• On the surface, Costco and Sam's Club have a lot of similarities.
• A deeper look reveals some notable differences between the two brands' customer profiles.
• For example, Numerator data indicates wealthy urban shoppers are more likely to be members of Costco than Sam's Club.

On the surface, Costco and Sam's Club have a lot of similarities.

Both are sprawling warehouses stocked with palletized displays of bulk goods at bargain prices. Both charge an annual membership fee to access the deals. Both were directly inspired by the visionary entrepreneur Sol Price's original club stores.

However, digging a little deeper into consumer data reveals some notable differences between the two brands' customer profiles.

For starters, the typical Costco shopper spends nearly twice as much a year and visits more than 50% more frequently than Sam's Club members do, according to 2024 data from consumer analytics firm Numerator.

The typical Costco shopper visits about 32 times a year and spends a total of $3,086, while the typical Sam's Club shopper makes 20 trips and spends $1,583 in a year, according to Numerator.

As part of their overall retail budget, Costco shoppers spend roughly one in eight of their dollars at warehouse stores, which is almost 65% higher than the overall US average.

That wallet share is a bit lower for the typical Sam's Club member, who spends about one in 12 of their dollars at wholesale clubs — still higher than the US average by about 13%.

Costco shoppers also tend to be wealthier — earning more than $125,000 household income on average — while Sam's Club shoppers tend to have more mid-range incomes of between $40,000 and $125,000. Even so, Sam's Club members are slightly more likely to be homeowners than Costco members, Numerator finds.

And while both chains are unsurprisingly popular in the suburbs, Sam's Club is more popular among rural households and Costco has more strength with city dwellers, according to Numerator.

The data indicates that both chains tend to be equally popular among shoppers who identify as white. Walmart-owned Sam's Club is slightly favored by shoppers who identify as Black or Hispanic/Latino.

Meanwhile, Costco is exceptionally popular among Asian-identifying households, who are nearly twice as likely to shop there as at a typical retail brand.

Costco shoppers are also much more interested in organic foods than their Sam's Club counterparts.

In terms of age, Sam's Club shoppers skew slightly older than Costco shoppers, though Gen X shoppers are equal fans of both.

Kantar retail analyst Gina Logan told Business Insider that Gen Z and Alpha shoppers are increasingly seeing the appeal of the club store model, which could bring down the average customer age at both chains.

And 2024 was a big year for Sam's Club that saw the rollout of new AI-powered checkout technology and the grand opening of its first new store in seven years.

Sam's Club also managed to snatch the top ranking for customer satisfaction in retail from longtime winner Costco earlier this year.

Lastly, both chains are seeing a strong start to 2025, with visits up more than 7% from last year — double the increases for Walmart and Target — according to foot traffic data from Placer.ai.

Numerator's data indicates nearly half of American households shop at either Costco or Sam's Club at least once in the past year, underscoring that US shoppers love finding a good deal.

• Increasing narrowbody flights between North America and Europe are changing how people fly.
• Newer single-aisle planes are versatile with cheaper operating costs than widebodies.
• American and United will fly new routes with future A321XLRs and introduce new business classes.

Your next ride across the Atlantic may be smaller than you expected.

Several airlines are flying more narrow-body planes between North America and Europe this year — a shift from larger widebodies that have historically dominated transoceanic routes.

Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows that about 56,500 transatlantic narrowbody flights are scheduled in 2025, a 50% increase from 2019.

Although some people may see the strategy as counterintuitive — as fewer seats mean less revenue potential — narrowbodies are cheaper to operate than a widebody and are easier to fill on lower-demand but still profitable routes.

European planemaker Airbus is trailblazing this transatlantic trend. In 2018, it launched the extended-range Airbus A321neoLR to make long-haul flights more efficient than its previous generation options.

Airbus took its strategy one step further when its "extra long range" A321XLR launched in November. The Boeing 737 Max has less range than its Airbus rivals but is still used by a handful of carriers across the Atlantic.

