The Sam's Club Benefit Costco Shoppers Wish They Had

With its hard-to-beat prices, beloved free samples, and legendary hot dogs, Costco is undeniably the most famous members-only bulk grocery store. However, the giant warehouse chain is far from the only player in the club retail space. Sam's Club is arguably Costco's biggest rival, and despite its smaller size, it has offered increasingly stiff competition in recent years. One of the many things that Sam's Club does better than Costco is its Scan & Go feature.

Sam's Club's Scan & Go technology essentially takes self-checkout to the next level. The in-app feature allows members to ring up their purchases via mobile phone while shopping in-store. When they are ready to check out, they simply pay through the app, show the resulting QR code receipt to a door attendant, and go on their merry way. Sam's Club has actually offered the Scan & Go feature since 2016, but it truly hit its stride during the pandemic. Self-checkout technology tends to be controversial, but if you like control and hate awkward social interactions, the Scan & Go app is a dream come true. Fans of the Scan & Go feature praise it as a time-saving and convenient way to skip the line and monitor spending. 

Despite the success of the Sam's Club Scan & Go feature, Costco does not currently offer a similar benefit for its members, and the futuristic technology probably won't be coming to Costco anytime soon. The reason Costco doesn't offer a benefit like Sam's Club's Scan & Go for its members isn't necessarily because the mega grocer is concerned customers won't ring up every little item in their cart, as some have speculated (apparently, Costco is more trusting than we give it credit for because it's receipt-checkers aren't trying to catch shoplifters, either). In reality, it probably has more to do with legal concerns than potential customer behavior. 

Walmart holds a patent on the technology behind the Scan & Go app, and the Sam's Club parent company has proven that it's willing to take competitors to court for introducing features it sees as too similar. In 2022, Walmart filed a lawsuit against BJ's over the rival chain's ExpressPay app, claiming that the wholesale club infringed on its patent rights. The most likely explanation for Costco's lack of Scan & Go technology (or any similar benefit) is that the company simply doesn't want to risk dealing with potential legal issues. But, hey, if Costco is open to suggestions for lawsuit-free ways to stay competitive and make customers happy, we suggest bringing back some of its fan-favorite discontinued bakery items.