Sam’s Club

First Impression

I downloaded this on a Thursday evening because my buddy Mark swore it would save my sanity during our weekend Costco run. He was half right. The app’s setup is fast—logged in with my membership number in under two minutes. But right away I noticed the interface feels crowded. There are buttons for everything: Scan & Go, Club Pickup, pharmacy, coupons, even a gas station locator. It’s like they threw every feature at the wall and hoped it would stick. I opened it the next morning at my local Sam’s Club in Austin and immediately hit the search bar to find a specific brand of protein powder. The results took about 4 seconds to load, which felt sluggish for a flagship phone like my Galaxy S23. Not a terrible start, but I expected snappier performance.

What It Does Well

The Scan & Go feature is genuinely good—when it works. I whipped my phone out, scanned a giant bag of frozen chicken breasts, added a carton of eggs, and paid right from the aisle. The checkout process took maybe 20 seconds. No waiting behind the family arguing over which paper towels to buy. That alone justifies the app’s existence for me. The membership card lives in the app too, so I didn’t have to carry my physical card. I also appreciated the personalized deals section. It showed me discounts on items I actually buy, not random junk. The store locator pulled up nearby clubs instantly, and the pharmacy refill feature let me queue up my allergy meds without calling anyone. The Club Pickup option worked fine last Saturday—I placed an order for a new TV, got a text 45 minutes later, and walked out with it in my trunk.

Where It Falls Short

Now for the annoying stuff. The app crashes on me at least once per shopping trip. I’ll have three items scanned and suddenly it freezes. Lost a whole cart last Sunday because the app closed mid-payment. I had to restart and re-scan everything. That’s a dealbreaker when you’re in a hurry. The search function is also inconsistent. Typing “kerug” for Keurig pods returned nothing, but “coffee pods” worked fine. For a 2024 app, the autocomplete should catch that. Battery drain is real too—my S23 dropped 18% in 30 minutes of scanning and browsing. That’s worse than when I stream video. And the homepage overloads me with ads for membership upgrades and credit cards before showing me my saved lists. I don’t need a pop-up about the Plus membership every time I open the app. Oh, and the loading spinner appears way too often during checkout.

Is It Worth the Price?

The app itself is free, so the real cost is your time and patience. If you’re already paying for a Sam’s Club membership, you’re leaving money on the table by not using it—Scan & Go alone saves me 10-15 minutes per trip. But if you’re not a member, don’t bother. The deals section is locked behind a login, and you can’t even browse prices without signing in. That feels stingy compared to Costco’s app, which at least shows you what’s available before you commit to a membership. For me, a power user who buys in bulk and hates lines, it’s worth the hassle of occasional crashes. For a casual shopper? Probably not.

Developer & Support

I haven’t contacted support because the app mostly works, but I skimmed the Play Store reviews before writing this. I see a lot of complaints about scan failures and checkout bugs that have gone unanswered for months. That’s a red flag. If the dev team isn’t addressing critical issues within a reasonable timeframe, I’m less inclined to trust them with my payment info. There’s no in-app chat or phone number easily visible—just a FAQ page that feels generic. I’d rather have a direct way to report bugs than hunt through forums. For an app tied to a massive retail chain, the lack of responsive support is disappointing.

Privacy & Safety

The app asks for location, camera (for scanning), and storage permissions. I get the camera request—Scan & Go needs it. Location makes sense for the store locator. But I notice it also pushes ads based on my shopping habits, which means it’s tracking my in-app behavior. That’s standard for retail apps, but the privacy policy is buried in a menu and wordy. I read through it one night and found clauses about sharing data with third-party advertisers. Nothing unusual, but you should know they will try to sell you more stuff based on what you buy. For a membership club, I expected a bit more discretion. If privacy is your hill to die on, avoid scanning sensitive items or use a dedicated shopping phone.