I live in a town of about 8,000 people. We have two locally owned grocery stores and a Wal-Mart. I’m thankful we have these shopping options so close, even if my options are limited. I also really appreciate that Azure Standard has a drop point here once each month. We definitely take advantage of this service!
Here and there, we’ve considered buying a Sam’s membership. It seems like such a great place to shop! But would it be worth it to pay for the membership, then pay for the gas to drive an hour each way to stock up on food items, toilet paper, and other items we need? We keep deciding that no, it’s just not worth all the extra money we would need to pay in our situation. (Costco is about a two hour drive one way for us, so that is even less of an option.)
Here’s what I realized yesterday as I was taking advantage, yet again, of Amazon’s Subscribe and Save deals: I definitely don’t need a Sam’s membership. Shopping Amazon and taking advantage of their subscribe and save option gives me Sam’s prices plus free shipping – which means that I don’t have to buy a tank of gas or spend an entire day driving and shopping out of town. I can shop at any time of the day or night, adding items to my cart as I think of them, or as I see good deals and coupons for them.
Once each month, all of my Subscribe and Save items are delivered (for free) right to my door. I find bulk items, health food items, cleaning products, paper goods, and all kinds of items we use for a great price. This beats a Sam’s or Costco membership for our family – by far! I’m so thankful for this.
Many of you are probably old pros at this way of shopping, but for whatever reason, I’m just now getting the hang of how the 15% off subscribe and save plan works. It’s so cool! Plus, you can pair savings with the great coupons Amazon offers
So how does this work?
With an Amazon Prime membership – if you purchase at least 5 items with subscribe and save, you get 15% off your entire order.
Having an Amazon Prime membership pays for itself for our family, with all of the benefits it provides. I love that I can get 20% off bulk purchases, plus free shipping. (You can sign up for a free 30-day trial membership here.) Plus, I’ve really learned to keep my eye on the coupons Amazon provides. Often, they offer several dollars off or another 15-20% off an item – and that’s in addition to the subscribe and save 20% off benefit. It’s so much fun!
Here’s a lovely picture of my part of my recent Amazon Subscribe and Save delivery:
Okay fine. It’s not a lovely picture. It’s just a bunch of full boxes. But you know how much I love staring at my bulk orders. Boxes full of food and items I need for my family is lovely to me. I mean, I got Pure Organic Fruit and Veggie Strips, Organic Tortilla Chips, V-8 Fusion, Kleenexes, Toilet Paper, Emergen-C, Seventh Generation Dish Soap, and a few other items I can’t think of off the top of my head. They were delivered to my door for free. I am well stocked up now on items we use often. Not only did I get 20% off, Amazon offered additional coupons on almost all of these items. Serious savings, and serious fun. You should see us tear into those boxes on delivery day. :)
So, all this to say – Sams or Costco memberships don’t work for our family because of our location or time to head out and shop. Shopping Amazon and taking advantage of their great deals works very well for us. I especially love it if I have some Swagbuck earned Amazon cards to spend!
God bless the UPS man who delivers discounted toilet paper to my door.
So how about you? Do you have a Sams or Costco close to you – and is it cost effective for you to have a membership? Do you love Amazon Prime as much as I do? Are you signed up for Amazon Mom? Do you use Amazon Coupons?
We have Costco and we have asked for gift memberships in the past for Christmas or birthdays so we don’t have to pay the membership, but I’ve paid for it the past couple of years because we would save so much in diaper costs alone it was worth it. Now that we are past that point, I think we will go back to asking for memberships as gifts.
I love Amazon Prime though. It is amazing the amount of money I save over the course of a year just on shipping! I order quite a bit through Amazon, so it really does make a difference. I’ve got some great deals on toilet paper and paper towels as well. I am not good about looking for the coupons, etc. though – I’m sure I could save a lot more than I do! Great suggestions/reminders! Thanks!
I LOVE our Costco membership. We have a couple stores within 20 minutes either way, so it is a convenient option for our family. We use their Executive membership that has rewards earned and every year our rewards cover our membership fees. I get so much organic produce, organic pastas, canned goods, coconut oil, organic meats and butter, etc. I find that I prefer Costco to Sam’s as the quality of their items seems better. That said, I do use Amazon prime and Azure regularly and live those options also! Definitely have to do what works best for your family and your valuable time.
