The Special Sam's Club Membership Discount Costco Doesn't Offer

Costco and Sam's Club operate on relatively similar business models, in that they're both warehouse clubs that require you to buy yearly memberships, which gain access to grocery and retail goods at fair bulk pricing. Both have popular food courts stocked with pizza and jumbo-sized hot dogs, both offer wildly popular and cheap rotisserie chickens, and for the most part, they serve the same needs. Whether you like one or the other depends on your personal preferences, or more likely, whichever is closest to you.

But Sam's Club does offer one thing that Costco doesn't: It provides seniors (which are defined in this case as members aged 50 years and up) with a 60% off discount on a new regular Club membership, which is normally $50 per year. If you want to spring for the Sam's Club Plus membership, which gives you access to additional services such as enhanced hours, extra savings, and more, you'll get $50 off the $110 per year pricing. There is a small catch — your current or previous Sam's Club membership cannot be active for six months prior to signing up for the discounted membership — but Costco doesn't have a similar program,

There is one other key service that Sam's Club offers customers that Costco doesn't, and that's curbside pickup. For those seniors with limited mobility issues, this is probably an ideal scenario, considering bulk purchases are exactly that: bulky. Again, there is a minor catch: It's only free if you order more than $50 worth of goods, but since it only takes anywhere between three and four items to reach that price (in my general bulk shopping experience), it's more likely to come in more handy than not.

But there is one thing in Costco's favor when it comes to accessibility. There's simply more of them overall. While Sam's Club boasts nearly 600 locations between the United States and Puerto Rico, Costco has over 800, and that's across the entire globe. But even then, if you're a senior, you won't get any special treatment in terms of membership pricing there, no matter which part of the world you're in.