Costco vs. Sam's Club

 So, almost a year ago, I took advantage of a discounted deal on a Sam's Club membership for $19. It will renew automatically on July 8 for the full price of $50, unless I cancel it before then. I also have had a Costco membership for almost a decade, so this raises the question of whether I need to keep both, or if not, which to drop. In analyzing how I use each membership, I'm finding the equation is anything but straightforward.

The first question of cost for the membership itself would seem a 'no-brainer', in that the Sam's membership is $10 cheaper, but having had the Costco membership longer, I am slightly more invested in that ecosystem because I also have a Costco Visa card, which earns me more than enough cash back--even on my Sam's Club purchases--to cover the price of my Costco membership and then some. While I could get a similar Sam's Club card, the hassle of switching over, considering all of the automatic charges tied to the Costco card, makes this less than appealing. The advantage going in definitely belongs to Costco.

The second part of the equation is what I buy at each store. There are many items available at both stores, and at comparable prices. It's mostly a matter of convenience or which one has it on sale. Of course, there is also packaging to consider. Costco, for instance, offers most of its canned goods, in normal sized cans, shrink wrapped together in cases of six or twelve, depending on the product, while Sam's offers most of its canned goods in restaurant-sized no. 10 cans that are simply not practical for home use. Costco also seems to offer better quality in the form of more organic and gourmet selections than Sam's does, meaning that there is often more stuff I want to buy at Costco. In recent years, I have made Costco my go-to for tires and car batteries, although my most recent tire purchase was at Sam's, which was able to provide a slightly better turn key price. Having the tires from Sam's raises the concern over their warranty, which would instantly evaporate, should I decide to cancel that membership.

Part of my motivation for pulling the trigger on the Sam's Club membership was for a couple of specific items that are not offered at Costco, but is it enough to justify paying for that membership? The number of items in question is fairly small, and I often question whether I would be better off in the long run, using the price of the membership fee to buy those items elsewhere, albeit at a somewhat higher unit price? I have to keep in mind that sometimes, the unit cost of items at Sam's or Costco is not as competitive as it might seem on the surface.

Another sub-part of this question is how often I shop at each location. I tend to go to Costco about once a month, not including gasoline purchases, while I only go to Sam's every two months, on average, and seldom purchase gasoline there. Both stores use discounted gasoline as a loss leader, and fuel prices are comparable at both places. I will buy gas at either, if I need it, but the lines at both are enough of a hassle to keep me from going out of my way to buy fuel there, unless I'm in the neighborhood, which brings up the question of convenience.

In my city, the two stores are located almost directly across the road from one another, so they're equally (in)convenient for me. Both have congested parking, although Costco does have a bigger lot, so one can always easily park a little distance from the warehouse, saving time and fuel, as opposed to continually circling to find a spot. The latter is sometimes the only option at Sam's, which has a smaller lot.

Of a more esoteric nature is Costco's reputation for treating their employees well, which is evidenced by their low turnover rate. I see the same faces wearing red Costco vests year after year, and thus it is quite difficult to get hired there, as friends who have applied there have attested. But that makes me feel good about shopping there.  On the other hand, Sam's Club is a subsidiary of Walmart. Make of that what you will.

So, in the final analysis, a couple of conclusions have bubbled to the surface: For the reasons above, I am not considering canceling my Costco membership, and of the two, Sam's Club is the one I can more easily do without, but will I cancel it? I'm leaning toward keeping it and reassessing in a year whether I'm getting $50 worth of value from it. The membership was certainly worth the $20 I paid for it this year, but $50 will definitely be a much harder sell.

Getting Clued

One of my favorite board games when I was growing up was Clue. Using the process of elimination, players were challenged to solve the mystery of who murdered Mr. Boddie, in what room of his home, and with what weapon. I had a 1960s edition, which came in a khaki colored box with graphics resembling New Yorker cartoons. The appearance of the game changed over the years, and once Hasbro acquired the original publisher, Parker Brothers, numerous variations on the game itself began to appear, including a Harry Potter edition, appropriately set at Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, my cherished copy of that game, along with a couple of others, did not come with me when my wife and I divorced. After several years of not worrying about it, I decided I wanted to replace those childhood games, and began keeping my eyes open at thrift stores and at a second-hand bookstore I frequented. Newer editions, some with different characters, weapons and reconfigured game board layouts, were frequently available, albeit often incomplete. What I eventually realized was I wanted a copy with the original 1960s graphics that I'd had as a child. They would occasionally turn up at the used bookstore, and they always seemed to be available online, but at steep prices that I was not willing to pay.

