You’re Probably Overlooking These 3 Sam’s Club Membership Perks 

Everyone knows the number-one perk of paying for a Sam’s Club membership: Big savings on some seriously supersized groceries. Buying your produce, frozen foods, meat, and more in bulk from Sam’s Club offers savings that are hard to beat, especially as grocery prices continue to rise at your typical grocery store. 

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But when you pay for the privilege of being a Sam’s Club member, you’re actually getting way more perks — including a number you might not even realize are exclusive to your membership. So, if you think your membership is solely for saving money on your usual grocery shopping trip, you need to stop overlooking the following three key perks and start making the most out of them.

Beat the Crowds and Shop Early

Sure, you might want to sleep in on the weekends instead of hitting the grocery store first thing. But if you’ve ever spent the morning at Sam’s Club on a Saturday or Sunday, you know just how wild and crazy these warehouse stores can get (and how tough parking alone can be). 

If you happen to pay for the “upgraded” Plus membership at Sam’s Club, you need to set your weekend alarm a little earlier so you can take advantage of one often overlooked perk that’s exclusive to Plus members: the chance to shop before Sam’s Club opens to everyone else.

Plus members get to pop into the store starting at 8:00 AM every day of the week. That’s anywhere from one to two hours early, depending on the daily schedule of your local warehouse. That means if you’re trying to nab the best cuts of meat (or, in my own personal experience, the best deals on meat that your store is trying to clear out), you’ll get first dibs by shopping before regular members.

Have Sam’s Club Handle the Shopping for You

One of my all-time favorite Sam’s Club perks that I swear makes membership worthwhile is Order Pickup. Sure, it might not be your speed if you prefer to pick out every piece of produce or cut of meat. But if you don’t want to deal with a crowded parking lot, stand in too-long checkout lines, or simply want to skip the entire process of grocery shopping, Order Pickup is an absolute godsend.

You don’t need to pay for Instacart or DoorDash or any other third-party shopping and delivery service. If you’re a Sam’s Club member of any level, Order Pickup is free for all orders of at least $50. And since it’s super easy to spend $50 in the blink of an eye, that means Order Pickup at Sam’s is kind of free for every grocery shopping trip.

All you have to do is shop online. From there, Sam’s Club employees will handle the shopping for you, loading up one or multiple carts with everything you selected. Then, you’ll choose a pickup time and be notified when your order is ready and waiting. Drive up, park in one of the dedicated Order Pickup spots, and your order will come out right to the trunk of your car. It’s so wonderfully effortless.

Skip the Lines With Scan and Go

Lastly, Sam’s Club members have one more often overlooked perk that I love to leverage — and it’s a huge timesaver like Order Pickup. However, you do still have to do the tough work of filling your own grocery cart and choosing your favorite items, so there is that slight, slight downside.

Open the Sam’s Club app, and you’ll find Scan and Go. This perk is solely for members, and you have to be signed into your account in order to use it. Once you’re set up (and have a credit card linked to your account, which you might already have if you recently paid your membership fee), you can visit your local warehouse and use the feature to scan items as you add them to your physical cart.

Once you’re done shopping, you don’t need to head to the checkout lines and wait to unload, then reload your cart. All you have to do is check out virtually in the Sam’s app — and since you scanned everything already with Scan and Go, you literally just have to double-check your purchase and finalize it. It’s like self checkout, but it actually works… and you can breeze through the exit with a quick double-check from employees, saving a ton of time in the process.