Sam’s Club in Sartell May Soon Make This Major Change

When you are shopping at one of the member's only warehouses in St. Cloud which do you use?  Sam's Club or Costco?  Personally, I have at one time or another had either of those memberships.  For me it's the one that is more convenient.

There was a huge issue a few months ago when Costco started cracking down on people who aren't members using a friend's membership card to shop.  People were very upset that they could no longer "cheat the system".  And before you get all upset with that statement, let's think about it... that is really what it was.  Whether you thought the policy was stupid or not, that's what it was, same thing a lot of the streaming services are doing.

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Anyway, one thing that both warehouses do is check your reciept as you leave the building.  Costco is a little more lax than Sam's Club (unless you use the scan and go feature). But now, that could be changing at Sam's Club.

There is a new system that Sam's Club is testing out in about 10 different locations.  All but one of them are in Dallas, Texas area.  The other is in Missouri.  And if all goes well, they will be rolling it out to all the Sam's Club locations including the one here in the St. Cloud area.

It's not as though they are not going to be checking to make sure you aren't walking out the door with something you didn't pay for, but they are going to be using a new system. Big surprise - the plan is to utilize AI.  From KARE 11:

Sam's Club is planning to stop having employees check receipts at the door, instead turning to artificial intelligence and computer vision technology. 

The announcement was made during Walmart's keynote address this week at CES 2024. Sam's Club is owned by Walmart. 

How is this going to work, exactly - we will have to wait and see how well it works and when it will be implemented in all of the Sam's Club locations.