I haven’t had a Sam’s or Costco membership in about 8 years. I too use Azure and I have been using Amazon Mom/Subscribe & Save program for a long time. I’ve ordered so much the past few months because of good deals and coupons (and that 20% off!) that I’m so stocked up, I had to cancel my orders for this month!
They were offering the toilet tissue we buy at an amazing price, almost too good to be true, so I knew it wouldn’t last long. I stocked up on it and have enough to last us about 5 months now. I’m glad I did because they no longer offer it through Subscribe & Save and the price went way up.
Other things we have stocked up on through the program are vitamins, toothpaste, diapers, wipes, shampoo/conditioner, mouth rinse, feminine products, cleaning supplies, lotion and on and on. The prices with the 20% and coupons, just can’t be found anywhere else. I’ve also found that some things we were ordering through Azure, are now cheaper on Amazon.
We have a Costco membership. It is 2.5 miles from our house. We used to use the membership a LOT for all of our meat, milk, etc., but we now participate in local farm cow pools, and we buy raw milk. We still like to get our fuel there and certain odds and ends that are cheaper there. If it wasn’t so close, we would cancel the membership.
We live close enough to Sam’s Club and Costco to make a membership at one very worthwhile. I have looked at Amazon for the things I routinely buy at Sam’s, and Amazon is quite a bit more, even with discounts. Having things shipped to my door would be nice, but when I go to Sam’s anyway to buy gas or milk or other things that can’t be shipped to my door, it just doesn’t make sense for our family to pay for Prime and order from Amazon. If our situation was different, I’m sure Prime would be a better opportunity than Sam’s.
We don’t shop at Sams Club (or Walmart) for moral reasons, but love Costco! Costcos organic frozen fruits and veggies are cheaper than Azures, their organic tortilla chips is less than $5 for a huge 40 ounce bag, organic sugar is just over $1 per pound. We also get maple syrup, wild caught salmon, organic chicken, organic cream and half and half, organic olive oil…the list goes on and on. Plus we vacation multiple times a year and save a ton of money with their amazing vacation deals. I can’t imagine being without a Costco membership!
Jenny, I was so shocked to read that you don’t shop at Sam’s or Walmart for moral reasons…Our family hates shopping there also ( for moral reasons) and are trying to find a way to order our households needs…wish we could talk more!
Costco has cause for moral concern too. They fund Planned Parenthood (and thus abortion).
Thanks Celena. It’s settled! COSTCO it is! I will happily support any company that allows individuals (women) to make their own informed choices — You are doing a great public service to Costco by promoting their stance on women’s reproductive rights. And remember, if you are against abortion, don’t have one! Just let the rest of us think for ourselves and don’t impose your views on others. You are free to lead your life as you choose… so should the rest of us. Have a wonderful day :)
I’m doing my research about the pros/cons of Sam’s & Costco. We’ve used Amazon for several years, and just bought a Business membership at Costco. I plan to find out for certain, but if Costco does indeed support PP we will PROMPTLY request a refund. I’d happily pay higher prices. After all… our money is more than just money. (Deut 8:18)
Thank you Celena!! We didn’t know that!!!
We live an hour from a Sam’s Club and we do purchase a membership every year. We pair our shopping trips with other trips to the city so there’s no extra gas costs. Amazon Prime is almost 2x the cost of what a Sam’s membership is and thus far comparing prices of what we buy at Sam’s, Amazon is generally more expensive. We do use Amazon’s Subscribe and Save for some items that are cheaper, receive 15% savings, and get free shipping, but we see no need to purchase a Prime membership.
We like about an hour from sams. I do have membership that my parents pay for. I am thinking about prime amazon after i pay the dental bill off.
We love our Amazon Prime membership. Before we purchase anything, I check Amazon’s price. It has saved us so much money that the membership pays for its self.
Another great perk is the free prime movies. We no longer use Netflix.
Sam’s Club is ten minutes away from our house. So we do have a membership. We use it for gas and it pays for its self.
We have Amazon Prime and I have used it a lot to stock up. We also use Azure Standard. I have to drive a little ways to pick up my Azure order about 45 minutes at least and Sam’s and Costco’s are at least that far from me as well so I do not have memberships at those. However, as of last month my Azure order drop off is in a Costco parking lot so I plan to check it out next week when I pick up my Azure order and if it looks worth it I may join simply because I will be driving to it once a month to pick up my Azure order and I am not giving that up. So we will see.