The growing trend is changing how people fly to Europe. Smaller jets can be cozier and boast competitive fares due to their cheaper costs, and their fewer passengers mean faster boarding and deplaning times.

• When leaving jobs in the past, relationships with work friends have always fizzled out.
• I decided to be more intentional with my friend Kate, who I met at work.
• When I left the company we met at, we remained close, even though we've never met in person.

Whenever I've left a job, the relationship with my work bestie, someone I talked to daily, would wither away to the occasional Instagram comment or a half-hearted "we should catch up soon" that never actually happened. It was frustrating to realize workplace camaraderie is often fleeting. We job hop. We get busy. And if you work remotely, like I do, the barrier to friendship is even higher. There's only so much small talk I can handle on Zoom before I log off.

But then I met Kate. And for the first time, I realized that being intentional about a work friendship could change its trajectory.

We became close at work, but I left the company

I started my first copywriting job in 2021, and Kate was the SEO editor. At first, we bonded over the work itself, a shared love for writing long-form brand articles, tweaking headlines, and figuring out how to make our work topics interesting. But what really pushed us into work bestie status, like most people, was venting about a shared dislike for a certain coworker. That sealed the deal. Bond set, we continued to grow closer.

Then, I decided to leave the company. And while I was excited for what was next, I worried that, like so many other work friendships, this one would fade into the background of my professional past, leaving me to feel weird about missing someone I'd never spent time with outside Slack. That's probably how it would've gone if we hadn't made the conscious and slightly unusual decision to set up standing FaceTime chats.

It started as a way to keep in touch professionally — quick check-ins about where we were working, what projects we were tackling, and who we should connect each other with. But over time, it evolved into a work-adjacent relationship that is part mentorship, part friendship, and part professional partnership.

Our calls stretch beyond career updates. We talk about creative pursuits — me writing my debut novel, Kate going back to school to study arboriculture (which, yes, means trees). We dissect our personal and professional frustrations, feeling stuck or burnout. We've faced layoffs, promotion denials, and the stress of not knowing what we want next. Through it all, Kate has been my sounding board, offering advice, encouragement, and, most importantly, the reminder that I'm not alone in navigating work and life.

And the funny thing? We've never met in person, and it's been three years.

We've kept up virtually so far, but our friendship is very real

Our friendship exists entirely through screens and texts. We joke about it often, how strange it is that we know so much about each other's lives but have never shared a meal, never walked down the street together, never hugged hello or goodbye. "One day I'll visit Portland," I always say. "And I want to visit New York," Kate replies.

I know it will happen eventually. And when it does, it'll feel like a natural next step — not the beginning of our friendship, but just another chapter. Because even though we've never been in the same place at the same time, our relationship is real.

Most work friendships fizzle out, but this one didn't because we treated it like any other meaningful relationship that involved effort, time, and intentionality. And because of that, I've started approaching all my work friendships differently. I no longer assume they'll fade the moment someone moves on. Now, I make the first move — I send the text, schedule the catch-up call, and find ways to keep the connection alive. Sometimes, I feel even closer to the people I once spent 40 hours a week with.

• Layoffs led by DOGE have pushed thousands of federal workers into the job market.
• Job seekers with government experience might want to focus on skills that are valuable to companies.
• Be ready to share ways you've succeeded in your work, a career expert told BI.

Federal workers hoping to jump into the private sector might need to adopt a new skill: translation.

That's because it can be difficult for those in business to understand what it's like to work inside a sometimes mazelike government structure and what skills it requires.

Recruiters and career coaches told Business Insider that many federal workers have the know-how to succeed in private industry, yet they might struggle to make that clear.

Carrie Soave, who runs a career consulting firm in Detroit, said she was once a federal worker herself.

Soave told BI it can be tricky for government workers to convey to corporate human resources departments and hiring managers the value of their experience if it's buried under acronyms or hard-to-decipher job descriptions.

