FREE Sam’s Club Membership for Military (During Government Shutdown)
Calling all Military Personnel! I just found out that during the government shutdown (while the Commissaries are closed), you can head on over to your local Sam’s Club to shop (No Membership Needed!). Just be sure to bring in a valid Military I.D card. Read more here.
“In appreciation for the service that military personnel provide our members and communities, Sam’s Club locations near military bases will waive membership requirements for military personnel, retirees and their families so they may continue saving on everyday goods and groceries,” club officials said in a statement.”
(Thanks for the heads up, Military Wives Saving and Jennifer!)
That’s awesome! Husband just got back from Wal-mart here and it was packed due to the commissary being shut down. This will be another place to shop! 🙂 Thanks!
YW! 🙂
Wow! What a great service they are providing! I may just have to buy a membership now since they take great care of service members and their families!
If anyone in your family is active duty or veteran, ask for “Military Membership”… it’s a little known fact that Sam’s Club offers free $10 gift card to all military members every year at renewal. You just have to show your military ID at the membership desk when you renew (and they may have this offer for signing up too… double check). Hope that helps! 🙂
Good job Sams Club!!!
Wow! What a great thing for Walmart and Sam’s club to do for the military. Thanks so much.
So Awesome!! We were already planning our next grocery trip with dread because the prices are so much higher off base. This is a great chance to stock up on bulk items that will last through the shutdown.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for doing this! Our family needs this boost!
I’m excited. I gave up my membership a year ago. I’m excited to back in for the time being to stock up. Thank you Wal Mart for supporting us.
This is awesome from SAMs club, but they should offer that to the federal employees as well. My hubby is one and it’s affecting us already big time. We worried about paying the bills, buying groceries and the benefits (2 small children in the house). It feels horrible to sit at home and don’t know when this will be over. Eventually we will run out of savings… 🙁
my heart goes out to you & your family. I hope that this is over soon so that all those who have been affected can return to work.
Vic… I agree that it would be an amazing thing for them to extend this to all fed employees. Thinking of you as one member of the federal family to another.
There’s no guarantee that federal employees will be paid for the days that we’re furloughed. Congress has to agree on that. Going days or weeks without pay is not a good feeling for anyone.
Vic hang in there. Sending love and support from a fed in KY. Check your Sam’s Club to see if they’re extending the offer to furloughed civilians.
I should clarify- my husband and I and our 6, almost 7 kids are in the SW boat. People survived the Great Depression, we’ll survive this.
SW. Lol, same boat*
Some of us are going on our second round of furloughs in 3 months. Good luck to you and your family. I wish that I could share your optimism.
They have never not provided back pay in the past. It is just a matter of time.
Yes, but all these furloughed federal employees (the ones actually sent home and NOT working) likely won’t receive back pay because they are NOT working. We are in that situation and are not expecting to be paid. Perhaps we’ll be allowed to use leave balances to cover some of the time, however.
That’s actually not true (depends on which Department you worked for — my husband is a long-time fed, so we remember). With the furloughs this year, we are already out of several days of pay (and THAT never happened to us before). I could easily see them using this as a cost-savings move.
Sorry — the above was a reply to animty above.
I am in the same boat as you, but I AM so happy that I coupon and have a ‘decent’ stockpile of health and beauty and ‘enough’ to get by with in the cupboards. Thankful for what I do have! If I have to, next week I’ll go out and get a job. Something I’ve never had to do in my husband’s 20 years as a Federal Employee, but… it is what it is… you do what you got to do… (Glad my kid’s like grill cheese and I might just be making that out of shredded cheese from the Kraft first taste kits if I HAVE to!) 😉
Agreed
Agree with you on that. I am very happy and thankful that I started to coupon years ago. I was able to build up my stockpile as well and provide supplies to my unemployed MIL. But my biggest concern are the health benefits. Eventually they’ll run out and with two kids (one with a life threatening food allergy) it’s not a good thing. An accident can happen any moment. I even started working few months ago but with my job I don’t have health insurance as my kids and me were covered under my hubby’s employer (fed). And due to purchasing a house and two death in the family, the savings started to shrink. That’s what I’m worried about. But I know, we all can make it if there’s a will, even if that means we have to eat free hotdogs and Mac n cheese three straight days in a roll 😉
you can get state health care for your children while he isn’t earning an income. I wish him back to work in a speedy manor. the stress of no income is a stress that no one should have to face.
If you have FEHB, you won’t lose your benefits while in a non pay status. The amount that would’ve been deducted from your paychecks will be deducted from the first paycheck that you receive when the furlough ends. It sucks but at least your family will continue to receive health benefits during this ugly mess.
Tee is correct, i have FEHB and worrying about insurance is the one thing that shouldn’t keep us up at night.
I hope the shutdown doesn’t last very long and everyone gets back pay however the only reason SAMs is offering this is because the commissaries are closed and it’s my understanding that federal employees don’t have access to the commissary.
Hopefully other opportunities start popping up for everyone affected
I so agree. Over 800,000 people are out of work with no idea of when they will be back (my 10 year old asked me this evening — in tears — when they were going to pass the budget… I didn’t even know what to say). No matter what your political affiliation, I would hope that people would recognize that these professional workers are being used as pawns in a political game — honest, hard-working people who just want to get back to their jobs SERVING the American public at below-average pay (there are studies about this — when education is taken into account, federal workers are paid much less than private-sector workers; most do this out of a sense of public responsibility).
Just as most politicians would NEVER think of letting the military go unpaid, they should also never think of letting feds go unpaid. They are human beings who have to support their families, too.
Please contact your elected officials about this — for as much political pressure is occurring because National Parks are closed, so much more should be done because of this injustice.
Reading that about your child broke my heart Sarah. Good luck to your family. Sending you much support from another fed
Sorry to hear, at least you guys have savings to spend
Commissaries being closed has not been mentioned on the news as one of the effects of this nonsense and it should be! I don’t live near a military base, but it hasn’t been mentioned on the nightly news either.
It was mentioned on my local news networks.. I live too far away to take advantage of the commissary.. the $$ i’d save would end up in my gas tank.. but can only imagine how packed the local area stores are now..
I’ve seen this story featured on MSNBC and ABC News. It is receiving coverage, it’s just buried under all of the political nonsense. Push for your local stations to make this bigger news so hopefully it gets more attention on the national scale.
Before grabbing a buggy please go to the membership desk. The registers will not scan any merchandise unless a membership number is provided. The membership desk would be the one to provide you with that temporary card.
I work at Sam’s Club…. for our store, you just show your military ID at the front door (to the greeter), and then bring your items to the register & the cashier will scan a special temporary card that’s only for Military during the government shutdown.
We’re not issuing temporary cards for each Military customer (this avoids long lines at the membership desk)… instead we have one card to cover everyone– you just have to show your Military ID at the register. Hope that helps!
**** ALSO…. don’t forget…. if you decide to join, all active duty and veterans get free $10 gift card every year with renewal. You just need to go to membership desk and show your military ID– it’s under “Military Membership” *****
According to Sams Club in Clarksville, Indiana they are offering military persons to enter and use the Sams Club facility without having a membership card.
So great of Sam’s Club to be doing this. My heart goes out to the families that have been hit by this shutdown. I am from Indiana and have learned that the Indianapolis Children’s Museum is offering free admission to furloughed federal employees Oct 4-6th. If you are in Indiana you might want to check this out. If you are not in Indiana, maybe some places where you live will start to do something like this.
Hooray for Sam’s Club!!!!
Wish we had one close by. Might be worth the 2 hour drive just to support them for supporting us 🙂