We have an Executive Membership at Costco. It’s approximately 45 minutes away, so we only go about every three months. We do have a list that we stick with, but the prices and customer service make it worth it for us.
We do have a Sam’s membership though we’re not sure we will renew it. We’ve heard Costco is opening in OKC which will be only 90 miles from us (the current closest one is around Dallas, so three hours away) so we may be getting a Costco membership soon. Currently, we order quite a bit from Azure Standard, a few things from Amazon using Prime, some from Bountiful Baskets, and round it out with odds and ends from our local commissary. I primarily use Sam’s for their big bags of triple berry blend, pecans and almonds, organic spring mix and spinach, marinated wild-caught salmon, and other fruits and veggies in season.
We have a Sam’s membership – it’s about 20 minutes away. We go once a month to buy water by the case (I recycle the plastic!) and I buy a hand full of things there – cases of white vinegar, feminine products for the girls, antihistamine, baking supplies, frozen veggies.
I had no idea Amazon has coupons! I do buy rice and organic sugar from them and lots of non-food items. Azure isn’t an option for us – no close delivery and I didn’t care for Costco when I checked it out. It’s also 35 minutes away.
We now live about 10 minutes from Sam’s club. Even before we moved it helped by getting gas there because it was generally cheaper than in other places. I do wish we had the Azure standard option though. I’ll have to look into Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom though.
I was just debating renewing my Costco, but my mom has one and I didn’t shop there as often as I thought I would. I never thought about buying juice boxes or Kleenex from amazon. And I had no idea they had coupons. Thanks for the info!
I am with you, sista! I have a Costco just 15 minutes from my house, but in my “old age”, I finally decided the crowds and the parking lot and the lines just aren’t worth the annual fee. I always ALWAYS spend more than I plan because they are geniuses at putting out all the pretty things you didn’t know you needed. So, after about 30 years of being a Costco member, I dropped my membership a year ago and have never looked back. I do have an Amazon Prime membership (that another family member pays for, mind you) and thoroughly enjoy buying from that first — anything from food items I can’t find at my local grocery to lightbulbs I am too lazy to go to Home Depot to look for. I love it. And I, too, get very excited when those delivery boxes come, and so do my kids, even if the box IS just lightbulbs. So much easier, no gas spent, free delivery, shop in the middle of the night. Love it.
i do both… my mother in law just got a business account (we own our own business, so this wouldn’t work for everyone). Then got a complimentary card for anyone in the business to use (Me:)) and in addition if she spent $100 the same day she got the cards, they would discount what she paid for the whole membership! So no one’s membership cost anything when it was all said and done. However, we do have a 2 hr round trip to go to Sam’s Club, but we drive it once a month to go to places like Whole Foods and Natural Grocer’s and Sprouts… Taking turns driving though, so each of us only have 1 trip every other month…
I also use Amazon Prime, but have been hesitant to use the subscribe and save—Maybe I’ll like that more and can quit my once a month trip:)
Just a suggestion. If you are a mom, enroll in amazon moms.( I think its free for a while and then you have to pay if you want to continue.) We used it when our son borne last year. And its absolutely worth it. You can skip couple of trips, I assume even if you drive 2 hours back and forth, you are spending at 10-15$ gas money for trips. Even if you can several trips a year, your gas money would pay for your Amazon Prime Membership. Best part of which is Prime TV. I use it for all. Being a student I rent books from them, buy our non grocery and watch Prime TV. All for 99$ ,which I save in gas money (by cutting trips), family time and fun watching TV series and movies.
( I am not advertiser of Amazon, but I love it and like to help people think in a little right direction)
I live in the desert and have very limited options when it comes to buying healthy, organic foods. Thankfully, we do have an Azure delivery here that I order from every month but I do supplement with buying items at Sprouts and Costco. Costco’s organic meats alone make the membership worth it to me. Azure never has the meats in stock when I want to order them. There are also organic items that are WAY WAY cheaper at Costco than Azure so I take advantage of that…for example a 5 lb bag of Organic frozen broccoli is $13 at Azure and it is about $6 at Costco. I’m also able to get a limited selection of organic goods at our local commissary which are cheaper than Azure or Costco….so don’t really see a need for ordering off Amazon.
