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Pay $40 for a Sam's Club membership, get $45 in gift cards (Update: Expired)

Still available! This deal literally puts $5 in your pocket while opening the warehouse door for one year.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read
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Pay $40 to join for a year, get $45 back to spend at the store.

Sam's Club

If you've always wanted to join a warehouse club but didn't relish the idea of paying an annual fee, this is the deal for you. For a limited time, ZDNet Academy is offering a 1-year Sam's Club membership for $40 with promo code CLUBFIVE. You'll then receive a pair of Sam's Club gift cards with a combined value of $45. That not only makes your membership free, it puts an extra $5 in your pocket. (Update: This deal is no longer available; it now leads to this one instead.)

Here are the details: About 10 days after you activate your membership, you'll receive a $25 e-gift card for use at Sam's Club. (As always, there may be some restrictions on how you can use that card. Alcohol is typically forbidden, for example.)

Meanwhile, after you spend at least $20 at SamsClub.com, you'll receive a gift card for $20. This one takes about three weeks to arrive.

The deal is available only to new Sam's Club members and residents of the US. Take note, too, that after the first year, your membership will auto-renew at the regular rate unless you cancel.

This is a Cheapskate exclusive, folks, and the only time I can recall you actually making money by signing up for a Sam's Club membership.

Your thoughts?

This article was previously published. 


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