Sam's Club v. Costco, Aurora-Centennial stores (Denver, Arvada: home, purchases, pharmacy)

[Quietude]

First off, I don't need generic answers about SC vs Costco - I've shopped both for many years and used to have both cards when I was lucky enough to have stores within a few miles. I let Costco go when the closest one to my CT home was about forty miles away (Sam's was 15). I don't have any issue with the SC products I buy, or their prices, or in general their vibe/offerings/etc.

I still shop SC here, usually the Southlands store but occasionally the North Aurora store if I'm up that way (but don't like it for several reasons).

But Sam's has changed the whole checkout process to the point where I dread going there, even every two weeks or so. They've expanded the self-checkout and push-push-push people to go there (and it works as poorly for them as it does for pretty much everyone else; there are ALWAYS three or four associates helping people and fixing glitches). They've reduced the number of checkout registers to one or two even during peak hours (and then putting their slowest people on them - I know many by name and it's the ones I learned to avoid who run the registers, without fail). And now, they've changed the door-check process to use some kind of scanning device; the associate scans the receipt barcode and then, as nearly as I can tell, is required to find a specific random item in the cart to rescan and validate their 'inspection.'

The result is a checkout and exit process that is fifteen minutes or more of frustration, partly from delays and partly because their new system don't work for sh*t. Yesterday the exit line backed up to the pharmacy because the scanning system choked, or something. And I can only be more frustrated because if they just had the five or six people running around checking and fixing things checking people out, as of old, it would be vastly more efficient. Standing in a ten-minute checkout line while three or four supervisor/steerer/fixers scamper around like mice makes me boil. I actually vented to the cashier (a nice lady I know slightly) when she asked about renewing my membership, and said that after more than 20 years I couldn't take the checkout clusterfork any more and was probably not going to renew.


TL;DR version: So: is Costco down by Parker any better? Is Costco in general still a cut above Sam's in service, or are they going to this two-person, automated checkout and exit crap, too?

[history nerd]

I haven't been to Sams for years but I am very happy with my Costco membership. Plus I feel much better about Costco as a corperation than Wallmart.

[maciesmom]

I've never seen automated checkouts in Costco here. Costco in Parker isn't quite as crazy as others. Easier parking situation than Lone Tree.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Quietude

TL;DR version: So: is Costco down by Parker any better? Is Costco in general still a cut above Sam's in service, or are they going to this two-person, automated checkout and exit crap, too?

Costco is still the superior service. Nothing like you described has occurred in any of there store's yet. Though they are phasing in self check-out at some locations. But none that I've seen yet in Colorado. I do like the Parker one, though I do think that the Arvada location is the most pleasant Costco experience in Denver.

Costco still believes that employees are assets instead of meatbags, err associates, that need to be phased out as quickly as possible. So their service floor is and will remain quite a bit higher than Sam's Club.

[Quietude]

Thanks to all. I guess I need to pick up a Costco gift card and give Parker a test drive.

I don't suppose they have fresh bolillo rolls, the only Sam's thing I will hate to give up? Most grocery/bakery ones are way undercooked, wonder-bread levels, and Sam's always has at least one bag of "brownies" in the pile.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by Quietude

First off, I don't need generic answers about SC vs Costco - I've shopped both for many years and used to have both cards when I was lucky enough to have stores within a few miles. I let Costco go when the closest one to my CT home was about forty miles away (Sam's was 15). I don't have any issue with the SC products I buy, or their prices, or in general their vibe/offerings/etc.

I still shop SC here, usually the Southlands store but occasionally the North Aurora store if I'm up that way (but don't like it for several reasons).

But Sam's has changed the whole checkout process to the point where I dread going there, even every two weeks or so. They've expanded the self-checkout and push-push-push people to go there (and it works as poorly for them as it does for pretty much everyone else; there are ALWAYS three or four associates helping people and fixing glitches). They've reduced the number of checkout registers to one or two even during peak hours (and then putting their slowest people on them - I know many by name and it's the ones I learned to avoid who run the registers, without fail). And now, they've changed the door-check process to use some kind of scanning device; the associate scans the receipt barcode and then, as nearly as I can tell, is required to find a specific random item in the cart to rescan and validate their 'inspection.'

The result is a checkout and exit process that is fifteen minutes or more of frustration, partly from delays and partly because their new system don't work for sh*t. Yesterday the exit line backed up to the pharmacy because the scanning system choked, or something. And I can only be more frustrated because if they just had the five or six people running around checking and fixing things checking people out, as of old, it would be vastly more efficient. Standing in a ten-minute checkout line while three or four supervisor/steerer/fixers scamper around like mice makes me boil. I actually vented to the cashier (a nice lady I know slightly) when she asked about renewing my membership, and said that after more than 20 years I couldn't take the checkout clusterfork any more and was probably not going to renew.


TL;DR version: So: is Costco down by Parker any better? Is Costco in general still a cut above Sam's in service, or are they going to this two-person, automated checkout and exit crap, too?

Costco is going to self checkout as well, though I never use it.
The Parker store was okay last time I was there, but I go to the Havana store most of the time so can’t really speak to how things currently are at the Parker store.

[WhatTheFox]

I shop at both and prefer the Costco @ Parker. AFAIK there aren't any self-checkouts (yet) in the Parker location.

[Texas Ag 93]

Have you downloaded the Sam's app "Scan and Go"? It allows you to use your phone to scan your items as you take them off the shelf and pay with just a swipe. A bar code appears and you walk out of the store where the staff member at the door checks it. No lines and no dealing with staff or other customers....ever.

It's the reason I almost always opt to go to Sam's over Costco.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

Have you downloaded the Sam's app "Scan and Go"?

No. Bad enough that they track my general moves and purchases; I'm not giving them access to the contents of my phone, nor (perhaps more significantly) attaching a 1-foot tracking collar to my ass.

Or doing their job for them, with less efficiency and no real return. But that's a more general objection to all self-checkout as it is presently and abysmally implemented.

These "features" are not - not - for the consumer's benefit. Ever.

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by Quietude

No. Bad enough that they track my general moves and purchases; I'm not giving them access to the contents of my phone, nor (perhaps more significantly) attaching a 1-foot tracking collar to my ass.

Or doing their job for them, with less efficiency and no real return. But that's a more general objection to all self-checkout as it is presently and abysmally implemented.

These "features" are not - not - for the consumer's benefit. Ever.

Understand. I don't disagree with you about the general motivation for self checkouts, and I expect to see them used more everywhere as the cost of labor increases. I do think they offer a lot in the way of efficiency, though, and they offer consumers more options (assuming there are still traditional check out lines available). All I know is that I never deal with a line at Sam's and/or move stuff in and out of my cart multiple times anymore.

I also don't consider Sam's to be particularly deficient v. Costco at all. Until recently, I had always lived where only a Sam's was convenient. They opened a Costco near me last year and I went to it a couple of times and thought I must be missing something about how great it is.