Sams Club followup

Received a letter from the membership manager at my local Sam's. Now, normally, I don't like to pick TOO much on people's spelling / grammar, but this lady IS a manager, and...well, you'll see.

Mr. Miller,

I understand your frustration with the difference of Sam's Club pricing and would like to explain why our prices are different at each location. Each club comps prices within their local area on a weekly basis. For example, Tri-county and Fields Ertle (sic) (two stores you mentioned) will comp their local grocery stores, but they also comp Costco pricing, as eash (sic) of these stores have a Costco in their local range. Eastgate will comp their local GFS. Until recently, the Oakley store has had no one to comp but the local Meijer and Krogers (sic) which is easy for us to beat prices on (sic). However, we have just started comping Restaurant Depo (sic) as well, which will make a significant difference in our pricing as it is actually someone to compeat (sic) with. We have just gained access to comp them as of last week, so you should see a drop in our pricing. I hope this better explains why you find a difference in pricing between stores as each store has a range we are allowed to comp within as well as pricing autonomy on low on hand items and/or display units (sic for massive run-on). If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact myself or any other manager at the club.

Respectfully,

Ashley xxxxx
Membership Manger

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To which I responded:

Ms. Byrd,

Thank you for your response. I understand your reasoning, since it is your (and your fellow associates') responsibility to maximize profits for your store. I am sure that you will also understand that since it is my responsibility to provide food for my family at the lowest price possible, until such time as the prices come down, I will be doing my weekly Sam's club shopping at the xxxxx store.

I am not familiar with Restaurant Depot, though it appeared that they sell more supplies rather than actual food. I did notice that you did not mention comping with the Aldi on xxxxx, which has lower prices than you on many food items.

Again, thank you for your time. It was nice to actually get a response back (as opposed to previous times I have contacted Sam's)

Dan Miller.

Sams Club

Hi,

I am calling to complain about the high prices at the Sams Club that is nearest my house (Club #xxxx). I got a Sams Club membership (again) a little more than a year ago and for the most part have been very happy. You have a good selection and better prices on some items than a typical grocery store.

But recently, while I was at a different Sams Club also in the Cincinnati metro area, I noticed that the price on cheese was lower than I remembered. Then, after I got home and did a little research on your website, I found that this was not a fluke, that in fact, the prices at my Sams Club were consistently higher (and not insignificantly).

I compared 4 clubs that are near my house: Club xxxx (8 mins away), Club xxxx (22 mins), Club xxxx (15 mins) and club xxxx (23 mins), for the items that I typically buy at your store.

Here are a few of the items, with the prices at each of those 4 clubs
5 lb Cheddar Cheese - $8.24, $8.28, $9.16, $9.22
5 lb Mozzerella Cheese - $7.93, $8.05, $8.53, $8.56
American cheese - $7.42, $7.79, $8.12, $8.12
Pancake mix - $5.68, $5.72, $5.72, $6.48

I did find a few items (mostly non-perishables) that appeared to be the same price at each club.

I just find it frustrating that in order to achieve the "every day low prices" that your company always touts and advertises, that I have to drive around to several different clubs WITHIN YOUR SAME COMPANY!!!

I would like to send this to the manager of my local store (#xxxx) to let him know that he will now be losing my business due to his prices, but found no way to contact an individual store on your website.

Thank you for your time.

Dan Miller