdays - won't venture there anymore on weekends). My takeaway is that Costco has higher quality goods/products - especially where you can find their Kirkland brand. However, BJs seems to have a broader selection of goods that we use. Will continue with both for now - but if I had to choose between the two, at present, I'd opt for BJs.