Good Sam Club... promos worth it?

[scottydl]

I've read previous discussions on the Good Sam Club, and the differing opinions of members.  Some say it's nothing but guaranteed junk snail mail, and some say it's worth the 10% discount at GS parks.  One thing I never realized, however, was the price.  I always thought it would be in the $45 neighborhood like Passport America, so it was a no-brainer NOT to join.  But somehow I already got onto the GS mailing list, and received an offer to join.  It's only $12/year, which includes a free night's stay at a participating park, trip routing services, product testing opportunities, fuel/restaurant discounts (don't know the details on that), and a bunch of other stuff listed. 

Some of the "benefits" are obviously page filler that won't amount to anything, but the good stuff certainly seems worth $12.  Is there something I'm missing?  Do they jack up the price after year #1?  Is the free night impossible or extremely difficult to redeem?  I'm sure this promo has been sent to thousands of other potential members, so I wondered if anyone has recently joined and has any updated information on GS membership.

 

[Ron]

IMHO you will get much better value from Pasport America even at the higher cost than you will ever get from GS.  Most folks more than recover their PA dues several times over.

 

[Ned]

We find the 10% discount at selected campgrounds more than makes up for the membership fee.  The other benefits are marginal and we don't look for them at all.  It's easier today to be removed from their parent companies mailing list, but may take several tries.  We have gotten no mail at all from Affinity Group for many years since we requested removal from their lists.  They don't even send us renewal notices

We also belong to Passport America and use that whenever possible.  It's one of the best bargains in camping.

 

[Jeff]

G/S discounts are far more available than PA. We have both and use both on a very regulaqr basis.

We had ourselves removed from the Affinity mailing lists and through my own dumb actions got back on it by getting a quote for extended warrranty while at Quartzsite two years ago. It took a couple of phone calls and we were removed again and get no mail except the G/S magazine.

 

[Betty Brewer]

I've read previous discussions on the Good Sam Club,

We are long time members of both Passport America and Good Sam.  I think you will more than reap the benefits of both discounts.  As Jeff said, many more parks are Good Sam than PA so you have lots of opportunities to use them.  I think the fee stays about the same.  What we did was to renew  Good Sam for  5 years at a time so the fee looks higher but actually is about what you were quoted. We don't get any junk mail so that is not an issue for us.

Betty

 

[Boyd]

GSC is well worth the $12 per year. We have been members for 10+ years and enjoy the magazine and the discount. Most of the other discounts are not worth much but there for those who want them. GS discounts are even available to parks that are not GS. We have found many who will honor the discount even though they are not a GS park. We get about one piece of junk mail from them per month and just toss it. The best way to get rid of junk mail is to send it back in their envelope. It is amasing how quick they get the message. They have to pay the postage both ways.
Enjoy Good Sam, PS we have met some real nice folks on GS trips.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The $12 is a new member promotional rate. We sell them at the campground where I'm workamping for that price and the campground keeps half of that!

We have belonged to GS for 10 years and never took any overt action to reduce their junk mail. We don't get a lot from them anymore, maybe one item per month. No big deal and a few stays per year in a GS park re-pays the annual dues.  But we also use Passport America and look there first for campground choices.

 

[scottydl]

Thanks all... for what it's worth, I am already a PA member (joined even BEFORE buying my RV) and have used the 50% discount at three different places now.  So I am looking at GS as a secondary discount club to supplement PA, as many of you have mentioned doing.  The 10% doesn't seem like any great deal, but the free night certificate + the magazine (if useful) seem worth much more than $12 to me.  If I don't like it after the first year, I can always NOT renew.  Then wait for a "please come back" offer to arrive with the same low price, and then I might rejoin. 

Gary you mentioned the CG keeping half of the GS membership fees... an acquaintance of mine owns a CG near me and gets about the same percentage kickback ($22) for selling $45 PA memberships.  Although he has to give a bigger discount during the week, he said that the PA directory was excellent advertising when he opened the CG up a few years ago.  People drive miles and miles out of their way just for that 50% discount!

 

[Ron]

We are lifetime members of GS and become lifetime members BEFORE Affinity took over.  IMHO the GS organizations just isn't the same under the Affinity umbrella.  In fact if were were not Lifetime members we wouldn't be members at all. The only real benefit is the Highways magazine and even that has gone down hill since Affinity took over.

We do not necessarily look for GS campgrounds.  We have stayed at campgrounds in the area of a GS campground that were nicer and also cost the same or in some cases less than the GS campground.  I have seen some GS campgrounds that we would never stay in.  Many campgrounds will give you a discount equal to the GS discount if there is a GS campground in the area.

Guess it never hurts to try them out, unless you have something against junk mail, but keep track of what benefits you really like.  Personally I recommend FMCA, Escapees, and Passport America.