Are Membership Warehouse Stores A Good Deal?

Membership warehouse stores have been popping up all over North America. They offer anything from grocery products to computers. In order to shop at these big box warehouse stores you need to be a member. But are membership warehouse stores a good deal?

Big box warehouse chain stores have become quite popular in the last couple of decades. Price-Costco, Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s Wholesale are a few of the biggest and most popular.

Membership warehouse stores have advantages and disadvantages just like any department store does. But overall they have some distinct advantages over the department store, even though the actual shopping experience is similar to what you’d get at a department store.

One advantage is because you shop in person you get to see and touch the merchandise. For some goods it doesn’t make any difference but if you are looking for new television its better if you can actually have a look at it. You don’t have to make a decision based on a picture.

Another advantage is you don’t have any shipping charges. This is especially helpful on larger heavier items where shipping can sometimes cost you as much as the item eliminating any savings.

When you purchase from a membership warehouse you don’t have to worry about tracking your order, when it will ship, how long it will take to arrive, and then having to pick it up. And if it doesn’t work you don’t need to worry about the cost of the shipping to return the item.

And if you’re like most of us instant gratification rocks! After all you’ve just spotted that “gotta have” stereo and you can have it right now. Take it home and start to enjoy it. What more can you ask for? Although perhaps not the best buying decisions are made this way it sure is a lot of fun!

Pricing is also an advantage at membership warehouse stores. Although you still need to make sure to do your price comparisons you can usually save 30% to 40% and if you are buying case lots it can be even higher. If you have a larger family you can save substantially on your monthly grocery bill just by shopping at a warehouse like Costco’s.

Of course there are some disadvantages to. There’s no way to save the taxes. If you buy in-house you are going to pay taxes, where as when you buy online if you purchase outside your state you avoid the sales tax.

There’s no question warehouse stores have good pricing but even that good pricing can be higher than you might find online because they have huge overhead costs.

Warehouses also don’t always have a great selection. Because they buy on price points you may not get as many choices as you could get elsewhere. Now for some items it doesn’t matter a whole lot. Let’s say you are looking to buy chicken. What selection do you really need? But if you are looking to buy a new computer selection would be important.

If you are looking for assistance from sales staff, warehouses aren’t the place to shop. Most of the staff in these stores have no real experience with any one product. Stock changes regularly and they bounce around the warehouse so you can’t expect them to know a lot about the product.

Servicing can also be a problem. Most warehouse stores do not offer in house servicing so if something breaks down you’ll need to ship it away or take it to a service depot. So if you are looking for service and customer support warehouse stores aren’t your best choice.

Membership warehouse stores have perks and drawbacks. It all depends on what you are planning to buy. For groceries, staples, and general household items you can save a lot of money. But for bigger items like furniture, computers, electronics there may be better options.

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.