Sam's Club Just Dropped Their Hot Dog Combo To $1.38

We've all heard the old adage that you shouldn't shop for groceries when you're hungry. In one study, according to Reuters, research revealed that grocery shoppers purchased a higher ratio of high-calorie foods to low-calorie foods closer to dinnertime when compared with shoppers who were at the same store earlier in the day. At Sam's Club, one way to help prevent those shopping-while-hungry impulse buys would be to stop in the store's café for a bite to eat before hitting the aisles.

The Sam's Club food court offers a range of items, and according to the chain's website, sundaes, pizza, and a hot dog combo are all on the menu. The hot dog included in the combo is a Member's Mark beef frank, and the deal includes a 32-ounce fountain drink. Sam's Club previously priced the hot dog and drink combo at $1.50, but now — just in time for the holiday shopping season — diners can have the same combo for 12 cents less, according to an email Mashed received from Sam's Club. Sam's Club may be hoping those 12 cents could give them a competitive edge over a certain other warehouse chain.

When it comes to members-only warehouse clubs hoping to lure holiday shoppers with hot dogs, Sam's Club has some competition. CNN reports Costco has had its hot dog and drink combo on the menu, priced at $1.50, since the mid-1980s. Though Costco reportedly sold 122 million hot dog and drink combos last year, CNN explains that for wholesale chains, these combos might not actually be profitable — not directly, anyway. Instead, the deals on drink-and-dog combos at Sam's Club and Coscto are likely designed to entice shoppers to spend more time shopping, in turn adding more items to their carts.

For the loss leader to do its magic, though, Sam's Club would need to actually have its food courts open, which may not be the case everywhere. Over on Instagram, when user @ohheysamsclub posted about the new hot dog combo pricing, some followers complained that their local Sam's Club Cafés aren't open regularly. One even revealed, "Ours hasn't been open in months!" For anyone looking to solve the predicament of craving a Sam's Club dog but not having access to one of the chain's food courts, the Member's Mark beef franks are also available on the Sam's Club website. To make it a combo, though, you might just have to hit up a drive-thru.