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Old 12-19-2018, 02:18 PM   #41
TC1
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We carry both Sam's and Costco cards. As a side note you can purchase liquor, wine and pharmacy items without being a member. This applies to any membership club.
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Old 12-19-2018, 05:13 PM   #42
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Hi

If the question is strictly about stocking up an RV (and not the other virtues of each store), I"m not real sure you *need* either one. Buying everything in bulk works at home (where you have lots of storage space). In an RV, I'm not sure it makes as much sense.

Fuel is a very hit or miss sort of thing. Just how good a "deal" you get on fuel varies a lot state to state. I've seen a number of locations that I very much would *not* want to pull the trailer through when getting filled up. Around here, their gas price is about a dime cheaper than the "typical"station's price. There often are cheaper places to find fuel.

Bob



My exact sentiment.
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Old 12-21-2018, 11:42 AM   #43
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Yes, clubs encourage over buying.
However, roast chicken, tires and batteries almost make it worth membership.
Also, got $$$$ back from the Sams card.
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Old 12-22-2018, 08:05 AM   #44
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We have used Sam's Club for years, and still do. Diesel showing up at a lot of them, usually lowest price in town, by a few pennies. We have overnighted on many Sams, never a problem, generally much quieter than Walmarts. But some Clubs do not allow, [often if they are on Mall property] so call. Frozen fruit, packaged salads, all paper products, usually good buys. Always amazed and storage room here and there in the AS. 5 years full timing, now wintering in the tip of Texas, very nice!
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Old 12-22-2018, 04:37 PM   #45
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Liquor sales in Costco depend completely on state laws!
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Old 12-22-2018, 05:15 PM   #46
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Originally Posted by RivaHaven View Post
Liquor sales in Costco depend completely on state laws!


And more often county by county.
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Old 12-22-2018, 05:20 PM   #47
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From time to time we have a Sam's Club membership. It is the only game in Grand Jct. My wife joins for a year when she can get a lot free stuff, stocks up on some items hard to find anywhere and lets it go when a year is up. Then looks for the free stuff offer and/or membership discount.

But her parents have a Costco membership and we find a lot of things are better quality at Costco than at Sam's. That ranges from food to toilet paper. So we load up on Kirkland (house brand) paper towels, etc., at Costco when we can.

On the road, when we don't want bulk purchases, we look for supermarkets, Walmart and Trader Joe's. TJ often has awful parking for RV's, but I haven't hit anything yet. Just don't take a trailer to the TJ's in Santa Fe.

Grand Junction's average income is too low for TJ and Costco to open stores here, so we have to search elsewhere. Some people drive a hundred miles to a Costco rather than shop at the local Sam's. I know a lot of Sam's have closed and I think when they are in the same area with a Costco, Costco eats their lunch.
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Old 12-27-2018, 08:32 PM   #48
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I've been paying more attention to Costco and Sam's lately based on this conversation. Costco I think is more "uptight" than Sam's. I had an experience this weekend where I had my wife's card (she was not immediately with me but in the store) and they weren't going to let me check out because of strict "non transferable" policy. BTW I have my own card, hers was just handy. That has never happened at Sam's club who seem to act more like people.

Again, back to Sam's club having the checkout app... The app doesn't care who you are.
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Old 12-29-2018, 06:58 AM   #49
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I had same issue once, I left my son in line to use restroom and they would not start check out till I returned...it held up the line, quite embarrassing.
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Old 12-29-2018, 09:30 AM   #50
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Best wholesale club for frequent travellers

I use the app or the self-checkout kiosk. No problem. Both happily charge my card without caring who is doing it.
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Old 01-22-2020, 03:34 PM   #51
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This is our second year having both Sam's Club and Costco memberships. For the approximately $100 (total for both clubs) it's not logical to pay for two memberships. For that matter, we could probably live our life without either membership.

I do plan to try some overnight dry camping at both places in the upcoming year. Seems like their parking lots would be less noisy than Walmart lots.

But my real reason for resurrecting this thread is to talk about the very reasonable propane price at Costco. Many propane retailers, including hardware stores have taken the approach of pre-determined prices for each tank size regardless of whether the tank is empty or not. This is obviously not a good deal for the consumer. When you do find a retailer that will fill by the gallon (or pound) the price may still be higher than you'd like to pay.

Enter Costco, more and more of their locations are offering bulk propane prices - charging by the gallon - and with two recent refills on 30 pound tanks for our trailer on two top-offs for our Interstate, we have more than paid for the one year membership. We paid less than $10 to top-off our tank yesterday and the local hardware store would have charged $31! Savings... over $21
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Old 01-22-2020, 03:54 PM   #52
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I have been at campgrounds that wanted to charge for a full tank at inflated prices when I only needed a partial refill. This has only happened once or twice and I told them they were ripoffs and left. Campgrounds are usually the worst places to get propane because of their prices, sometimes twice as much as at a propane dealer.. I stop at either a truck stop like Pilot or at a small dealer on the way east from our house. Because we don't travel as much as we used to, use a ceramic space heater if the temp stays above freezing, have a dual fuel water heater and keep it on electric, and have a much better insulated trailer we use very little propane anymore and I can get away with filling one tank once a year
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Old 01-22-2020, 04:24 PM   #53
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I've found Tractor Supply Co to be quite good for filling propane tank, charge by gallon and price is generally good.
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Old 01-23-2020, 07:06 AM   #54
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Carlisle , Pennsylvania
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Hi

For propane, go where the local farmers shop. There are a lot of places that will fill the tank and charge you by the gallon / pound. Refills on dead empty 40 pound tanks are < $20 done that way.

