Sam’s Club Plus Membership Benefits and When It Pays Off

Sam’s Club Plus membership costs $120 a year, $60 more than Club, and its headline benefit is 2% back in Sam’s Cash on qualifying club purchases, up to $750 a year.

The rest of the value sits in delivery, shipping and a few service discounts. Whether Plus pays off depends on which of those you’ll use, and on fine print that rules out more purchases than most members expect.

Every Plus benefit next to Club

Sam’s Club’s membership benefits page lists the core five, and the delivery fees come from its Delivery from Club page. Both tiers share the basics, such as Instant Savings, member fuel prices and two cards per household.

How Sam’s Cash really works

Plus members earn 2% after discounts, on the pre-tax price, for qualifying purchases made in a club or through Curbside Pickup. That pickup detail matters, because shipped and delivered SamsClub.com orders earn nothing.

• Only the primary member and the free household cardholder earn. Paid add-on members don’t, for themselves or for the account.
• Returning an item takes back the Sam’s Cash it earned.
• The $750 cap runs per membership year and doesn’t reset until the day after that year ends, even if you renew early.
• Sam’s Cash expires if your membership stays lapsed for more than six months.

The Sam’s Club Mastercard runs on a separate track. Card purchases can earn up to $5,000 in Sam’s Cash per calendar year, and the terms say one source’s cap doesn’t apply to Sam’s Cash from another, so card rewards don’t eat into the $750 Plus limit.

Spending it is easier. Sam’s Club’s terms let you apply Sam’s Cash to most purchases in a club, online or in the app, and to your membership renewal when you renew it yourself. So a year of Plus rewards can pay part of next year’s fee.

What doesn’t earn the 2%

The exclusion list is longer than the perks page suggests, and a few items on it are everyday buys.

Milk and certain dairy products don’t count, and neither does fuel. Gift cards, membership fees, prescriptions, prescription glasses and contacts, vision exams, and services such as tire installation and delivery fees are out too.

That changes the math for heavy milk and gas buyers. A family spending $300 a month in the club, with $60 of it on milk and fuel, earns 2% on about $240, by my math, which comes to roughly $58 a year rather than $72.

Five ways Plus makes back $60

Sam’s Cash is the usual yardstick, and the membership cost breakdown works through that spending math. But other perks can cover the $60 step up on their own.

• Five delivery orders of $50 or more save the $12 Club fee each time.
• Five Express orders save $12 each, since Plus pays $10 against $22 for Club.
• A second pair of glasses at $150 for the same person saves $60 at 40% off.
• Switching one prescription that costs you $5 a month to one of the 10 free generics saves $60 a year.

In practice the perks stack. A household that orders delivery three times a year and earns $30 in Sam’s Cash has already covered the upgrade, by my math, without hitting any single threshold.

The pharmacy and online perks

The pharmacy benefit is the most concrete of the service perks. Plus members get a 30-day supply of more than 600 generics for $10 or less, and 10 of them for $0, according to Sam’s Club’s Plus pharmacy FAQ.

Those prices can’t be combined with insurance, so compare them with your copay first. The pharmacy guide covers the full list and the state exceptions.

Online, Plus members get up to 12 hours of early access to events such as Black Friday doorbusters, plus 20% more on Sam’s Cash Bonus Offers. Neither has a fixed dollar value, so I wouldn’t count them toward the $60.

The Plus refund few members use

Plus comes with a quiet safety net. Under Sam’s Club’s 100% Membership Satisfaction Guarantee, a member who’s unhappy with Plus can ask for a refund of what they paid for the Plus upgrade.

The terms limit it to the current membership year and to one downgrade refund per household or business each year, and the membership can’t be expired. They don’t say whether Sam’s Cash you’ve already earned is affected, so ask at the membership desk before you downgrade.

The refund means a year of Plus can be tested. A member who tracks Sam’s Cash and delivery savings for a few months can still downgrade within the same membership year if they fall short of $60.

Renewing, lapsing and canceling

Club members can move up to Plus from the upgrade page in their online account. Plus then renews each year at the price in effect, which is $120 today.

New members who want to start cheaper should know that the discounted first-year offers are Club offers. None of the six ID.me pages shows a Plus price.

Renewing late doesn’t buy extra time. Under the membership terms, a renewal within 60 days after the expiration date runs 12 months from that expiration date, not from the day you pay, and a Plus membership earns no Sam’s Cash while it’s expired.

To cancel outright, visit the membership desk at any club for an immediate cancellation, use chat, or call 888-746-7726. Without a refund, the membership keeps working until the end of its year.

Who should skip Plus

Plus is a poor fit for a household that rarely shops in the club and doesn’t use delivery. The 2% only applies to club and Curbside Pickup purchases, so a member who mostly orders shipped items gets free shipping and little else.

It also matters who does the shopping. If most purchases go on a paid add-on member’s card, none of them earn Sam’s Cash, and the case for Plus rests on delivery alone.

My view is that Plus earns its keep for families who use club delivery or the pharmacy, even below the usual spending line, and rarely for anyone else. A single shopper buying gas and milk is better off keeping the $60.

Prices, fees and policies were checked when this guide was last updated and can change without notice. Sam’s Club Tips is an independent site and is not affiliated with Sam’s Club or Walmart Inc.