11 Reasons To Love Costco That Don't include Shopping
bootlegga @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:55 pm
11 Reasons To Love Costco That Have Nothing To Do With Shopping
$1:
It's not just the bulk toilet paper and $1.50 hot dog combos. There's more going on here.
1. The company pays a living wage. Costco's CEO and president, Craig Jelinek, has publicly endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and he takes that to heart. The company's starting pay is $11.50 per hour, and the average employee wage is $21 per hour, not including overtime. Most other big box retailers start their employees at minimum wage.
2. Workers get benefits. About 88 percent of Costco employees have company-sponsored health insurance, according to David Sherwood, Costco's Director of Financial Planning and Investor Relations. "I just think people need to make a living wage with health benefits,” Jelinek told Bloomberg. “It also puts more money back into the economy and creates a healthier country. It’s really that simple.”
3. The CEO makes a reasonable salary. Costco's CEO makes far less than most executives, with a total compensation package of about $4.83 million in 2012. In contrast, Walmart CEO Mike Duke made roughly $19.3 million during the same year. Walmart's CEO earns as much as 796 average employees, according to CNN Money, compared to Costco's CEO making 48 times more than the company's median wage.
4. Costco helped its employees weather the recession. When the economic crisis hit and other retailers laid off workers, Costco's CEO approved a $1.50-an-hour wage increase for many hourly employees, spread out over three years.
5. Costco doesn't kill Thanksgiving. While many of its competitors are forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving Day, Costco will buck the trend and stay closed.
6. It also doesn’t waste money on expensive advertising. The company doesn't advertise nor does it hire a public relations staff. Meanwhile, Walmart dropped $1.89 billion on ads in 2011.
7. Its prices aren't horrendously high. Costco never marks up products by more than 15 percent, while most retailers commonly mark products up by more than 25 percent.
8. It embraces equality. Costco scored extremely well (90/100) on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, an assessment of LGBT policies in the workplace.
9. It hires from the inside. More than 70 percent of its warehouse managers began their careers working the register or the floor.
10. Costco's employees are loyal. For employees that have worked at the company for more than one year, the annual turnover rate is below six percent, according to Sherwood. For executives, the turnover rate is less than one percent.
11. Free samples. Need we say more?
1. The company pays a living wage. Costco's CEO and president, Craig Jelinek, has publicly endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and he takes that to heart. The company's starting pay is $11.50 per hour, and the average employee wage is $21 per hour, not including overtime. Most other big box retailers start their employees at minimum wage.
2. Workers get benefits. About 88 percent of Costco employees have company-sponsored health insurance, according to David Sherwood, Costco's Director of Financial Planning and Investor Relations. "I just think people need to make a living wage with health benefits,” Jelinek told Bloomberg. “It also puts more money back into the economy and creates a healthier country. It’s really that simple.”
3. The CEO makes a reasonable salary. Costco's CEO makes far less than most executives, with a total compensation package of about $4.83 million in 2012. In contrast, Walmart CEO Mike Duke made roughly $19.3 million during the same year. Walmart's CEO earns as much as 796 average employees, according to CNN Money, compared to Costco's CEO making 48 times more than the company's median wage.
4. Costco helped its employees weather the recession. When the economic crisis hit and other retailers laid off workers, Costco's CEO approved a $1.50-an-hour wage increase for many hourly employees, spread out over three years.
5. Costco doesn't kill Thanksgiving. While many of its competitors are forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving Day, Costco will buck the trend and stay closed.
6. It also doesn’t waste money on expensive advertising. The company doesn't advertise nor does it hire a public relations staff. Meanwhile, Walmart dropped $1.89 billion on ads in 2011.
7. Its prices aren't horrendously high. Costco never marks up products by more than 15 percent, while most retailers commonly mark products up by more than 25 percent.
8. It embraces equality. Costco scored extremely well (90/100) on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, an assessment of LGBT policies in the workplace.
9. It hires from the inside. More than 70 percent of its warehouse managers began their careers working the register or the floor.
10. Costco's employees are loyal. For employees that have worked at the company for more than one year, the annual turnover rate is below six percent, according to Sherwood. For executives, the turnover rate is less than one percent.
11. Free samples. Need we say more?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 75774.html
DrCaleb @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:03 pm
It always made me wonder why the stock price never reflected how good the company seems.
bootlegga @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:14 pm
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
It always made me wonder why the stock price never reflected how good the company seems.
Maybe it has something to do with Costco's continual refusal to slash wages in favour of profits...
