--- title: Sam’s Club and Costco’s Battle Over Cheap Hot Dog Deals Is Heating Up description: 'Costco''s $1.50 hot dog combo is no longer the cheapest deal: Walmart-owned rival Sam''s Club lowers hot dog meal price to $1.38.' authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2022-11-17T17:46:34.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:44:45.000Z' section: Shopping tags: - Costco - Food - News word_count: 332 canonical: https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** Money may earn a commission when you click on the products and services below. Opinions are our own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how they appear. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/) about how we make money. ![Photo Illustration of 2 hot dogs clashing in a battle](https://img.money.com/2022/11/News-Costco-SamsClub-battle-over-cheap-hot-dog-deals.jpg?crop=0px%2C152px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) Costco no longer has the cheapest hot dog deal in town. During an [earnings call](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/11/15/walmart-inc-wmt-q3-2023-earnings-call-transcript/) this week, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced that Sam’s Club, the warehouse club owned by Walmart, will reduce the price of a hot dog and soda combo by 12 cents to $1.38. The price cut means that the in-store treat is now cheaper than its legendary counterpart at rival chain Costco. Costco's $1.50 hotdog and drink combo hasn’t changed since 1985, even as other prices have soared in subsequent decades. This fall, the Costco CFO Richard Galanti reiterated that the chain would keep the price of the combo the same “forever.” ## Why Costco hot dogs and rotisserie chickens are so cheap The announcement came as McMillon outlined plans to reduce prices on certain popular items even as persistently high [inflation](https://money.com/inflation-report-stocks-soaring/) pushes costs higher for businesses and shoppers alike. “We're removing inflation on a basket of traditional Thanksgiving food items,” he said, “including whole turkeys for under a dollar per pound.” McMillon also said racks of lamb and lobster tails in Sam's Club stores are more than 40% cheaper than they were last year. Pricing some items very cheaply — sometimes so cheap that the retailer doesn’t even make a profit — is a tried-and-true strategy for warehouse stores like Sam’s Club and Costco. “There are some businesses that are doing well with margin,” Costco’s Galanti explained in September, like gasoline and travel, where the store makes a big profit. “Those things help us be more aggressive in other areas.” The idea is that even though Sam’s Club or Costco won’t make profits on what retail experts call “loss leaders,” like $1.50 hot dog combos, or [$4.99 rotisserie chickens](https://money.com/costco-rotisserie-chicken-price-deal/), or legs of lamb, customers will shop more often and spend money on higher-margin products elsewhere in the store. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Shopping", "item": "https://money.com/shopping/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Food and Drink", "item": "https://money.com/food-and-drink/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Sam’s Club and Costco’s Battle Over Cheap Hot Dog Deals Is Heating Up" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/", "name": "Sam’s Club and Costco’s Battle Over Cheap Hot Dog Deals Is Heating Up", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-11-17T17:46:34.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/sams-club-costco-hot-dog-deals/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:44:45.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Sam’s Club and Costco’s Battle Over Cheap Hot Dog Deals Is Heating Up", "articleSection": "Shopping", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/11/News-Costco-SamsClub-battle-over-cheap-hot-dog-deals.jpg?crop=0px%2C152px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Costco-SamsClub-battle-over-cheap-hot-dog-deals" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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