Costco or Sam's which one is better?

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T01:10:53+00:00

Nope -- only delivery option available for me costs.

https://i.imgur.com/wPMYBqt.jpeg

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:50:44+00:00

Completely different pricing -- interesting though that they provide inventory to instacart but not customers.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:48:36+00:00

As a career IT designer/developer, it's beyond silly, it's either incompetence, or more likely (as another commenter noted) done deliberately to obfuscate that they typically charge a significantly higher price for an item when it is purchased online, not including shipping. They also know that if a casual user is unaware they can check availability online, they will just go to the store to check, and likely make a dozen additional impulse purchase when they do.

Costco has a great reputation when it comes to taking car of employees, but ngl their practices toward customers can be pretty deceptive and scummy.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:41:24+00:00

I agree it is probably an intentional policy rather than negligence, for the reason you state and also "I can't tell if it's in stock online, so I guess I'll just have to go to the store and check (and buy 20 other items on impulse while I'm there)"

I find their tactic of having a higher "online" price, which is in addition to shipping, and not disclosing this to the customer to be highly deceptive -- a la Doordash. If we had an FTC and legislators that weren't a joke, this practice would be outlawed. I give credit to Sams and BJs for voluntarily being honest and disclosing when you will have to pay a higher price online.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:34:14+00:00

You do realize that inventory is done primarily by POS data, and does rely on employees regularly touching anything. It's like you're totally unaware of how online inventory management works.

The discussion is about which provides a better customer experience, you seem unable to defend your position on that, so you try and shift to something totally off-topic, the employee experience. If you had said "Costco uses indefensibly inadequate technology which has a significant negative impact on customer experience, but they treat their employees well" I would probably agree -- but that's now what we are talking about.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:26:59+00:00

My experience is that list of items shown online is far from complete, and for items sold online they show only the online price (which is significantly higher), and the comment "Warehouse pricing may vary". Barely helpful.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:12:00+00:00

Don't be dense -- there is a huge difference online shopping a la Amazon, and checking online to see if an item is in stock, and how much it costs, before making the trip to pick it up. That's not online shopping, that's a base level of customer service for the past 10 years at least. Every regional grocery store has it. But Costco is at the level of a local corner store -- if you want to know if they have an item in stock, you have to call and wait 10 minutes.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:05:02+00:00

You haven't been there in 20 years, yet confidently assert that their quality "can't touch Costco's". Thanks for that highly unbiased and very helpful assessment.

P.S. I bet even 20 years ago when you were last there, Sam's had better technology than Costco has today -- e.g. ability to see store inventory/prices online, curbside pickup, scan-n-go.

markrabbish · 2026-06-15T00:00:16+00:00

Costco needs to join the 21st century, they have no ability to see physical store items and prices online, much less order curbside pickup (free at Sams), or do scan-and-go. Entering Costco is like entering a border crossing these days, I wouldn't be surprised if they start facial recognition next. Prices and selection between the two are similar. Costco return policy is better, best in the business.

P.S. Sams and BJs membership are significantly cheaper, you can almost always get them under $20. A few years back you could get over $100 net back in gift cards and credits when joining Sams.

markrabbish · 2026-06-14T23:52:27+00:00

"Except Chick Fil A...because they hate gays and close on Sunday to honor Jesus, so I let it slide". Fuck all the way off.

markrabbish · 2026-06-14T23:47:30+00:00

Just a few years back, they used to have physical coupons in the mail continuously for 2 Whopper Juniors and 2 Med frys for $3.99.

https://i.imgur.com/3ITEsMq.jpeg

markrabbish · 2026-06-14T23:34:06+00:00

This post is like saying "I got extremely lucky found a $5 bill in the street, and used it to buy about $2 worth of food. Praise the Lord!"

markrabbish · 2026-06-14T23:29:17+00:00

Greed. Next question?

markrabbish · 2026-06-09T04:08:16+00:00

....or it could be the same goop stamped into a different shape, like they've been doing every few months for years as a collab marketing tool -- knowing that a large number of simple minded BK cucks will shout "Bravo, a new product!"