Instead, she encourages job seekers to think, "What is your success story?"

Cataloging those wins is becoming increasingly important as the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group run by Elon Musk, ushers in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce.

Telling a story

Leigh Henderson, who has nearly two decades of experience in corporate HR, told BI that erstwhile federal workers will struggle if they don't talk about their time in government in ways that resonate in a business setting.

"Companies want problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and leaders who can navigate complexity," she said. The good news is that government workers often have those strengths "in spades."

"The key is telling that story in a way that makes hiring managers listen," she said.

One example: A résumé for a federal worker might run a half-dozen more pages or more. In the private sector, a maximum of two pages is often the norm.

Amanda Augustine, a career coach with Careerminds, told BI that job seekers should remember that everything from their résumés to their LinkedIn profiles are, essentially, marketing documents.

Augustine said workers should make clear the skills they were using and how they leveraged those skills to create positive outcomes.

Fighting stigma

DOGE-led job cuts have pushed layoffs to their highest level since the pandemic, and more positions will likely be cut. DOGE has said that the reductions, in part, have targeted "low performers," a narrative that some federal employees have pushed back on.

Still, any stigma could prove challenging for one-time government staffers, said Ken Crowell, founder of EmployTest, which creates assessments for job candidates.

Tropes about bureaucrats and inefficiency could emerge as a headwind, he told BI.

"We can talk about fair and not fair, but you know, at a personal level, it's going to be tough for them to get through," Crowell said.

Still, he said many former government workers have vast experience and substantive leadership and management skills that employers would be foolish to dismiss out of turn.

Where the jobs might be

Farah Sharghi, a recruiter turned career coach, said where federal workers wind up in the private sector often depends on their skills.

"You could have somebody who works for a regulatory body, and then they go work for the type of companies that they regulated," she said.

Henderson, the longtime corporate HR worker, said former federal workers could do well in industries that involve complex operations and heavy regulation and security — including healthcare, defense, and logistics.

She said consulting firms often prize government workers' abilities to navigate bureaucracy and compliance protocols.

Henderson expects workers from some government agencies to appear especially attractive to employers. These include cybersecurity and IT pros who've worked in agencies like the Department of Defense because of a broad "arms race" for cybersecurity talent, she said.

"Government-trained professionals often bring top-tier experience in threat detection, risk assessment, and infrastructure security," Henderson said.

Time to reskill

Workers in highly specific roles, however, might need to add to their skills if their experience doesn't directly translate to a corporate setting. Henderson said policy analysts, compliance officers, and administrative specialists could face a tough time converting that experience to private industry.

She said workers might need to adjust to expectations that can be different in private industry than in government.

That's one area where so-called soft skills can come into play, Henderson said.

"Adaptability, strategic thinking, and stakeholder management will be critical for making that transition smoothly," she said.

• BI visited a facility in Kyiv where Ukrainian soldiers use virtual simulators to train for combat.
• One soldier training on air defense weapons said it helps him gain muscle memory with the system.
• The founder of the company making the simulators believes future training will be entirely virtual.

A quiet, sunny day is suddenly interrupted by the hum of a Russian drone. Moments later, another appears. Then another. Suddenly, they're crisscrossing in the sky as cruise missiles soar overhead. It is fast becoming impossible to shoot everything down.

This overwhelming scenario is one that Ukraine's defenders have faced repeatedly over the past three years of war, but when Business Insider experienced it, the Russian attack wasn't real.

BI recently visited a training center in Kyiv where Ukrainian forces from across the military use highly immersive virtual reality simulators to get ready for a fight — engaging lethal Russian threats like drones, missiles, and aircraft.

Ukrainian technology company PSS by Logics7 makes these simulators. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have used the company's systems to sharpen their combat skills and train for real-life battles, ones in which failing to shoot down an enemy threat can have deadly consequences.

"Future training systems will be only in virtual space," PSS founder Igor Belov told BI in an interview. "We do it right now."