Eventually, I spotted a bookshelf edition, in a handsome wooden box, sporting the 1960s graphics I was after, at a thrift shop. The only problem was it was incomplete. It was missing a couple of the weapons tokens, which were relatively unimportant for game play, and the Detective's Notebook pads, which were essential. But still, for less than $3, I couldn't pass it up. I was able to source a complete set of weapons online, albeit for a few dollars more than I paid for the whole game, but still less than the cost of a fast food lunch at the time.

The notebook pads were an even easier solution. I'm a pretty deft hand at using my word processor's table editor, so after a brief online search to find an example, I was able to replicate it, print out a few sheets, cut them apart, and keep the file stored on my computer. Unfortunately, that was a couple of computers ago, and although I am not completely out, I no longer have that file. I knew I should have stored it in the cloud. 

Earlier today, I did an online search and found a plethora of Detective's Notebook pages, downloadable for free. This is a great resource, as you can print out what you need for game night, and keep the file on your computer or cloud drive for future use, and it certainly beats having the expense of ordering additional pads from Parker Brothers, as we had to do when I was a kid. 

But just as there are variations in the game editions, there are variations in the notebook files online; for instance, some have different character names. Mrs. White was apparently dropped at some point, in favor of Dr. Orchid. This might be confusing to younger players, and most of the files I found are not editable. One exception is from templateroller.com, which has numbered blanks for suspect names so that you can type in names to match your edition of the game before printing them out. The only drawback here is the template is in a 'one up' configuration; that is, one notebook page per sheet. Some others are configured two-up, or even four-up. One version I looked at was three-up with one quadrant lined off for random notes. You can find what you need by entering the search terms "Clue detective notes printable" You might also want to include the word "free" to eliminate sites that would charge a fee to download or subscribe.

If you prefer to 'roll your own', as they say, you can easily set it up in a word processor like MS Word, Google Docs, or LibreOffice Write:

1. Start by splitting the page into two columns so that you can print the pages 'two-up'.
2. In the left column, use the table editor to create a table six columns wide by 24 rows deep. This will give you enough spaces for all six suspects, six weapons, and nine rooms used for the classic Clue game, plus three rows for category headings (Suspects, Weapons, Rooms), and the ability to use each notebook page five times.
   
3. The columns will be evenly spaced by default. You may wish to widen the leftmost column to provide more room for the various names. Do this by clicking and dragging the dividing line between the first and second columns to the desired width. Double-click the dividing lines between the rest of the columns to even out their widths. 
4. Type in the names of the suspects (Col. Mustard, Mr. Green, Miss Scarlet, Ms. Peacock, Prof. Plum, Mrs. White), weapons (knife, rope, wrench, revolver, lead pipe, candlestick), and rooms (kitchen, conservatory, lounge, dining room, billiards room, library, study, hall, ballroom), as appropriate for your edition of the game.
5. Turn on the grid lines to make them printable, then copy and paste everything into the right-hand column to make a two-up version.
   
6. Print the desired number of pages, and cut them apart, if desired.

Are you missing pieces to your cherished childhood board games? Never fear; it seems that on sites like eBay and Etsy, some sellers have made a cottage industry of buying incomplete board games for next to nothing at yard sales and such to part them out for spares. It pays to look at multiple listings to find what you need for the right price. 

When shopping for individual suspect, weapon and room cards for Clue, you need to make sure you get cards with graphics that match the edition you have; otherwise, the replacement card would be obvious without looking at the face. Depending on what's available, you may want to consider buying an entire set, which could prove to be more cost effective, especially if you need to replace more than one or two cards. This would also free you from having to match the graphics of your existing cards. 

So, what were the other childhood board games I replaced? They were Stratego and Yahtzee, both complete in bookshelf editions, as well as Stay Alive, which was missing a few marbles. I ended up completing that one with some Chinese checkers marbles, although I had to replace the lavender marbles with blue ones. Just for fun, I also added a single red marble as an optional 'sudden death' piece, to make the game more more fast-paced. I also got a copy of Battleship, which I had always wanted as a child, but had never owned. 

Now, I just need to have a game night.

UPDATE: I just replaced another pair of childhood games: Mastermind and Word Mastermind. In the original Mastermind, One player would arrange four colored pegs in a pattern and the other player would have several attempts to guess the pattern, with the first player providing feedback with black or white pegs to indicate a correct letter or color, and whether it was in the right position. It sounds simple, but can be far more challenging than it seems at first. Word Mastermind works much the same way, but the first player creates a four-letter word (no, not that kind of four-letter word!) for the other player to guess. I found both games in a package deal on eBay for about what one of them would go for. Even better, they're the exact versions I had when I was growing up.