Your choice is so understandable! Free shipping? Not having to leave the house to go shopping? Sounds great! We don’t live in a city, but are only 2 miles from a smaller costco. We have 5 littles and do the majority of our shopping there. We purchased the executive membership, which is double the price, but with the money back, it has payed for our membership every year and we get a substantial amount back on top of that. There are often times when I buy food at Costco that is cheaper at the grocery store or walmart than it is at costco, but it is not worth it to me to go to another store or two with 5 children in tow. I actually am tempted more at the grocery store to buy “extras” (like granola bars or something else we don’t need) than I am at costco. We pretty much buy the same thing every week, and enjoy the samples for treats. we do buy some things from azure (like their gallon size apple cider vinegar) and our raw milk from the local dairy. I’m sure if our circumstances were different, so would be our decisions :)
It’s good to know that you can save more than i thought on amazon!
Neither Sam’s nor Costco is anywhere near where we live, but BJs (same idea) is and we’re members. I bake a lot of bread, and the savings on yeast alone pays for our membership! My husband does the shopping, and he only buys the things that are actually cheaper there. We discussed Amazon mom and subscribe and save, but he’s not really interested. Since I don’t want him to stop doing the grocery shopping for me, I’m not going to push it!
I live in an urban area with access to THREE Sam’s Clubs so gas is a non-issue. I took advantage of a one-month free membership and checked it out.
I found that Sam’s Club primarily offered larger packages of mostly brand name items. When I broke down the cost per ounce at Sam’s vs. the cost per ounce of a smaller package at the regular grocery store – – there was no savings!! I was just buying things in a bigger container! In fact, buying generic or store brands of the same item, just in smaller packages, was actually cheaper. The membership fee, the crowded stores, and the lack of any real savings made a membership a no-go for me.
The biggest takeaway for me was that buying in bulk doesn’t nescessarily save money – you need to figure the cost per unit & then factor in the cost of memberships, gas, & shipping to make sure you’re truly getting a good deal.
LOVE Costco! We’re only about 10 minutes from Costco and we love it. Cheaper than Amazon prime (example: maple syrup, 32oz on amazon around $16-$18 – Costco – $13) Diapers, when we needed them, much cheaper. I have amazon prime only because my BIL added me on to his account, but I mostly use it now for books, gifts, etc…
Plus, I have the executive membership which costs $110 now/year, but I make that up in my cash back check each year so it’s basically like having a free membership.
I’ve been contemplating Amazon Prime for a while now, but hubby has had some bad experiences with Amazon so he doesn’t like it. I just broke down and bought a Costco membership, but ONLY because they had a Living Social deal where we got a $20 giftcard with our membership along with some coupons for freebies. Costco does have some good organic options, but for the most part, I can find almost everything cheaper at our regular grocery store (love Publix!) if I watch for sales. It seems like Costco sucks a lot of people in, at least in my area, because when you break down the prices, the local grocery store is generally the same or better.
I shop at Sam’s Club once a month – it’s about an hour away so we make a day of it hitting all the stores we don’t have in our area (like JoAnn Fabrics – my favorite!). My girls go with me and really, really look forward to it each month.
I’m not sure I get the savings of Sam’s over Amazon Prime. Sam’s is $40/year AP is $80/year. Delivery to our door would be nice, though right now the UPS man can’t make it up our long drive and we have to meet him out at the road when he comes.
I love amazon subscribe and save, vitacost, use our local food co-op, and go to sam’s club/and local grocery/and walmart every week or two (their 10 minutes away). I do compare price constantly between all of them, it is time consuming, but well worth it to me so I we afford our healthy food budget. Sometimes Sams club produce it not great and I have to really inspect it over, but then I use our local grocer. I enjoy Sam’s organic lettuce and spinach containers, especially when fresh local produce is not available. Sam’s has a good selection of cheese, when I run out of my cheese from co-op. Milk is the cheapest I found, but I try not to let the kids drink to much because it is not raw (raw milk is only legal for animal consumption in our state). And we get a great price on prescription eye glasses, I have 2 kids with eyeglasses, including myselt!
