How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » wonder bread

I Hunted Down The Cheapest Warehouse Store For You

Steve Rhode — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:46:32 +0000

Recently I wrote an article titled Sam’s Club, CVS, Walmart, Lowes Food & Food Lion – Who Has The Best Prices?

The winner of that survey was the warehouse store, Sam’s Club and that got me wondering how Sam’s Club prices compared to other warehouse stores. So I got back in the car and went shopping and Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

In case you are not familiar with a warehouse store it is a store where people have to usually pay a membership fee to gain entrance (unless you just ask for a one day pass – shhh). These stores look like giant warehouses with rows and rows of tall steel shelves that are loaded with good on pallets by forklift. Usually on the floor level or first shelf are items consumers can place into their shopping cart. Merchandise usually includes everything you would find at a typical grocery store or mega store like Walmart, Super Target or, you know.

I realize that I’m publishing this article five days after the first one but I did gather these prices the very next day. I just needed a break from writing about bread again.

Costco

Bread
No Wonder bread
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.29
Skim – $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $4.39 for 36. Only sells in two 18 packs wrapped together. ($2.20)
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 rolls, 880 square feet $18.39 ($1.53 per roll) ($0.020/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 937.5 square feet 30 rolls $20.59 ($0.67 per roll) ($0.022/sq ft)

BJ’s

Bread
No Wonder bread
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.39
Skim – $2.98
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.49
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 rolls, 704 square feet $18.99 ($1.59 per roll) ($0.027/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 889.5 square feet 30 rolls $18.99 ($0.66 per roll) ($0.021/sq ft)

Sam’s Club

Bread
Wonder Bread 2 pack of 24oz loaves – $3.32
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.29
Skim $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.15
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 880 square feet – $17.58 ($1.45 per roll) ($0.019/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 36 rolls 854 square feet – $18.32 ($0.51 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)

Results

The results got a bit complicated since two of the warehouse stores did not sell Wonder sandwich bread so in this survey I’ll have to declare Sam’s the winner. I’m going to include Costco and even though they only sell double packs of 18 count eggs, I’ll divide the 36 count price.

I agree that this is a comparison of a select brand of goods. I chose these items for two reasons, they are things we have to use in our everyday lives and I picked widely known name brands that would be available, hopefully everywhere.

The square feet per pack is also an important factor to consider when shopping. If you looked only at the number of rolls in a pack of paper towels rather than the overall square feet in a similar count of rolls, you really can’t make a good comparison. Just look at the price difference per square feet of paper towels between BJ’s and Sam’s, that is a significant difference. In fact, BJ’s was the second most expensive store for paper towels when you add in all the stores I shopped at in this article and the first article.

The Least Expensive Place:
Bread – Sam’s Club
Milk – Sam’s Club – Costco
Eggs – Sam’s Club
Paper Towels – Sam’s Club
Toilet Paper – Sam’s Club – BJ’s

The Most Expensive Place:
Milk – BJ’s
Eggs – BJ’s
Paper Towels – BJ’s
Toilet Paper – Costco

So based on the results of this survey and my comparison of grocery stores, I’m shopping at Sam’s Club to save the most amount of money.

Sam’s Club, CVS, Walmart, Lowes Food & Food Lion – Who Has The Best Prices?

Steve Rhode — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:16:31 +0000

From How to Get Out of Debt

So Pam and I were talking about where to shop for the best prices and rather than guess, we got in the car and went price comparing.

To get a wide comparison of prices we went to Sam’s Club for wholesale prices, Walmart for bragging cheap prices, Lowes Food for your typical grocery store, Food Lion for a discount grocery store, and CVS drug store. We added CVS to the mix because I had heard that paper products were often cheaper at CVS.

We tried to compare the same products from store to store but where we couldn’t we did our best to find good comparisons.

