The Sam's Club Membership Perk Loyal Shoppers Say Costco Can't Beat

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The membership club games continue. Like competitive siblings, Sam's Club and Costco will fight about quite literally anything. Since they both officially opened their doors in 1983, they've been going head-to-head on product selection, bulk item pricing, food court items, hot dog costs, right down to how their return policies stack up. One area where Sam's Club does have Costco beat, though, is with its lower membership pricing. And now, it's coming to light that its more affordable membership fee will also buy you a perk that Costco can't match.

In an online Reddit thread, Sam's Club members point to the store's "Scan & Go" feature as a prime reason other shoppers should pick the club over Costco. One member goes so far as to say, "Scan and go is the #1 reason we keep our membership." Others in the comments applauded the convenience of scan and go shopping, noting that it saved them time and allowed them to skip the long checkout lines. It makes for a seamless, no-holdups kind of experience, and shoppers admit they can't go back to traditional checkout ever again after being spoiled by this quick and easy process.

This is nothing new either. Walmart merged Scan & Go tech with the Sam's Club app in 2018, and shoppers have been singing its praises for years, referring to it as a "game-changer" and noting that "Costco really does need to get on board with this." It seems that Sam's Club comes out on top in this arena, but Costco may soon level the playing field.

So what exactly is Scan & Go? It's a feature built into the Sam's Club app that allows customers to shop and pay on their phones. As soon as you walk through the warehouse doors, you can open the app and begin scanning the barcode on all the products you add to your cart. The app will keep a running list and a cost total as you go (a perk in and of itself to keep tabs on your budget as you shop). Then, when you're all done, you can check out and pay within the app and simply show your exit code to the employee on your way out the door, just as you would your shopping receipt. The feature even comes with extra benefits like exclusive Scan & Go savings, and you can also use it to pay at the Sam's Club food court and at the fuel pump.

Although Costco is a bit slow on the draw, it is testing its very own version of the tech. The company confirmed that it had been piloting scan and go technology earlier this year, in 2025, and said that the test run had been "extremely successful." So, don't count the membership club out just yet. It may very soon be living in the world of futuristic grocery shopping, just like Sam's Club. But for now, it's still playing catch-up in the battle of convenience.