Sams Club Rant


 

russ olin

TVWBB Platinum Member
Got alittle pissed yesterday & lost my cool. Got up early to make the 50 mile trip down to Farmington NM. Got to Sams Club around 8:45 like we usually do. Usually your are allowed to shop at 9. After the elitist are done shopping since 7am opening time. Well, we walk in the door this employee asked to see our card in a unfriendly way. And informs us that we cannot shop until 10am now. Nobody gave us a email or notification about this new rule. Got pissed off and told the gal to go F herself & walked out. Had the dogs in the truck, we cant sit there for a extra hour twiddling our thumbs. Cant believe they would actually turn away paying customers. And the fact is there was hardly anyone in their stupid store. This is why a don't give a hoot for big chain stores. I can walk in any store in Durango at any time whether it be our specialty meat store or just good old Wally world. If I go to Wally world I go @ 7am to beat the crowds & they don't throw me out the door. Were done with Sams. When the card renews we wont be renewing it. So stopped at Lowes on the way out of Farmington just to look at their BBQ stuff & bought one thing of rub & came home. Over a 120 mile trip to get some rub LOL. Oh well, I did get to drive the war dept's new truck.
 
Yeah a big turn off to me on this "show us your card". How stupid is that? You have to swipe your card to buy anything so *** do they care if you show a card at the door?! I've tested them on this. One day I flashed my FOID card at Sam's and I get "Thank you". Stupid
 
Man, that sucks Russ. I probably would have reacted the same way. We don't have a Sam's Club, but have had a Costco for years. They've always had the staggered hours, 10 am opening for the "Executive" Members, $120/yr, and 11:00 am for everyone else $60 yr. We've opted for the Executive Membership and have gotten a very nice refund check at the end of each year. I've gotta admit it would be difficult for us to get by without Costco, but crappy customer service and failure to communicate policy changes might just do the trick.
 
My tolerance for stuff like this is getting worse and worse. The suits who make these decisions never have to face the customers.
 
The Sam's Club that was here closed about two years ago and a lot the members switched over to Costco making it just about impossible to find a parking spot any time they are open. Costco has done a great job of keeping the store stocked. Not like our Wall Mart which has about 40-50% of their shelves empty especially in the grocery dept. They built a super center with a standard warehouse so they can't stock enough to keep the shelves stocked.
We are in desperate need of a couple more grocery stores here and there have been inquires to buy the empty Sam's Club but Wal Mart won't sell to anyone that would be competitive with their worthless Wal Mart that's about a mile from their empty Sam's Club.
Rumer has it they are looking for another property to build another Wal Mart with the correct warehouse capacity, so we will have another vacant building of theirs that they won't sell to anyone that could compete with them.
Thank you I'm done now.
 
Thanks for the replys everyone. I thought there would be a few who felt like we do. Don't get me wrong, I understand about rules. BUT, there is not that many people in Farmington that the store is packed. There was hardly a soul in there shopping. If it was filled with people I would have understood better. Then what really finished me off. They had courtesy tables so you could sit & wait 75 mins for the bell to go off. Well, my 1st thought wasn't that white of them? There was actually 12-15 older people sitting & waiting to go in the store that's 90% empty. I almost was just gonna go in & shop. She couldn't have stopped me. But, I imagine the swat team would have been there in a few minutes with 5 or 6 lasers pointing at me. Because I didn't follow their stupid rules. Cant believe those other people were sitting there waiting. Not me. But I imagine a lot of them had come a long way like we did. I finally got done being mad about when I went to bed last night after having several beers when we got home. Done ranting, life is still guud. Gonna be doing some racing ribs this afternoon.
 
Too much idiocy is hidden behind rules. I work on copiers. I had to go work on a machine at a place that builds heat transfer equipment. The copier is in the office section. At no point do I go in a warehouse or a production floor. When I went in they made me watch a 7 minute video on warehouse/forklift and hard hat safety. I was annoyed as hell, but I dealt with it. So I have to go back maybe a year later and they make me watch the stupid video again because I guess you have to do it every 6 months. This time I just lost it. "The machine is right through that door! I'm not going into the warehouse, this video is absolutely pointess, admit it!" The receptionist was appalled that I would object. I watched the damn video anyway after giving her a good death glare. The lady that came in after me and witnessed me losing it make a point of saying "I don't mind watching this video, it's only 7 minutes" while smiling. She was going in for an interview and again would set foot nowhere near a warehouse or production floor.
 
