As I walked into a new store today I was curious in evaluating its prices to see if there were any good deals to be found. I was then greeted by an employee who brought to my attention that if I wanted great deals I could get a membership that costs $10 a year. Sure enough, on all the price tags there was a regular price and a membership price for the items.
However, to me the member discounted rates seemed virtually the same if not more expensive than other stores. Therefore, to me this was mostly a business tactic to get you to shop exclusively at that store. Let’s face it, if you paid money for a membership you would feel silly to not use it as much as you can.
The last time I actually paid money for a membership was for a video game store where I would get 10% off each purchase. I knew that the margins were super low as it is and so sharing the discount with my friends and all made it worth it. Of course, the company killed the program rather quickly. My personal expectation though is that you should be saving at least 10% if the store is membership fee based versus a regular store. Otherwise it just doesn’t make sense and makes me weary about its other business practices.