We have a Costco executive membership and find that the rebate last year paid all but $8 of the membership fee. We live across the street from the only Costco in our town in FL, so it is by far the closest and cheapest gas station around. The rebate is even better than the 3 cents/gallon savings at the Murphy (Walmart) gas station that is 4 miles away. Milk is also the cheapest around.
I haven’t tried the Amazon ordering yet. We are moving to Michigan this summer. I am waiting to get settled there before trying to buy in bulk.
I do realize that I will probably not change your mind but for many years we drove about an hour and a half to Sam’s one a month. The trip more than paid for itself. We went one Saturday morning every month and took coolers and stocked up. Now we live 20 minutes from Sam’s so we can stop by anytime. We are empty nesters and I still find that shopping Sam’s saves us a ton of money. Yesterday we needed sheets for our bed and I just ran in Sam’s and picked up a 450 thread count set for $30. That alone paid for probably half of our membership and I did not have to hunt for a deal. My Sam’s has organic produce and whole organic free range chickens are only $1.49 a pound. Milk is over a dollar cheaper than anywhere else in town. We used to have to wait in lines to check out but now w e have a self check out and I can be out of there in just a few minutes. You can print a one day pass from their website and shop to give it a try and look around. Costco does not have that option. I am very happy shopping at Sam’s and will continue to do so.
To answer your question–I do not use Amazon for house and food purchases. I can do better with sales at my local grocery on things like TP. One more thing about Sam’s. It seems to me that it is most cost saving for those who cook from scratch and just buy ingredients. I do not buy convenience or canned foods at Sam’s.
Your article is sending me on a research journey! :) We live near a Sam’s, but don’t find it cost effective for what we eat/need compared to grocery stores with coupons. However, it seems that the Amazon Mom program may very well save me more $$. I have one question that I can’t seem to figure out at the Amazon website:
Do you have to get a shipment of 5 subscribe and save items EVERY month, or can you subscribe for a shipment every 3 months (for example), and still get the 15%, so long as you have 5 qualifying items in each shipment? There are some things that we would never need every month for the amount that would be shipped.
Thanks!
You can set the Subscribe and Save for every one, two, three, five, six months – whatever you want, which is super nice! And, at anytime, no questions asked, you can simply cancel a subscription. I really appreciate this so that I’m never obligated to buy what I no longer need. So yes, as long as you have 5 qualifying items in a shipment, you receive the discount.
Hi,
I was wondering what constitutes 5 items. A case of 12 bags of tortilla chips would be one item, correct? What about a quantity of 2 like items, say 2 bags of coffee per shipment? Also, if I have a month where there are 5 qualifying items do they automatically give the greater discount and a month where I only have 2 or 3 would they just apply the 5%? Right now I’m not sure that I will need 5 items every month, but will be getting coffee every month.
I am reviewing my “need” for my BJ’s membership as it is a 1 1/2 hour drive and I found that all I was buying on a regular basis was coffee and tortilla chips! I would much rather have the delivered to my door!
If you place two separate orders for 1 bag of coffee each, they count as two subscriptions. If you place 1 order of two bags of coffee, it only counts as one. Does that make sense?
The subscription discount will update when you reach five items in that specific momth. And yes, 1 case of anything, regardless of how many are in the case, counts as one item.
How do you navigate Amazon’s confusing way of listing the per unit price? I get so confused….I just looked up Kleenex pocket tissues – and some are listed as per tissue(!) and some as per pack.
I tried to figure this out once before, and it just so confused me I gave up.
Also, I had looked up our TP a while back and after I did some research at my normal grocery stores, I came back to order and the price changed on our TP!!!!
I’d like to do the Amazon prime/Subscribe & save thing, but it’s so confusing. Could you do a post on navigating it? Or is it a do-it-yourself-and learn thing?
Thanks so much! I love your posts!
That does take a little getting used to. Sometimes I do the dividing myself to get a better idea of which is the better deal. With the exception of Kleenexes and such, most items I price per ounce. If it hits my target price or lower, I snatch it up!
We have a SAMs membership. We use it mostly for fruit. We go through about 220 pieces of fruit in a week. Yes, I added that up :) it is worth it to us. Ours is about 30 minutes away. The fruit at SAMs is much cheaper and better than what I would get a wal mart. The other grocery stores we have, the fruit is better than wal mart, but cost more than SAMs. Needless to say, SAMs is great for us.
