Costco and Sam’s Club have long been rivals. And while both companies’ financials indicate that they’re thriving, each retail giant would love nothing more than to steal customers away from the other.
Costco and Sam’s Club each have distinct advantages. One of Costco’s biggest strengths is its wide selection of quality products at fantastic prices. And Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand also tends to have a better reputation than Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark brand.
On the other hand, a membership at Sam’s Club is cheaper. A regular Club membership costs just $50 a year, while a Plus membership costs $110.
At Costco, the basic Gold Star membership costs $65 per year, while the Executive membership costs $130.
Recently, Sam’s Club made a big move to improve an important aspect of the member experience. And it’s an area that tends to be a point of frustration for Costco customers in particular.
Checkout at Costco is a major pain
If you’ve ever been to Costco on a weekend, you know quite well how painful the checkout process can be. And when you’re trying to get out the door and move on with your day, you don’t want to get stuck on a 20-minute line.
“If you go to Costco during peak times, it means peak checkout wait times too,” said a user on Reddit.
Related: Costco makes a policy change that frustrates members
Costco has tried to improve the checkout experience by installing self-checkout lanes. But many members find those just as frustrating.
“My Costco DOES NOT have handheld scanners, or employees that check you out. There is one person there for 6 self checkouts and they get huffy if they have to do their job,” said a Reddit user.
Interestingly, on that same thread, another Redditor was quick to point out how much better the checkout experience is at Sam’s Club.
“Tried switching to Costco from Sam’s but I just couldn’t do it. The Sam’s Club is seriously one of the best store apps I’ve ever used. Scan and go so I can scan everything as I put it in my cart and just have the receipt checker scan my QR code.”
Sam's Club
Sam’s Club takes steps to eliminate traditional checkout
While Costco clearly has work to do to improve the checkout process, Sam’s Club is making great strides.
As Fox Business reported, Sam’s Club is phasing out traditional checkouts across its 600 warehouse club stores. To do so, it’s leaning on technology to create a seamless checkout experience that allows customers to scan goods on the go using its app and then have an AI scanner verify purchases as customers leave.
The best part? This approach eliminates a huge potential bottleneck — having a receipt checked at the door.
Having to take that second step before existing the store has long been a complaint among Costco members. However, there’s a reason for it.
As Costco states on its website, “It is standard practice at all our warehouse locations to verify purchase receipts when customers exit our buildings. We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers. It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases.”
But while Costco may have its reasons for implementing its checkout and receipt-scanning protocols, if the checkout experience at Sam’s Club proves to be far superior, Costco risks losing members.
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Costco’s isn’t just sitting back and letting Sam’s Club completely win the checkout wars, though.
During the company’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Ron Vachris said the company is “piloting automated pay stations that will allow members to pay for their pre-scan orders seamlessly.”
If that process is implemented on a broad scale, it could improve the checkout experience tremendously. But Costco might still continue to lag behind Sam’s Club in that area.
Maurie Backman owns shares of Costco.
Related: Why Costco’s gas prices won’t rise as fast as traditional gas stations