Unless I'm headed to Costco for another reason, the cost of the two hour drive would add to the propane price. The Agway is about 10 minutes round trip. I've found the same issue at a lot of campgrounds. Long drive into town, but there are local supplies of this and that at reasonable prices.

Bob
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Old 01-23-2020, 08:49 AM   #55
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We have Sam's for 2 reasons,#1 one of my wifes meds over $200 even w/goodrxgold, Sam's $20, so I think, $120 membership worth cost. #2 gasoline & diesel at least .10 cents less but pump lot very small never could get AS in.... as far as mdse. prices almost every thing large volume to much for 2 people also wally world 2 miles away some items less money. Costco 6 miles away forget it.
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Old 01-23-2020, 08:49 AM   #56
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I gave up on Sam's club because of the very poor customer service, only one lane open with many flatbeds ahead of me, etc.
Recently, I drove across town to try the Costco. I left without joining.
I decided it's perfect for buying tires or TV's, but clothing was all in only three sizes, (not mine) and the food was in large quantities.
The price difference on meat didn't justify the long drive.
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Old 01-23-2020, 09:09 AM   #57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by featherbedder View Post
We have Sam's for 2 reasons,#1 one of my wifes meds over $200 even w/goodrxgold, Sam's $20, so I think, $120 membership worth cost. #2 gasoline & diesel at least .10 cents less but pump lot very small never could get AS in.... as far as mdse. prices almost every thing large volume to much for 2 people also wally world 2 miles away some items less money. Costco 6 miles away forget it.
The meds are for 1 mo. supply.
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Old 01-24-2020, 06:45 AM   #58
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Travelers Rest , South Carolina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mollysdad View Post
I gave up on Sam's club because of the very poor customer service, only one lane open with many flatbeds ahead of me, etc.
Recently, I drove across town to try the Costco. I left without joining.
I decided it's perfect for buying tires or TV's, but clothing was all in only three sizes, (not mine) and the food was in large quantities.
The price difference on meat didn't justify the long drive.
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Both Sam's Club and Costco usually have fairly tight alignment of the pumps. I would not be able to comfortably maneuver my 29' Airstream+20' GMC Crewcab to the fuel pumps, nor near their propane tanks either. Some have said that they overnight at Sam's or Costco but the ones I have looked at both in Georgia and in Albany, Oregon are way to tight and usually full of cars for me to pull my long outfit into and try and make the turns. Walmarts' parking lots are usually way more open both for fuel and finding a place to overnight if you are so disposed.

We don't use all the much propane, so we start with two full #30ers and pay the money when and where we are when we need it. Convenience has come to the fore front on what's important. Sometimes I can get it cheap, sometimes not, but we drive by a lot of places after just looking at what is involved getting in and back out without hitting something, or being hit by someone else, or just the stress of close calls.
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Old 01-24-2020, 07:41 AM   #59
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I second Tractor Supply for a source of propane by the gallon at fair prices. This is my new "go-to" propane location. There's a lot of them around the country. As far as the clubs, I use Sam's Club because there's one a few miles from my home in Florida. Diesel is WAY cheaper there and does not contain BIO!!! We buy almost all our groceries there and as much fuel as possible. We do prefer Sam's Club over Walmart for a quick overnight stay between long days of traveling. We seek out Sam's Clubs for fuel stops while traveling. Most Murphy's (Walmart) have bio-diesel which I would drive miles to avoid.
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Old 01-24-2020, 07:49 AM   #60
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Greetings from the Florida Panhandle

We belong to both Sam's and Costco and have been members for many years. We feel that we always get our money's worth from these memberships. We live in a somewhat rural area. Sam's is 40 miles away and the nearest Costco is in Tallahassee, 150 miles from here. The only time that we ever visit the clubs is on our Airstream trips. The fuel prices are the best and most now have Diesel. In our travels, we have found that Sam's is more prevalent in the East and Costco is more prevalent in the West. These both make good rest stops when traveling in the Airstream. We often have "lunch at the club".

When at home, we mainly use our club memberships for on-line purchases. This past year, we purchased a leather sectional and sofa-bed from Costco. both were high end pieces and the price was great. The sectional was regularly $4,400 and was marked down to $3,400. I found this same brand and model at a furniture company for $7,900.

In 2017, Costco saved me $1,600 on a 2018 Silverado Pick-up, and then sent me a $750 gift card. I recently purchased a Samsung QLED Television through Costco at the best price out there, and then they sent me a $150 gift card.

The Sam's Club MasterCard gives me a 5 cents per gallon rebate on all fuel purchases. They also have the best price on vats of peanut butter M&M's. Fortunately for me, the store is not close by.

During our extensive Airstream travels, Sam's and Costco are always friendly places to stop and their parking lots are really big and accommodating for an Airstream.

Brian
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