We have a Sams card only because it was $45 and I received a $20 or $25 gift card back and $20 of free food coupons for there (groupon deal) and I have a charge card there bc one day I was there they had a deal spend $100 on a new card and get $40 auto off. I paid it off once I got the bill. I honestly don’t think I get a great deal there but, my husband likes shopping there (he is a truck driver) and can pick up a few snacks to take with him and I buy fruit and veggies there and misc. just bc I’m already there. I save much more at our local grocery stores and Target.
Where do you find the amazon coupons? Is there a special page for them?
Yes, the link is tiny if you’re not used to looking for it. Look across the top of the Amazon site for the “Today’s Deals” link. Once you’re on that page, you’ll see links across the top, one of which is “Coupons.” There they are! :)
Thank you! Thank you!
One other thought about a Sam’s or Costco membership. It is often viewed as just a place to buy food and paper products but we find deals all over the store. We needed some wool socks this winter since it has been so cold and us southerners are not used to the cold we have had. We looked at local sporting goods stores and online and were shocked to find that they were $15-$20 a pair! Then we looked at Sam’s and we were able to buy 12 pairs for about $50! They are the same type of socks we were seeing elsewhere and they are really comfortable. Also, for years we have bought my husband’s jeans there for $12.99 a pair.
Laura, Do you know if Azure has traveled as far as Eastern Ohio?
I’m not sure, you’ll have to check the Azure Standard website (http://azurestandard.com).
I live 5 minutes from a Costco and shop there quite often. I do have Amazon Prime and shop there often. However, I don’t really use the Subscribe and Save because I earn Amazon gift cards doing surveys that I save up for big ticket items with Amazon and if you have a GC balance on Amazon, you must use the balance to pay for Subscribe and Save items. That really gets on my nerves that they make you do that, so I never end up getting the extra amount off.
Unfortunately I am no where near a drop off for Azure Standard so I don’t get to use them at all.
There is now an option, where they ask what payment to use, while checking out, that will allow you to not use a gift card you have redeemed if you don’t want to use it.
Awesome!! Thanks for the info. I will have to check that out from now on.
Do you know if the price can change before they ship out a product???
No, the price is locked in when you click to subscribe. So even if the price goes up by the time they ship it, you still get the price at the time of purchase.
I have found that the first time it stays the same. However, the price can change before the next shipment or it can fall off of the subscribe and save list. I always receive an email with plenty of time to change or cancel the subscription before the next shipment.
Question… I have amazon prime and I have 5 items in my cart for this months subscribe and save but I am only saving 15%…. Granted thats good and i’ll take it! But just wonder how you got the extra 5% ?
Thank you!
You’ll need to sign up for Amazon Mom. It’s free since you have Amazon Prime, and should just take a minute or two.
I have moved to a small town in a different state from where I originally had Sam’s & Costco memberships but I still keep them even though they are an hours drive away in different directions because besides all the good organic and otherwise food items you can stock up on i.e. cases of vegetables etc. to add to storage for possible bad times, you never know what kind of wonderful bargains they are going to have in the way of household items you didn’t even know you needed at really bargain prices. We sometimes find clothes, books, Christmas decorations, jewelry, yard items and other household things. We go there when we have Drs. appts, or shopping to do and stock up on basics. We don’t have Azure deliveries here. I think memberships are small prices to pay for the benefit you get when you go. We make it a fun day.
I was wondering how and where the Amazon coupons are found; do they publish or send them in some way? Thank you!
Just saw February posting that answered this:).
Hi! I am wondering how you are getting 20% off? I know you get the 15% with 5 or more items, but where is the other 5? I do have Amazon mom, but I thought you only got 20% off diapers and wipes?? I put 5 household items in my cart, but it says 15% discount. Thanks!
Unfortunately, Amazon changed their 20% to just 15% off when you order 5 or more. But 15% is still good, so I won’t complain!
I’m just today seeing your article on Amazon, etc, on FB. The comments seem to be mostly from Feb, 2014, so hope you see this.
I’ve done the S&S at Amazon sometime now, but I didn’t know about coupons. How do we go about that please ?
Thank you,
Linda
When you’re on Amazon, click on “Today’s Deals” which is a link you’ll find at the top under the search bar. Then click “Coupons” and you’ll find all of them!