Why You Might Want To Avoid Buying Fresh Produce At Sam's Club
Shopping at Sam's Club can save you money because you can buy inexpensive multi-packs of your favorite products. Unfortunately, produce is one food you should think twice about buying in bulk at your local club. If you don't have immediate plans for the entire package of fruit or vegetables, you risk that at least some of it will go bad before you get around to eating it. The risk is even higher if the produce wasn't that fresh to begin with. In fact, Sam's Club staff and customers have taken to social media to complain about that issue.
In a July 2025 post in a Sam's Club thread on Reddit, some asked, "Anyone getting bad quality produce lately?," and an employee responded, "Yes, the quality of stuff we've been getting has gone downhill the last [six] months or so." Customers quickly chimed in, saying that their produce purchases were moldy and rotten within two days of buying, or that they found rotten produce hidden inside packages.
On Facebook, around the same time, a shopper asked, "Has anyone else been noticing that produce from Sam's Club or Walmart has been rotten really fast or even before you get to use it?" And in a different July 2025 post on Facebook, a customer who had recently shopped at Sam's Club said, "Most of [its] produce was rotten." Both posts received multiple comments from other shoppers agreeing that Sam's Club's produce quality had declined and that produce from other supermarkets seemed to stay fresher longer. All of these complaints make it clear that Sam's Club is definitely not one of the grocery stores with the best selection of produce.
The bigger issue is that clubs are understaffed
Low-quality produce deliveries to stores is really only half of the problem with the selection at Sam's Club. The bigger issue might be that clubs are poorly staffed and produce leads are responsible for other high-priority issues, resulting in a lack of time to inspect items for freshness. In a 2024 post on Reddit, a Sam's Club employee asked for advice on taking a produce lead position. In response, an employee weighed in with some harsh advice, writing, "Run. The position is [set up] for failure ... and [we're] always short on staff. I've never been to a club [where] the lead wasn't in over their head."
In another post on Reddit from 2024, a Sam's Club employee said, "I have been a produce lead for [two] years and have experienced absolute he** the whole time." The situation clearly hasn't improved at the company, because just four months ago, another employee shared on Reddit, "Is being a produce associate supposed to be this bad?" Because the employees are potentially stressed and overworked, it's possible that checking produce is a task that regularly slips through the cracks. The result is that a lot of the items you find in the produce section may have been sitting there for a week or longer before you buy them.
You may be better off adding fresh produce to the list of items to avoid buying at Sam's Club. If you do end up purchasing produce that spoils quickly, you may be eligible for a refund under the Sam's Club perishable item return policy. Contact customer service or go back to the club at which you made your purchase and request a refund or replacement item.