Sam’s Club rolls out one-hour delivery, shifting work to club teams

A one-hour delivery promise does not live in the app screen alone. It lands on the club floor, in the back room, at the staging table and on the associate who has to make sure the right item leaves the building fast enough to meet the clock.

Sam’s Club said its enhanced Express delivery tier was rolled out fleet-wide across 600-plus clubs on April 2, 2026, after an initial test in select markets. Since then, the company says it has fulfilled nearly 65,000 Express deliveries, with an average order time of 55 minutes from placement to delivery. Its 10 fastest deliveries were completed in under 12 minutes.

That speed changes the work inside the club. Because the service is fulfilled from clubs rather than distant fulfillment centers, local inventory accuracy, pick quality, substitution handling, shelf availability and handoff timing become part of the product itself. The company’s own framing makes that plain: the faster delivery is, the more pressure falls on club teams, pickers, staging, zoning and back-room organization to keep the operation clean enough to keep moving.

The orders also show how members are using the service. Sam’s Club says a significant share of Express orders includes water, produce, rotisserie chicken and paper goods, the kind of everyday essentials that can trigger urgent picks and tight staging windows. The company cited examples including a daycare in Fargo, North Dakota, getting Member’s Mark baby formula in less than 9 minutes, new parents in Amarillo, Texas, receiving diapers and pistachios in 11 minutes, and a Louisville, Kentucky, pet owner getting Purina Friskies wet cat food in about 11 minutes.

The pricing structure shows the tradeoff members are making for that speed. Reported pricing puts the one-hour Express tier at $10 for Plus members and $22 for Club members, while the slower three-hour option is $5 for Plus members and $17 for Club members. Sam’s Club says the enhanced Express tier has no minimum purchase requirement and uses in-club pricing.

The company’s help center says Delivery from Club lets members shop items from their local club in the app or on the website and choose Express, same-day or next-day service. Curbside pickup remains free for all members, with no minimum or fees, keeping the club at the center of both fast delivery and in-person fulfillment.

The delivery push fits a broader growth plan. In April 2025, Sam’s Club said it planned to open 30 new locations, add about 15 clubs a year over its planning horizon and remodel all 600 of its existing clubs. With trade reporting tying fiscal 2025 U.S. net sales to $90.2 billion, local execution is no longer a side task inside Sam’s Club. It is part of how the business keeps growing.