I Created The Same Delivery Order At Sam's Club And Costco — One Was $30 Cheaper

Like many people, I started getting my groceries delivered shortly after COVID hit. It didn't seem like there was a truly safe alternative. Although I can't say that's why I still get my groceries delivered — that's all about the convenience. 

I'll grab small things here and there from local stores as needed, but I mostly rely on delivery from bulk stores, like Costco and Sam's Club, to keep my kitchen and home stocked with the necessities. I recently began to wonder which store would serve my needs better, especially when it came to keeping orders affordable. So, I filled up an online cart from both stores with the same items and was highly surprised to find that Sam's Club beat Costco by more than $30!

Consumer Reports just announced in February that it found Costco to be the cheapest supermarket (using Walmart's prices as a baseline.) While that report included many national grocery stores, including bulk stores, it didn't include Sam's Club. Perhaps it should have because when I filled my carts with my general basics — laundry detergent, dishwasher pods, chicken breasts, diced tomatoes, toilet paper, snacks, fruit — Sam's Club was cheaper on almost every item, including the name brands. A 170-ounce bottle of Tide was $29.99 at Costco, but$24.98 at Sam's. A package of 82 Cascade Platinum pods were $28.99 at Costco and $24.98 at Sam's, with both stores offering $5 off promotions. And that trend filled the whole cart.

It was easy to see the best savings on name-brand items was at Sam's Club, so I wanted to look closer at the store brands. When comparing Kirkland to Member's Mark, I immediately noticed sizes were different. Kirkland paper towels have 10 more sheets per roll than Member's Mark, but you get three fewer rolls per pack and pay $3 more. When it comes to canned white albacore tuna, you get 16 more ounces in the Kirkland brand box, but you pay $8 more for it than the Member's Mark tuna. The only time I found Kirkland brand to come in cheaper was with its three-liter bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and that was by less than $0.50.

Even considering delivery fees and all the fine print, Sam's Club delivery is still the cheaper option. Sam's Club charges a $12 delivery fee for regular club members, while Costco doesn't have a delivery fee. Even though Costco gives members additional ways to save, like 3.5% off for Instacart members and 2% rewards for Executive members, the numbers still don't come out in Costco's favor. 

Delivery is the present and the future of the grocery industry. And right now, with its low prices and easy delivery system, Sam's Club is winning.