One of the many perks of being the breadwinner and having my husband home at random odd hours of the day is that he gets to run errands with me. I tell him in my best Italian voice, "Hey, I bring home the paycheck, you do the grocery shopping with me, eh?" I will miss having an errand buddy when we resume a normal life in the future.
We had a Costco membership for a year and wanted to try out Sam's Club for a year and do some comparing and contrasting. We hauled 80% of the kids to Sam's today for a shopping adventure to see what we could find that Costco couldn't offer.
First of all, Costco doesn't have their bathrooms in a very convenient place. You have to walk in the "IN" door and go over and around to the registers and try to sneak through the checkout hoping you don't look like you are stealing something and make your way to the way back corner to the bathrooms. At Sam's, you can walk right over to the bathroom without looking suspicious.
Costco is more crowded. There is less room for horseplay such as racing your husband with your shopping carts full of kids. Sam's doesn't seem to be busy all that often and the spacious aisles allow for that type of activity.
Costco has a much better selection of food. Their produce and bakery items are more abundant. But Sam's Club sells drizzled kettle corn. End of discussion.
Costco has more sample stations. I never had to eat a meal before going shopping at Costco because I would get a five course meal just sampling all the samples. And I always feel like I have to compliment the sample hander-outer on how delicious it was because it was free. Otherwise it's somewhat awkward.
The best part about Sam's Club is that while the cashier is ringing up your two cart fulls of purchases, you can see your total go up slowly on the little computer screen. At Costco, they are less technologically advanced and don't have a screen where you can see your purchases adding up. You are left to just watch them scan everything while you stand there with your card, wiggling your legs, tapping your card on the counter worried, wondering what the total will be. "$6,587.32 is your total today!" they suddenly shout. At Sam's, you can prepare yourself for it. "$23.97...$86.54...(breathe deeply and exhale)...$123.35...$455.02..." and so on and so forth.
We parked our two heaping carts next to a table in the cafeteria after purchasing our goods today and Chet brought over some pizza and pretzels for us. He handed Milo his sippy cup of water but he didn't want it so Milo put it back in the cart, nestling it next to the seeded grapes I now regret buying. I didn't read the label good enough. And what's the point of seeded grapes? Juicy deliciousness with a random crunch. And then do you pull the crunched up seed out of your mouth or spit it out across the table or just swallow it? I suppose it would depend on if you are eating alone or with important guests.
Chet got a big fountain pop for all of us to share. But the rule was none of the kids could drink out of it until we were done with it, as we don't like to eat our pop, as Chet put it. Nothing like a little back wash.
Milo threw a fit as he watched us drink out of it as he stuffed more pizza into his already full mouth. He wanted a sip and alerted us to that. I handed him his sippy cup again. He put it back in the cart and continued his fit. He stuffed more food into his mouth and then was physically unable to eat and cry at the same time so he decided to just eat. Good decision.
When the moment they had all been waiting for arrived, Tucker got to be the first one to have a sip of pop. He took a gulp and his eyes watered. He passed it to Piper as he coughed. As Piper started bringing the straw to her mouth, Milo threw his pretzel into the garbage pile mid-bite, said, "I done!" and reached for the pop. After Piper took a drink and got watery eyes and sputtered a bit, Milo had his chance. He picked it up with both hands, tipped it back, put the straw in his mouth and took a drink. His eyes watered and he muttered and sputtered and put the pop down, pushing it across the table towards me. Looking at me out of the corners of his eyes, he slowly reached into the cart and retrieved his once rejected sippy cup and took a drink of water. "There." he said and picked up his half eaten pretzel that he had just thrown into the garbage pile and continued to eat it.
A little humbling experience for him. I didn't have to tell him, "I told you so." I think he figured it out on his own.
So I'll know more a year from now which place I like better. They both have their perks. But Sam's has drizzled kettle corn.
We had a Costco membership for a year and wanted to try out Sam's Club for a year and do some comparing and contrasting. We hauled 80% of the kids to Sam's today for a shopping adventure to see what we could find that Costco couldn't offer.
First of all, Costco doesn't have their bathrooms in a very convenient place. You have to walk in the "IN" door and go over and around to the registers and try to sneak through the checkout hoping you don't look like you are stealing something and make your way to the way back corner to the bathrooms. At Sam's, you can walk right over to the bathroom without looking suspicious.
Costco is more crowded. There is less room for horseplay such as racing your husband with your shopping carts full of kids. Sam's doesn't seem to be busy all that often and the spacious aisles allow for that type of activity.
Costco has a much better selection of food. Their produce and bakery items are more abundant. But Sam's Club sells drizzled kettle corn. End of discussion.
Costco has more sample stations. I never had to eat a meal before going shopping at Costco because I would get a five course meal just sampling all the samples. And I always feel like I have to compliment the sample hander-outer on how delicious it was because it was free. Otherwise it's somewhat awkward.
The best part about Sam's Club is that while the cashier is ringing up your two cart fulls of purchases, you can see your total go up slowly on the little computer screen. At Costco, they are less technologically advanced and don't have a screen where you can see your purchases adding up. You are left to just watch them scan everything while you stand there with your card, wiggling your legs, tapping your card on the counter worried, wondering what the total will be. "$6,587.32 is your total today!" they suddenly shout. At Sam's, you can prepare yourself for it. "$23.97...$86.54...(breathe deeply and exhale)...$123.35...$455.02..." and so on and so forth.
We parked our two heaping carts next to a table in the cafeteria after purchasing our goods today and Chet brought over some pizza and pretzels for us. He handed Milo his sippy cup of water but he didn't want it so Milo put it back in the cart, nestling it next to the seeded grapes I now regret buying. I didn't read the label good enough. And what's the point of seeded grapes? Juicy deliciousness with a random crunch. And then do you pull the crunched up seed out of your mouth or spit it out across the table or just swallow it? I suppose it would depend on if you are eating alone or with important guests.
Chet got a big fountain pop for all of us to share. But the rule was none of the kids could drink out of it until we were done with it, as we don't like to eat our pop, as Chet put it. Nothing like a little back wash.
Milo threw a fit as he watched us drink out of it as he stuffed more pizza into his already full mouth. He wanted a sip and alerted us to that. I handed him his sippy cup again. He put it back in the cart and continued his fit. He stuffed more food into his mouth and then was physically unable to eat and cry at the same time so he decided to just eat. Good decision.
When the moment they had all been waiting for arrived, Tucker got to be the first one to have a sip of pop. He took a gulp and his eyes watered. He passed it to Piper as he coughed. As Piper started bringing the straw to her mouth, Milo threw his pretzel into the garbage pile mid-bite, said, "I done!" and reached for the pop. After Piper took a drink and got watery eyes and sputtered a bit, Milo had his chance. He picked it up with both hands, tipped it back, put the straw in his mouth and took a drink. His eyes watered and he muttered and sputtered and put the pop down, pushing it across the table towards me. Looking at me out of the corners of his eyes, he slowly reached into the cart and retrieved his once rejected sippy cup and took a drink of water. "There." he said and picked up his half eaten pretzel that he had just thrown into the garbage pile and continued to eat it.
A little humbling experience for him. I didn't have to tell him, "I told you so." I think he figured it out on his own.
So I'll know more a year from now which place I like better. They both have their perks. But Sam's has drizzled kettle corn.
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