Sam's and Costco have dedicated staff who do nothing other than scour the classified and legal notices of papers throughout the US (and probably Canada as well) and cold call all day long to find companies in financial trouble and/or going out of business who can be talked into moving their inventory sideways for a reduced rate...

Remember Goodfellas where they ordered liquor, meat, etc. until the resteraunt ran up their accounts with theire vendors, and then they torched the place and defaulted?? ...or in the episodes of The Sopranos when they did the same thing to a sporting goods store owned by a gambler who got in over his head??

This happens every day, except big business took over the racket from the Mob, the companies simply file BK protection instead of being burned out (after the assets are sold off for cash, of course), and the merchandise goes to membership club outlets.

They do this in EVERY category... The gas grill you buy at Costco in Philly could have been liquidated stock from a Mom & Pop hardware store in rural Kentucky...

They don't necessarily have any on how to buy less than the legitmate retailers... They really don't buy that much of their inventory from the actual manufacturers and distributors of the products.