Teachers Can Now Join Sam's Club for Just $20

What happened

If you're a teacher who's been on the fence about joining Sam's Club, now's a good time to sign up. Through Aug. 15, teachers can get a basic Sam's Club membership for just $20, which is 60% off the regular cost.

So what

A basic Sam's Club membership costs $50 a year, while a Plus membership costs $110. The upgraded Plus membership offers the benefit of 2% cash back on qualifying purchases and other perks.

Now through Aug. 15, educators can sign up for a $20 annual basic Sam's Club membership. The offer includes school staff and principals as well. Those who are eligible will have to go through an ID.me verification process through Sam's Club to confirm that they qualify based on employment.

"We know that educators continue to dip into their own wallets to pay for classroom supplies, and we want to help ease the burden this year," Scott Ludwig, vice president of membership at Sam's Club, said in a statement.

Now what

Teachers can turn to Sam's Club for a host of personal and classroom supplies, from tissues to cleaning products, that educators are often forced to pay for out of pocket. A $20 annual Sam's Club membership is pretty hard to beat from a pricing perspective. But it only makes sense financially if you're actually going to use it.

If you typically rely on the parents of students to stock your classroom, and you don't particularly need a Sam's Club membership on a personal level (say, you have a small home with very little storage space), then you may want to pass on this offer, tempting as it may be. That said, the National Education Association estimated out-of-pocket spending among teachers at $820 on average for the 2022-2023 academic year. And well over 90% of teachers routinely shell out money from their own paychecks to cover the cost of supplies.

So chances are, if you have easy enough access to Sam's Club, you'll end up benefiting from a membership. Of course, if the closest warehouse club store is 30 minutes away and you don't see yourself getting over very often, then you may not want to sign up, despite the ultra-low price point. And you may decide to forgo a membership if you find that your local dollar store commonly stocks the items you need at a lower price point than what Sam's has to offer.

Finally, you may be wondering if it's more cost-effective to join Costco over Sam's Club. You may be inclined to do so if you have a Costco that's closer to your school or where you live.

But one thing you should know is that Costco rarely, if ever, offers discounts on its memberships. So at a minimum, you're probably looking at $60 to join Costco at the basic membership level, or $120 for an executive membership. If you've never shopped at a warehouse club before and aren't sure how much use you'll get out of a membership, you may want to start by paying $20 for a year of Sam's Club access and see how that goes before committing to a more expensive membership elsewhere.