The training simulators offer Ukrainian soldiers a cheaper and faster training process. They get the same feel for the weapon without expending valuable ammunition. It's also a safer way to practice and learn, as Russia has demonstrated that it will launch deadly strikes on Ukraine's training grounds.

BI observed Ukrainian soldiers training on the American-made .50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun and FIM-92 Stinger, and Soviet-era 9K38 Igla. The training weapons mimic the real deal in appearance, weight, and touch, so the soldiers develop strong muscle memory habits and become familiar with the systems.

The Browning is a popular weapon for Ukrainian mobile air defense units tasked with shooting down Russian drones like the Shahed-136, Iranian-made loitering munitions; Russia also has its own domestically produced version. The heavy machine guns are often mounted in the beds of ordinary pickup trucks. The Stinger and Igla, meanwhile, are man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS. These shoulder-launched weapons can fire missiles at higher-threat targets like planes, helicopters, and even cruise missiles.

The soldiers wear virtual-reality goggles and are placed in simulated battlefield scenarios. An operator can customize the combat experience, such as having drones attack from different directions or changing the weather to a low-visibility fog, making it significantly more challenging to spot and defend against threats.

Igor said the simulators make the soldiers more effective in actual combat scenarios, and the soldiers can attest to that.

Vitaliy, a Ukrainian soldier in an anti-aircraft unit, told BI through a translator that there's a clear difference between the simulation and firing a real gun on the battlefield. But the VR experience helps provide that muscle memory and feel that makes it easier to use the weapons in real life.

Vitaliy, who is identified only by his first name for security purposes, said training on the Stinger is easier than the Igla because the American launcher provides its operator with two chances to hit a target, whereas the Soviet system only gives one. He has been in combat before, but the training helps him keep his edge.

Soldiers serving in a mobile air defense unit on the outskirts of Kyiv told BI in a separate interview that simulator training helped them hone their skills on the Browning machine gun.

At the facility in Kyiv, this reporter tested the Browning simulator. It was manageable at first to shoot down a few slow-moving Shahed drones traveling in a straight line, leading the airborne threats by aiming just a little ahead of the drone to ensure the interception was perfectly timed.

But as more drones came in from different directions, it got more complicated. Eventually, cruise missiles were added into the mix, and the complex attack became completely overwhelming.

PSS offers soldiers plenty of other weapons for Ukrainian soldiers to train with beyond air defense, such as drones, small arms, or anti-tank weapons, like the Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon, or NLAW.

The simulator service is offered to the Ukrainian military at no cost as it wages war against the Russian invasion force, but Igor said PSS can still sell its product and wants to put it on the international market for foreign militaries to try.

"This system can be the main system for training in the whole world," Igor said. "It's necessary to develop as fast as we can."

VR and AR training is a highly sought-after training capability. Ukraine is not the only military that uses augmented reality to train on different weapons. Last year, this reporter visited a facility at Oklahoma's Fort Sill, where American soldiers practice with Stinger simulators just like the Ukrainians. BI has also previously participated in augmented-reality room-clearing exercises at what is now Fort Barfoot.

In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.

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One of the things that Apple got right with the foundation of macOS (then OS X) was the ability to operate the computer as a limited user. Running as a Standard user is one of the best ways to level up your macOS security, especially in the enterprise. The Mac team at SAP recently released Privileges 2.1, which has some great features to help IT teams allow their users to gain admin privileges when needed.

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Andrew Cunningham and Lee Hutchinson have spent decades of their lives with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time books, and they previously brought that knowledge to bear as they recapped each first season episode and second season episode of Amazon's WoT TV series. Now we're back in the saddle for season three—along with insights, jokes, and the occasional wild theory.

These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. We'll do our best to not spoil major future events from the books, but there's always the danger that something might slip out. If you want to stay completely unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you.

New episodes of The Wheel of Time season three will be posted for Amazon Prime subscribers every Thursday. This write-up covers the entire three-episode season premiere, which was released on March 13.

