Comments on: Sam’s Club Gas for Members Only

By: Joseph Sanyangelo

Joseph Sanyangelo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:16:26 +0000

Hi, All I would like to know is can I use my Sams card for Gas
or do I need a New Card ?

By: femmme

femmme — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:45:18 +0000

Our Sams club(Boston) doesn’t do gas but our Stop and Shop does. They do 5 cents off if you have a S+S card and another 5 cents if you bought $50 in groceries. I’m not positive, it might be 10 cents. In calculating the price of their food I don’t think it is a great deal since you end up spending more on less food.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:51:06 +0000

I can echo Todd’s point about where gas stations make the most money, on the convenience store. Costco’s just doing the exact same thing… except they have a WAREHOUSE.

I rely on Costco to suppress the prices of gas stations around it so I can take advantage of the extra 5% cashback using a card Costco won’t take at the pump.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 11:53:47 +0000

Generally speaking, gas stations don’t usually make a lot of money from the gasoline sales. They often have to sell it at a loss of a cent or two per gallon in order to stay competitive with others in the area.

They make money from people buying candy bars and extra services. So it really makes a lot of sense that Costco would make the gas ‘members only’ as the members are the ones who buy the junk inside so they can afford the pumps.

By: nickel

nickel — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 13:21:58 +0000

mbhunter: That’s one thing that I forgot to mention… While Sam’s Club doesn’t take credit cards inside the store, they do take them at the pump. So I can still cash in on those juicy 5% credit card rewards for gas purchases.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 07:26:19 +0000

FWIW, Sam’s Club here has always required membership in order to buy gas. But then again, I’ve always been able to get a much better deal by driving across the state line. (The _closest_ I’ve seen prices get between the two states is 30c/gal. 50c/gal is not uncommon and 75c/gal is not unheard-of. I might pay city prices if I drove enough that I had to refill on weekdays, but I don’t, so I don’t.)

I do miss the Speedway 2c/gal discount for rewards members, though.

By: mbhunter

mbhunter — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 00:38:09 +0000

Our Costco doesn’t take credit cards at their pumps. I find that I can do better with my gas rebate card at a nearby gas station. With gas prices as they are, I save a dime a gallon with the 3% rebate.

By: FMF

FMF — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:55:25 +0000

Oh! And I forgot to mention — my company picks up the annual membership fee to Costco as one of my benefits.

By: FMF

FMF — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:54:36 +0000

I use Costco too. Good prices all the time! (Plus free munchies around 11 am on Saturdays and Sundays!)

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:40:30 +0000

My local BJ’s has a member price that is on par or a few cents more/less than the best in the area, which is generally about 10-30 cents less than anywhere else in town (I know where to get the cheapest gas).

One of the gas stations that tends to be cheap doesn’t get my business anymore, though, even though they are on my way to/from work; bad service I can understand, but not from an owner/manager.

BJ’s non-member price tends to be 20-30 cents more expensive than the stations right nearby.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:59:26 +0000

Our local Costco sells gas to members only and the price is about $.10 lower than the BP station in front of the store (I’m sure BP didn’t really appreciate Costco’s choice of location.)

With any luck, your Sam’s club will follow suit.