Sam’s Club Rolls Out Free Shipping Program to Compete with Amazon Prime

Updated August 10, 2020 by Kyle
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In an attempt to revamp sales and compete with Amazon Prime, Sam’s Club is kicking off FREE shipping on almost everything. In the wake of abruptly closing 63 stores last month, Sam’s is shaking things up and trying to jump-start their online sales. Here are the details:

Sam's Club Rolls Out Free Shipping Program to Compete with Amazon Prime

Who Is Eligible for Free Shipping?

The only Sam’s Club members who’ll score free shipping are “Plus” members. There is NO order minimum required to get free shipping.

A Plus membership will run you $99 annually and also get you perks like early shopping hours and exclusive discounts on pharmacy prescriptions and eye glasses.

Plus members will also get $10 back for every $500 they spend.

See Also: 7 Ways to Shop at Sam’s Club Without a Membership

What Products Are NOT Eligible for Free Shipping?

According to the Sam’s Club CEO, over 95% of the things they sell via their website will be eligible for free delivery.

Gone are the days where Sam’s uses the size and weight of the item, along with your address, to calculate the shipping costs.

While the CEO didn’t elaborate on the 5% of items that won’t be eligible, it’s save to assume they’ll be VERY large items like furniture and appliances.

Will It Be Free 2-Day Shipping Like Amazon Prime?

No, at least not yet. Although there is a 100% chance of this coming down the pike.

Sam’s Club is revamping a bunch of the stores they closed and turning them into distribution centers. They’re doing this right now with the Memphis, TN location (set to open in 6 weeks).

With the new distribution centers in place, it will obviously be much more practical to get items to your doorstep within 2 days.

What Are My New Membership Options at Sam’s Club?

Sam’s is also revamping their membership options from three to two.

Specifically, moving forward they only offer the PLUS membership ($100/yr) and the CLUB membership ($45/yr).

Sam's Club membership options

Ask the Reader: Do these changes make you more or less likely to shop with Sam’s Club?


By Kyle James

Photo credit to Sam’s Club.

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Carol Y

More likely to shop at Sam’s. I bought a fairly expensive item from Sam’s last Christmas and it made sense to buy a membership because the member discount was more than the cost of the card. I’ve been watching prices and they are competitive with Costco. Recently, for the first time ever instead of driving 25 minutes to Costco, walking around the store, packing up and then unloading the car, we had a huge sundries order shipped and decided our time was worth more than the cost of shipping (even after breaking down all the boxes!). If we can get similar prices at Sam’s with free shipping, it’ll be a game changer for us. We only buy a few grocery things from Amazon, because the prices fluctuate.