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English rugby union's top teams and the sport's private equity backer are in advanced talks to fund a multimillion pound loan to Newcastle Falcons to help it meet financial criteria allowing it to play next season.

The Maltese word, which resembled a British swear, has been removed

© Eurovision

Israeli drone reportedly strikes group of Palestinians collecting firewood

© AP

Ebrahim Rasool had previously served as the ambassador from 2010 to 2015

© AP

The billionaire says an unmanned mission by his SpaceX "Starship" vehicle will be followed by human landings as early as 2029.

FIRST ON FOX: China could face a crackdown on its influence in the U.S. on multiple fronts if a slate of new targeted bills is passed.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., led the introduction of three bills aimed at curbing Chinese influence this week. The measures specifically take action on China's acquisition of U.S. farmland, its predatory investment and its connections to U.S. education institutions. 

"China continues to buy up American farm land, steal our patents and expand their authoritarian world view," Lankford told Fox News Digital. "America will demonstrate to the world our values and maintain our economic and military strength to assure the globe has the best opportunity for freedom. No one in China should doubt America’s resolve and commitment to liberty."

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The Countering Adversarial and Malicious Partnerships at Universities and Schools Act (CAMPUS) would prohibit joint research between U.S. universities and those in China connected to its military and bar federal funds from going to schools that partner with entities linked to it. 

The next bill, known as the Belt & Road Oversight Act, is designed to monitor China's predatory lending practices and counter any economic coercion. The measure would establish officers at all worldwide embassies who would be charged with tracking its investments in critical infrastructure. 

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The third bill would conduct oversight into any purchases of U.S. agricultural land that could pose a national security threat. Named the Security and Oversight of International Landholdings (SOIL) Act, the measure specifically bans any federal assistance for certain real estate holdings that are owned by foreign entities and expands disclosure requirements for land purchases made by any such entities.  

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., co-sponsored both the CAMPUS and SOIL Acts. 

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The bills targeting China's influence come after the country held recent nuclear talks with Russia and Iran in Beijing. 

Ahead of the meeting, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the discussions would be about "developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions."

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The meeting was downplayed by President Trump earlier in the week. He suggested U.S. adversaries could be talking "de-escalation." 

"Well, maybe they're going to talk about non-nuclear problems. Maybe they're going to be talking about the de-escalation of nuclear weapons," Trump said in the Oval Office. 

FIRST ON FOX: A group of President Donald Trump's House GOP allies is leading a bill that would enshrine the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its efficiency efforts in federal law, giving it some protection from various legal challenges over the next year and a half.

"This creates a reporting structure that allows what DOGE is doing with the Cabinet to be relayed to Congress, which is our Article I authorities, which is really the idea of being good stewards of taxpayer funding," Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who is leading the bill, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

The legislation more generally codifies Trump's executive order directing Cabinet secretaries and heads of other executive offices to coordinate with DOGE on various government efficiency plans.

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It would give Elon Musk and DOGE Acting Administrator Amy Gleason more standing to implement various cuts within the federal government, as part of Trump's plan to cut federal waste.

"What Elon has done is that he's created kind of this algorithm that works in the background, that sifts through all of these different programs, 24 hours a day, to look at anomalies and how they're being utilized, to go ahead and say, ‘Hey, is this something for analysis? Is this something that we need to take a look at?’" Mills said. "That's really what this is — it's about modernizing and maximizing." 

The legislation is co-sponsored by House DOGE Caucus co-chair Aaron Bean, R-Fla., of which Mills is also a part.

Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.; Barry Moore, R-Ala.; and Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, are also helping lead the bill.

DOGE AND AGENCIES CANCEL 200,000 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARDS 

If passed, such a bill would likely help shield DOGE from Democratic efforts to block it from gathering federal government data.

Musk and DOGE were recently ordered to turn over a broad array of records by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in response to a lawsuit by more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general.