My husband and I swore we wouldn’t join Sam’s Club or any other warehouse club “just because we’re having a baby.” The nearest club is about 30 miles away, and we wouldn’t save enough on things like diapers and wipes to make it worth our while. The game changed though when we learned we’d have to switch our son to formula. We realized how much we could save on baby formula, and it was a no-brainer. We were soon proud card-carrying members of our local Sam’s.
I was a little bit exasperated when we learned that our baby couldn’t handle “regular” formula, and Sam’s Club didn’t carry the slightly more expensive Enfamil Gentlease that I tried next. At least our club didn’t carry it. Every little bit of money counts for us, and I was worried that we had wasted the $40 membership fee to be part of Sam’s inner circle. Exploring the Sam’s Club website a bit, I found a request form that allows customers to ask Sam’s Club to carry a specific item! I didn’t know if it would work, but I knew that other Sam’s Clubs carry Gentlease, so maybe ours would stock up too. I sent off a message explaining that we had specifically joined Sam’s to save on formula, and that the membership wasn’t worth it to us if we couldn’t purchase there. I told them the specific formula I was hoping to buy, and mentioned that other clubs carry it (including their competitor, BJ’s).
I received a response to my email very promptly! The customer service representative apologized for the inconvenience, and told me that the item had been added! It took a while for the website to reflect the new item at my club, but my husband decided to check to see if it was on the shelf anyway, and indeed it was. They’ve kept it in stock ever since. Their discount wasn’t as generous as I had hoped, but they sell larger cans (which are far more convenient), and the savings worked out to about $3. We had to abandon Gentlease for a few months because it turned out our son’s issues were a little more serious and he required hypoallergenic formula, but now he’s back to Gentlease, and I plan to get back to Sam’s Club to stock up!
So, if you’re looking for a specific item at Sam’s Club, don’t be afraid to request it before you switch to a different club. Sam’s has the cheapest membership fee (at least in my area), and their customer service people are very helpful.
I’ll hopefully be able to expand on my opinion of Sam’s Club (and warehouse stores in general) in a future post…when I’m less sleep-deprived and my little crawling guy is asleep! Right now I think I’ll take the opportunity for a quick nap myself.
