See Ya, Sam’s Club

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart years ago. You can read many of the reasons at Wal-Mart Watch, but to make things simple for you, I despise the shabby way they have treated their employees. I also have a general dislike of their cut-throat way of doing business.

All of the negatives associated with Wal-Mart are also associated with Sam’s Club. However Sam’s Club (owned by Wal-Mart) kept renewing my membership automatically, and so I kept telling myself “Self! You’ve just paid for another year, you might as well use it.” It was the lazy thing to do.

But no more! I will not be renewing the membership at Sam’s Club, and I will begin shopping at their competition, BJ’s Wholesale Club. Similar items do cost a little more at BJ’s, but to my way of thinking, in the long run shopping at Wal-Mart and Sam’s is actually expensive because of the effects on our community. In many states, Wal-Mart employees made up an unusually large percentage of a state’s public health care costs, because those same employees could not afford the Wal-Mart health insurance on their Wal-Mart salary. In fact, in many states Wal-Mart had more of its workers on public assisted health-care than any other company. That’s just one way Wal-Mart and Sam’s wind up hurting a community.

BJ’s also has a nice deal for new members — 15 months membership for the price of 12 months, and $10 off your first purchase of $25 or more. Plus, I get a free extra membership card for a family member (Sam’s charges extra).

See Ya, Sam’s Club (and Wal-Mart). I won’t miss you a bit. And may your future profits shrivel and go negative as more and more people start to see the world as I do.