An abundance of dessert options. Items in bulk. Groceries galore. Sam’s Club offers all of the aforementioned items, plus free samples. Costco, on the other hand, is a claustrophobic box filled to the brim with mediocre pizza, a confusing layout, and an overall sense of disturbance. Due to these reasons, Sam’s Club is the superior wholesale store.

Costco has an almost ominous aura with the addition of bright red in its logo, whereas Sam’s Club beckons customers with a sleek, geometric design. 

In addition, it has a rather bland name. Sam’s Club has a name with a story behind it– it was named after Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. Costco is simply self-explanatory. 

Sam’s Club has fresh and large pizza slices available, and although the prices may not compare, the quality of the pizza begs to differ. Sam’s Club pizza tastes refreshing and cheesy, yet Costco pizza tastes like nothing more than cardboard lathered in cheese. The variance of price goes in accordance to the quality of the pizza.

Costco does, admittedly, have a wider variety of samples that are available on all weekdays rather than simply weekends. However, this is not to say Sam’s Club is devoid of samples, as they do have a different sample set out each day. In fact, a Sam’s Club fish sample helped me discover a love for seafood that otherwise might not have bloomed.

In short, Sam’s Club is essentially a lesser known Costco, a diamond in the rough. In fact, of 79 polled students, various Costco overseers linked their preference to the fact that Costco was closer and thus more accessible. However, Sam’s Club offers a membership at a striking price, nearly 15 dollars cheaper than Costco. The longer travel time can merit a profit in the long shot.

Henceforth, I remain a loyal Sam’s Clubber. 

Walking through the automatic doors of Sam’s Club, a wave of heat flows past me and the bright fluorescent lights force me to shield my eyes. The immediate aura is an eerie discomfort. 

In order to shield you, my fellow peers, the 81% percent of students who prefer Costco, from the horrors of Sam’s Club, I bravely went on an expedition through their doors in order to describe the inferior wholesale. 

My first goal was to locate the free samples. To my utter dismay they had only one. It was an automatic pretzel sample machine only offering one sample per card in contrast to Costco’s unlimited sample policy. However the machine was out of samples and I was left pretzel-less.

Hesitantly walking through the aisles, I began cataloging the prices. 10.98$ for two dozen eggs 3.32$ for a gallon of milk. All of these simply cannot compare to Costco’s low prices.

After my disappointment with the samples, I decided to head to the café to eat instead. I was planning to order an 87¢ slushy and a 1$ pretzel, both of which have no Costco alternative. Sam’s Club disappointed me again as I was told the pretzels would be unavailable for another 10 minutes. Once again I was pretzel-less

Even without the general bad vibes of Sam’s Club, their business practices still leave them inferior. Walmart owns Sam’s Club and they have never been kind to their workers. Walmart hires the most people in the US and pays low. As low as $8.25 an hour. They are constantly trying to prevent unionization, Going as far as to break the law in order to prevent workers supporting unions. This is seen in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. V. NLRB, where Walmart banned wearing anything related to unions and punished workers who supported strikes.

To physically and mentally recover from my horrible Sam’s Club expedition, I went back home to my beloved Costco. Instantly, it was a breath of fresh air. The lights weren’t scorching but gave a nice homey feel and I was welcomed back with a kind “Hi, good morning, it’s chilly-willy out there today” and instantly, I knew I was home.

Instantly I was showered with samples. Teriyaki, strawberries, chocolate, and fragrance free laundry soap. All delicious and infinite and free. All superior to Sam’s Club’s failure.

Heading back to the familiar café that would never leave me hungry or waiting. I rejoiced in a delicious meal of greasy Costco cheese pizza and felt as whole as their 18 inch $9.95 pizza.