In June 2024, Sam's Club updated its delivery policy where members can receive free delivery on orders over $50. This quickly backfired, stirring outrage among members. And TikTok user @thatpurplehairteacher is one of them, calling out the company for this in a video with 507,000 views.
“If you have a Sam’s Club membership, you need to listen to this,” she told her 30,000 followers. “I’m so annoyed with their sneaky little [expletive] they’re pulling.”
Before sharing this incident, she explained why she loves the membership. “So, the reason I love it so much is that you get as a Sam’s Plus member, you get 2% back on every purchase that you make at Sam’s Club,” she said. “We have the Sam’s Club credit card."
"And you get an additional 3%. So, essentially, you're getting 5% back on every single thing you do at Sam’s Club.”
Here's where things took a turn though.
Initially, the content creator was excited upon hearing about the policy change. “Delivery became an option for me. So, I was able to have Sam’s Club groceries delivered to my house" @thatpurplehairteacher said. “Especially because they advertised free delivery for Sam’s Club Plus members. I am a Sam’s Plus member.”
However, she detected something off.
“I was paying my bills today and I’ve been noticing that, like, my rewards points at Sam’s haven’t been, like, increasing as much as I thought they would,” the teacher shared. Initially, the content creator attributed this to not physically going to the store and getting gas. “I figured that my rewards were growing more slowly because of the gas situation.”
But @thatpurplehairteacher was wrong.
“All of my points that I get from my purchases at Sam’s Club were not there,” she said. After searching online if members earn points back on delivery, the answer shocked her. “No, you do not. You do for pickup, you do for in-store but you do not get your 2% back when you are having the groceries delivered to your house. I’m not getting my 2% back.”
Now @thatpurplehairteacher is swearing off delivery.
“I will no longer be doing delivery. I will get my happy [expletive] out of my house on a Sunday and drive to Sam’s, get my cheap gas and pick up my groceries and get my 2% back.”
She reiterated her outrage, tagging the company in the caption, “@Sam’s Club this is pretty sneaky not gonna lie!”
The Daily Dot reached out to @thatpurplehairteacher as well as Sam’s Club for comment.
“They took away free shipping for plus members and now it’s min. $50… it’s annoying bc there is 1 specific thing I can only order online..it’s a rip off,” one viewer wrote.
“They also changed shipping for the plus membership. It used to be free shipping regardless of total but now you have to spend 50 to get free shipping,” another stated.
“I didn’t re-join [because] I paid extra for Sam’s plus just to get free shipping, & that was taken away mid membership! I was not happy,” a third commented
However, an alleged Sam’s Club worker had an explanation. “For someone who works for Sam's you don't get the cash back for deliveries because those in fact don't come from the actual store it comes from a warehouse," they said.
@thatpurplehairteacher @Sam’s Club this is pretty sneaky not gonna lie! #samsclub #samsclubmember #samsclubscam #scam #samsplusmember #samsclubplusmember #samsclubfinds #samsclubscanandgo #samsclubhaul #samsclubsamedaydelivery ♬ original sound - That Purple Hair Teacher
Steven Zapata, Sam’s Club spokesperson, told USA Today the reason. These changes are to “simplify the experience and fees for same day delivery and shipping” and “provide better access to the items our members buy the most.”
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post ‘This is pretty sneaky!’: Woman uses her Sam’s Club membership. Then she realizes there’s been a policy change appeared first on The Daily Dot.
