Costco Vs Sam's Club Self-Checkout: Which Chain Provides A Better Experience?

It's the age-old debate: Is Costco or Sam's Club better? It's not as clear-cut as many would think. For instance, Costco beats out Sam's Club with its food court, but Sam's Club's has better prices on some items. When it comes to self-checkout experiences, though, one warehouse club comes out on top. You may think Costco's got this one in the bag, but it's actually Sam's Club who provides a more seamless customer experience. It's just one of many things Sam's Club does better than Costco. Unlike Costco, you don't need to place items on a scale and you can use the handheld scanner.

Additionally, Sam's Club's Scan & Go option is about as convenient as it gets and a far cry from Costco's nightmare of a checkout area. With Sam's Club, you essentially scan the items with your phone through the app as you shop and pay with your linked credit card when you're done. You're not only able to keep tabs on your total, but you also avoid waiting in lines at the end. Best of all (at least for us), you can place an order at the café and easily scoop up a slice and hot dog as you exit. Then, use the app to pay for gas. If Costco had this, it'd be game, set, match.

You may think that Costco's self-checkout is better than waiting in the long lines, but for some, it's more trouble than it's worth. Costco's checkout policies can be strict. For instance, shoppers have complained that the use of hand scanners is not allowed at self-checkout. These are usually reserved for store employees. This can be one of the worst parts of grocery store self-checkout, especially if you're checking out heavy items or bakery items that have the barcode on top and need to be flipped to scan and then placed on the scale.  

Additionally, some customers have stated that self-checkout receipts receive a higher level of scrutiny at the exit. Why? Since employees aren't scanning the items, the last line of defense is tasked with ensuring customers aren't up to any funny business. This kind of defeats the purpose of checking out yourself if your work has to be double-checked later on. It makes sense why Costco would set these guardrails in place, but it's not exactly painless for customers who are rushing home with perishable and frozen items.

While Sam's Club's self-checkout is less hassle than Costco's, the warehouse retailer is actually doing away with this service sooner than expected. After testing out a store concept in Texas without cashiers or self-checkouts, the results were surprisingly positive. You'd think it'd be chaos with customers fumbling to scan unwieldy bulk items or rampant shoplifting, but Sam's Club's Scan & Go system ran as smooth as butter.

How is this going to work? Sam's Club plans to harness the power of artificial intelligence to ensure that all purchases are by the book. That means there's no one at the exits verifying that your receipt is correct. "We continue to test and learn and will adjust to serve our members to ensure they have a delightful and frictionless experience at Sam's Club," a Sam's Club spokesperson told The Street.

Sam's Club plans to roll out this seamless experience across all 600 stores, giving shoppers a new way to get in and out without the bottlenecks of waiting at a register or at the exit. Is this the future of retail? Will Costco follow suit? Not likely, but it's just one sign of how Sam's Club is betting big on the frictionless experience that self-checkout started.