Sam's Club: More Joy for your Jingle? $15 membership fee for 15 weeks of holiday shopping

I stumbled across this press release about Sam's Club's new holiday membership program.  If you aren't a member now, but might want to shop there for holiday bargains, then perhaps this is the program you've been looking for... but you can only buy their special membership from 9/29/2010 through 10/10/2010.  The membership would last just 15 weeks, enough to get you through the holiday season.

The press release also listed some nice things that you could do with that membership:

Holiday Taste of Sam's – To reduce the stress of holiday meal planning, Club members will have the opportunity to sample nearly 50 different items at the Eighth Annual Taste of Sam's event Nov. 19-21and receive in-Club demonstrations, menu ideas and recipe cards.

I don't know about you, but one of the most favorite things we like to do while shopping at Costco is to snag the samples.  Of course, I can't try everything (the last time I went, everything was either milk laden or wheat laden, sigh...) but I would love to go on a holiday tasting experience like that.  Nevermind paying for lunch for everyone... we'd just go a' sampling!

Personally, I think Sam's is super smart to be offering this kind of deal.  It lasts longer than a typical free membership trial that I've seen in the past... and psychologically speaking, if you have to pay for something, you are more likely to use it.   For many people, the $15 cost would be recouped in savings on the first trip.  My hubby worked at a Sam's for several years while putting himself through college.  We did a lot of our Christmas and grocery shopping there.

I wonder if Costco and/or BJ's will follow suit by offering such a tantalizing holiday membership deal?