SAM’s Club

Bread
Wonder Bread 2 pack of 24oz loaves – $3.32
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.29
Skim $2.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.15
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 880 square feet – $17.58 ($1.45 per roll) ($0.019/sq ft)
Generic Members Mark 12 pack 907.2 square feet – $13.86 ($1.15 per roll) ($0.015/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Generic Members Mark 36 rolls 860 square feet – $15.68 ($0.44 per roll)($0.018/sq ft)
Charmin Ultra Soft 36 rolls 854 square feet – $18.32 ($0.51 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)

Lowes Food

Bread
Wonder Bread 20oz Loaf – $2.49
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.89
Skim – $3.89
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.99
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 12 pack, 704 square feet – $16.99 ($1.42 per roll)($0.024/sq ft)
Generic 8 pack 376.4 square feet – $7.99 ($0.99 per roll)($0.021/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Chairman Ultra Soft 24 rolls 569.3 square feet – $15.35 ($0.64 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)
Generic 12 rolls 300 square feet – $7.99 ($0.66 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)

Walmart

Bread
Wonder Bread 20 oz loaf – $2.33
Wonder Bread 24 oz loaf – $2.42
Gallon of Milk
Whole $3.98
Skim $3.84
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.28
Paper Towels
Bounty Select-a-Size 6 rolls 484 square feet – $11.64 ($1.94 per roll)($0.024/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 24 rolls 569.3 square feet – $14.24 ($0.59 per roll)($0.025 sq/ft)

CVS Drug Store

Bread
None
Milk
None
Eggs
None
Paper Towels
Bounty 1 roll 63.2 square feet $2.19 ($2.19 per roll)($0.034/sq ft)
CVS Generic 3 rolls 151.2 sq ft $2.99 ($1.03 per roll)($0.019/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin 12 rolls 284.6 square feet – $10.99 ($0.92 per roll)($0.038/sq ft)
Generic 12 rolls 1311.5 square feet (single ply) – $8.99 ($0.75 per roll)($0.014/double ply/sq ft)

Food Lion

Bread
Wonder 20oz Loaf – $2.49
Generic Bread 20oz Loaf – $1.74
Gallon of Milk
Whole – $3.79
Skim – $3.79
Large Eggs
18 Count – $2.49
Paper Towels
Generic Select-a-Size 1 roll 75.6 square feet – $1.78 ($1.78 per roll)($0.023/sq ft)
Bounty Select-a-Size 1 roll 63.2 square feet – $2.23($2.23 per roll)($0.035/sq ft)
Toilet Paper
Charmin Ultra Soft 427 square feet 18 rolls – $11.61 ($0.65 per roll)($0.027/sq ft)

Results

So after all that data gathering, what are the results?

The Least Expensive Place:
Bread – Sam’s Club
Milk – Sam’s Club
Eggs – Sam’s Club
Paper Towels – Sam’s Club
Toilet Paper – Sam’s Club

The Most Expensive Place:
Bread – Food Lion
Milk – Walmart
Eggs – Lowes Food
Paper Towels – Food Lion
Toilet Paper – Food Lion

Biggest Surprise

The biggest surprise was that even if you turn your single ply toilet paper from CVS into double ply, the CVS generic toilet paper is the least expensive. It was only because the name brand toilet paper was more expensive that I did not give CVS the least expensive rating. After all it is a bit less desirable as single ply paper.

I was under the impression that Food Lion was a lower cost grocery store but from the data gathered tonight, that’s not the case. The warehouse store was a better deal but what if you don’t have room to store all the stuff? And I guess Pam and I should compare the different warehouse clubs next to see what the differences are there.

I was very surprised to see Bounty paper towels sold in an 18 pack at both Sam’s Club and Lowes Food but if you look the Lowes 18 pack is 176 square feet smaller so it would be wrong to compare the 18 pack price. If you did that then you’d say that Lowes Food was cheaper and you’d be wrong.

How to Get Out of Debt With the Get Out of Debt Guy » wonder bread

I Hunted Down The Cheapest Warehouse Store For You

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Sam’s Club, CVS, Walmart, Lowes Food & Food Lion – Who Has The Best Prices?

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