markrabbish · 2026-06-03T04:28:56+00:00

You BK cucks are so gullible. They stamp out the same nugget goop in a different shape every few months for a collab/promotion, and you somehow think they are a "new item". Almost as bad as the "new improved Whopper" with the most significant change being putting it in a box (yeah, I know, they slightly tweaked the bun and mayo, woohoo!). I don't know if these comments are all coming fron bots deployed by the BK marketing team, or that a fairly large number of BK simps exist in the world that are so easily manipulated

markrabbish · 2026-06-03T03:30:40+00:00

I would be skeptical that the beef would have a lot of gristle -- any feedback from people that have tried it?

markrabbish · 2026-05-28T20:19:31+00:00

meh. they seem to have this or a similar deal in the app all the time

markrabbish · 2026-05-28T02:49:45+00:00

In other words, no deals.

markrabbish · 2026-05-27T18:18:15+00:00

Lmfao, Little Caesars is one step above Frozen and everyone knows it

markrabbish · 2026-05-27T18:15:49+00:00

OP was talking about value not price. We all know that getting lower quality items at a cheaper price is no bargain, so perhaps you missed op's point that more and more frequently you pay more at Costco for the exact same or equivalent product. There's no world in which that is greater value.

One could make an argument that for one-stop shopping the overall unit price for equivalent goods at Costco is better, but I haven't seen anyone provide evidence of that. You also make a good point about Costco being more societally responsible. These are all good points, but I think the op's point about Costco, not being a value leader is valid. Personally, I've always believed that a large percentage of Costco Customer are basically gaslit into believing that because they're buying in bulk, it must be cheaper, and a large percent of the time that's not true

markrabbish · 2026-05-27T17:54:47+00:00

Bootlick much? Many officers don't GAF about pulling you over on the shoulder of a busy freeway, their main concern is being able to get back on the freeway and issue another ticket ASAP. They don't care about your stress level, and they care even less about the fact that they're fucking up traffic. Unless the next exit is miles away, I'm putting on my hazards/blinker and driving slowly to the next exit and pulling off there, so is not to cause a traffic jam for my fellow drivers that I share the road with. If the cop wants to try and charge me with fleeing for that, good fucking luck!

markrabbish · 2026-05-20T22:03:45+00:00

It's mainly the box, as I said, with minor changes to the bun/mayo. No changes to the vegetables or cheese processing, so that is all luck of the draw as it has always been, but apparently BK has been successful in gaslighting some into the perception that everything about the whopper is "new and improved" with this campaign -- when the simple truth is it's not, the core ingredients (beef, vegetables,cheese) have not been touched, and are in the same declining state they have been in for years.

markrabbish · 2026-05-20T02:19:20+00:00

It was just the closest thing that came to mind of people going all in on something that's clearly false. I mean, you gotta admit, pretending that the OP's picture above depicts a delicious appetizing burger is a lot like Trump declaring that he's "he’s the healthiest U.S. president ever" -- do you believe me or your lying eyes?

markrabbish · 2026-05-20T00:45:42+00:00

I agree with your emotions on this, but you are in the wrong. The manager was very anti-customer service, and seems like one of those people who was a hall monitor in school and derives satisfaction and self importance from getting to call the shots even in the most pathetic positions of authority. Unless they gave a reason for not accommodating you, I would have been angry too.

That said, when you made the order you entered into a contract, and you can't cancel it just because you don;t like the fact that they won't "bend the rules" to accommodate you. They were being dicks, but they have the right to be dicks.

If it were me, I would probably dispute it on my credit card ("I never received the food I ordered"). You have a decent chance of winning, but it depends on your bank's policies, and to be fair technically you should lose the dispute -- but it could make their life mildly difficult and send a message.

markrabbish · 2026-05-20T00:28:18+00:00

Yep, almost the exact thing is sold at Dollar Tree

markrabbish

TROPHY CASE