I imagine that video is some kind of CYA for the warehouse because of lawyers lawsuits and regulations. It's ridiculous what steps companies have go through because of regulations imposed on them.
 
I imagine that video is some kind of CYA for the warehouse because of lawyers lawsuits and regulations. It's ridiculous what steps companies have go through because of regulations imposed on them.

I didn't think they had lawsuits or regulations in Texas! ;):giggle:
 
It's 7 minutes of my life. The average American male lives 78.96 years or 41501376 minutes. So that was 0.00001686691 % of my life that I'll never get back. That's 0.00001686691% that I was just murdered. :p
 
It's 7 minutes of my life. The average American male lives 78.96 years or 41501376 minutes. So that was 0.00001686691 % of my life that I'll never get back. That's 0.00001686691% that I was just murdered. :p
lMAO. I have to ask. What on Earth made you decide to do the math on that :ROFLMAO:
 
Russ:

I understand your frustration with Sams Club. Our stores here have been 10am for a long time and that is posted online. In the last 6 months they have reduced stock, added self checkouts while reducing the number of cashiers, increased security at the entrance some of which may violate the fire code, and created a backlog by reducing the number of people checking receipts at the exit which has really created a traffic jam. Like others have mentioned, a lot fewer customers in the store. We joined back in RI about 20 years ago before moving west. Now all of those stores in RI and neighboring MA are GONE! We have a Costco membership here too, but like everything else out here, you can only get certain items at certain grocery stores and clubs.
 
I would really like if they handed us a cart when we came in.
One by us uses a power cart to load the carts in the store and they are a real PITA to seperate.

Tim
 
I'm as irritated by Costco's show me your receipt policy, so much that I won't buy another membership.

I walked out past them one time probably about 15 years ago. "Sir, Sir, Sirrrrrrr". I just kept walking.

The last time I went (1 month ago) I held the receipt in my hand on the cart handle. She made me hand it to her (smiled at me) but it drives me nuts.

I do like their coffee and several other things, I wish it wasn't so irritating to me, I'd definitely have a membership.
 
I'm as irritated by Costco's show me your receipt policy, so much that I won't buy another membership.

I walked out past them one time probably about 15 years ago. "Sir, Sir, Sirrrrrrr". I just kept walking.

The last time I went (1 month ago) I held the receipt in my hand on the cart handle. She made me hand it to her (smiled at me) but it drives me nuts.

I do like their coffee and several other things, I wish it wasn't so irritating to me, I'd definitely have a membership.

I don't mind it there because it is a membership only store. But my local Wal Mart has started doing that so I just keep walking and ignore it.
 
A lot has been covered here. However, in the first post, if the hours changed and there was no notice or post some place then I would have walked in and done shopping. If they didn't like that then a manager is more than welcome to have a discussion with me.

As far as checking receipts when leaving, or showing your card when entering, the answer is so simple. If you don't like it don't shop there.

there was other stuff going on in this thread but does seem to be the two biggest bullet points.
 
Jason:
Sams Club has just started down this path. I think they are reducing staff just to boost the profit margin. I don't mind the self-checkout area since often I only am getting a few items, rock salt pellets, Dunkin Donuts coffee, or A-1 sauce. Often bemoaned the lack of an express lane. Getting in to either club has never been an issue. Costco always have two people at the door to check slips and it goes quickly. Not so at Sams. Costco now has self-checkout too which is great for picking up a roast chicken for dinner and nothing else. Both are equal for gas prices. If Sams continues their decline, we may dump them at renewal and only keep Costco.
 
One thing about our Sam's is they usually ave WAY more cashiers on hand then Costco does. I really hate that even during a peak time Costco will only have one or 2 there. Though at Sam's I rarely use a cashier as I simply shop through the app on my phone. While I walk around the store I scan each item. When done I click "checkout" and a QR shows up on my phone. The checker at the door does a quick scan the purchase goes through and I am done. Costco for al their "superiority" doesn't have anything close. I recently signed up for Sam's Plus (like Costco Executive which I also have) and I have to say the money back pours in faster from Sam's than Costco. There are things about each I like/hate so come April I have to decide to either renew or drop one of them. Sam's expires in April and Costco in August. Decisions decisions.
 
My other half uses that Sam's app also. O didn't even know it was a thing until I saw her doing it. I have a Costco membership also but I don't really use it enough to really see savings over the cost of the membership.
 

 

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