You Don't Need A Membership To Shop At This Grocery Warehouse

When most folks think about where to get the most bang for their buck at the supermarket, a couple of membership establishments usually come to mind. However, Costco and Sam's Club aren't necessarily the cheapest grocery store options out there, especially when you consider the membership fee you have to pay for the privilege of getting in the door. While alcohol at Costco can be bought without a membership, most of these sorts of stores require someone to fork over at least $65 for one year of shopping. That makes WinCo, a warehouse-style grocery store that's in direct competition with other big-box establishments, particularly appealing.

At WinCo (which stands for "winning company") no membership is needed to take advantage of its low prices, which is perhaps part of its strategy for attracting customers. The grocery chain eliminates the need for distributors by going straight to the source for many of its goods, which is one way it can boast such low prices. It also doesn't try to lure people in with extravagant advertisements, which cuts out the marketing costs other warehouse grocery stores sometimes invest heavily in. The drawbacks: you have to bag your own groceries and can't use a credit card to pay (though debit cards are accepted); both factors further contribute to the low prices at WinCo.

Being that you don't need a membership card like other big-box stores, one would think the company would be better known than it currently is. The fact that some folks in the country have never even heard of WinCo leads to one other drawback faced by the grocery chain: availability.

The reason why some folks may not have heard about WinCo's membership-free shopping experience is that it primarily operates on the West Coast. The company is headquartered in Boise, Idaho and has dozens of stores in California, Oregon, and Washington, but it only gets as far east as Texas and Oklahoma. Currently, there are 141 WinCo locations in the U.S., compared to 627 Costco stores in the nation. That lack of locations may be the only thing keeping WinCo from becoming the dominant force in the grocery market today, as it not only gets decent reviews from customers, but the people who work there have a generally positive attitude towards the business — which may present quite a contrast from the largest grocery chain in the country.

People who work at WinCo are given 20% of their yearly income as private stock in the company as a type of pension. Over 400 WinCo employees — that would be the regular folks who stock the shelves and ring you up in the checkout line — have about $1 million invested in their pensions. With compensation plans like that, getting a job there is almost as good as being able to save some dough on groceries without having to pay membership fees  ... that is, if there is WinCo in your region.