Should You Get a Sam's Club Membership Just for Black Friday Deals?

The ideal of bulk bargains is a tempting lure for many potential Sam's Club shoppers, but that $50 membership fee can be a real turnoff. If you're someone who's on the fence about joining Sam's Club, Black Friday may be your answer. 

Sam's Club's Black Friday deals will run Nov. 23-26, and they feature a ton of great gifts (as well as some items you may want to keep for yourself). Even better, some of these deals are so good, they'll even pay for your membership!

Deals that will save you $50 or more

Each of these deals offers enough savings to pay for your Sam's Club membership in one go.

$100 off the Apple iPad Pro 11" - 2022 with Wi-Fi

I imagine there will be a wide variety of deals on Apple products throughout the holiday season, but this is definitely the best price I was able to find on this specific model. My digging uncovered a sale price from Best Buy that actually matches Sam's Club's regular price of $749, but that was the best I could find.

This being the case, the extra $100 Black Friday discount seems to be an objectively good deal. Even if you subtract the cost of membership, you'll wind up with $50 in net savings over buying from another retailer. Not bad.

$70 off the Viking 13-Piece Tri-Ply Copper Cookware Set

These pots and pans are beautiful, and this set has a nice variety of pieces. Of course, they're pretty expensive, too -- especially if you're not getting this set from Sam's Club. 

As far as my sleuthing found, Sam's Club's regular price is the best deal you'll find on this 13-piece set. Add on an extra $70 in savings, and this deal not only pays for your Sam's Club membership, it nets you an additional $20 in savings over what you're saving by buying it from Sam's Club in the first place.

$50 off the Westinghouse ePX3500 2500 PSI 1.76 GPM Electric Pressure Washer

I consider a pressure washer to be a must-have tool for most homeowners. (It would make a great gift for a new homeowner, as well). And this deal could basically get you a free Sam's Club membership, to boot.

Normally, Sam's Club sells this model for $179.99. That's also the best price I could find for it elsewhere (Westinghouse.com wants $199.99 for it). If you buy it from Sam's Club on Black Friday, you'll get another $50 off. Since a Sam's Club Basic membership also happens to cost $50, you're essentially buying a pressure washer and getting a Sam's Club membership for free!

In other words, if you already had your eye on a Sam's Club membership -- and you're in the market for a pressure washer -- this deal could pay for your membership, making the savings you earn the rest of the year pure profit.

Consider smaller deals that may add up

Each of the deals above are examples of ways you could pay for your membership in one go. But don't forget about the range of smaller deals that could easily add up to a membership's worth of savings. It might be worth browsing the sales ad (with your gift list at hand) to see what savings are to be had.

You may also want to think about the year to come. Maybe you only save $25 on one deal right now, but you could save a lot more throughout the year. You'll have access to the full range of Member's Mark items, Sam's Club's well-rated and well-priced house brand. You can also get gas at Sam's Club-adjacent stations, which tend to have lower prices.

Speaking of gas: A Sam's Club membership also enables you to apply for the Sam's Club Mastercard. Cardholders get 5% back on up to $6,000 a year in gas purchases, which is better than most of the top gas rewards cards. And since the card has no annual fee, the only cost is the Sam's Club membership -- which you've ideally already made up for in holiday deals.

To Plus, or not to Plus

All of the deals we've looked at are lucrative enough that the savings will pay for a basic Sam's Club membership. But there are actually two levels of membership. For an extra $60 a year -- so a total of $110 annually -- you can upgrade to Sam's Club Plus membership. 

A Plus membership includes a variety of benefits for the extra cost, including:

• 2% back in Sam's Cash on Sam's Club purchases
• Free shipping from samsclub.com
• Free curbside pickup
• Early shopping hours
• Pharmacy discounts
• Optical discounts

Personally, I get a lot of use out of the free shipping (especially since we moved farther away). But it's the 2% back that might make an upgrade a good financial move for most shoppers.

Plus members will automatically get 2% back on their purchases, in a currency called Sam's Cash. You can redeem Sam's Cash to pay for your Sam's Club purchases. There's no minimum amount you need to redeem, so you can use any amount of Sam's Cash you accrue whenever you like. 

Sam's Cash can even be used to pay your membership renewal fee. This may be a good way to gauge each year if Sam's Club membership, or your Plus upgrade specifically, is worth keeping. If you don't earn enough Sam's Cash during the year to pay for the renewal, it might be time to downgrade.

Don't get distracted by the deals

The one thing I should caution you about here is not to get so swept up in discounts that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Keep strictly to your gift list, and compare prices on everything while shopping to ensure you're really getting bargains.