$1:
Costco went public in 1985, and over the years, Wall Street repeatedly asked it to reduce wages and health benefits. Sinegal instead boosted them every three years.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... e-world#p3
BartSimpson @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:22 pm
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
It always made me wonder why the stock price never reflected how good the company seems.
Ever since the Business Roundtable changed the job descriptions of CEO's the stock of firms like Costco has taken a hit.
Why?
Before the c*cksuckers from the BRT changed their policy in the 1990's the job of a CEO was to grow market share and grow their companies.
http://businessroundtable.org/
Since then the job has been to deliver profits to shareholders. Period.
This is why we no longer hear about 'corporate raiders' like Charles Hurwitz who used to perform hostile takeovers of responsible firms and then dismantle them piece-by-piece. This is because companies went from fending off these vultures to HIRING them!
Any company that looks to the long-term and employs practices to secure its future over short-term profits to investment blocs like CalPERS, CalSTRS, and etc. get punished with crappy stock values that inaccurately represent the actual value of the investment.
I experienced this effect first-hand when Intel's last 'founder' Craig Barrett retired in favor of the BRT acolyte, Paul Otellini. Otellini immediately set about ending Intel's history as one of the best places to work in America. Intel was atop that list in the early 2000's and these days it's not even in the top 500.
He effectively ended many of the employee oriented practices that kept people on with the firm - most notably the Sabbatical - a paid three-month long vacation at the end of everyone's seventh year. He also brought back competitive employee rankings as opposed to the FOCAL process that looked at individual achievement. The culture of the competitive process is back stabbing because if you help someone else you might lose your job.
Otellini also dismantled several initiatives that Barrett had started with an eye on the future. Otellini sold off the Flash Memory Division to the cheers of investors because he sent the proceeds of the sale to them as dividends. Eight years later Intel suffered because that same Flash Memory Division was now raking in billions for another company as it produced some 75% of the world's smart phone processors.
tl;dr is that CEO's who have foresight and who are responsible to the visions of their companies don't get hired anymore. It's the pirates in pinstripe who get the jobs these days.
At root of the problem is the financialization of the markets where banks and profits are now considered more important economic drivers than industry and productivity.
And now I need a beer.
DrCaleb @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:40 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
At root of the problem is the financialization of the markets where banks and profits are now considered more important economic drivers than industry and productivity.
And people worry that TV has too much nudity and vulgar language, and this is what they are really learning.
I heard the even Microsoft stopped the practice of employee 'ranking' because of the culture of backstabbing your fellow employee.
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
And now I need a beer.
Have 2.
![[B-o]](./images/smilies/drinkup.gif "Drink up")
I'll join you in a couple hours.
CanadianJeff @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:02 pm
Bart I would seriously shake your hand if you were standing in front of me right now. That was about the last thing I expected you to say.
BartSimpson @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:58 pm
CanadianJeff CanadianJeff:
Bart I would seriously shake your hand if you were standing in front of me right now. That was about the last thing I expected you to say.
Hope the shock wasn't too much on you!
Seriously, I am an ardent supporter of capitalism and capitalists.
Vermin who suck the life out of an economy for fun and profit are, to me, traitors. I call them traitors because the damage they cause is every bit as bad as an enemy attack.
For instance: The ramifications of 9/11 cost the US probably $2 trillion dollars.
The ramifications of the economic crisis of 2008 and the horseshit that led up to it look to be costing the US in the neighborhood of $200 trillion.
Not twenty trillion. Two hundred trillion.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/06/139027615 ... 1-trillion
We killed Osama bin Laden for what he did.
When are we going to kill the people who f*cked us over far worse than bin Laden did?
But to be clear, I do not fault our economic system for what's happened, I fault the gatekeepers of the economy who are supposed to guard against the kinds of crimes they're profiting from.
Jabberwalker @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:02 pm
I don't do Costco anymore. There is something inherently stupid about paying to shop in their stores. It is a major scam.
BartSimpson @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:19 pm
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
I don't do Costco anymore. There is something inherently stupid about paying to shop in their stores. It is a major scam.
The club membership thing is a tool to enhance loyalty that was first implemented by a Costco predecessor called Gemco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemco
The membership requirement also goes beyond mere loyalty as it has a significant impact on pilferage given that everyone who enters the stores has to show their card and identify themselves. Thus psychologically absent their anonymity people feel more accountable and less likely to steal. The absence of shoplifting reports at Costco compared to nearby Wal Mart stores bears this out.
Membership also gives customers a sense of 'ownership' in the stores along with an imagined sense of exclusivity (members only, after all) and this apparently has an impact on purchasing habits.
From my point of view as a customer I enjoy the membership requirement because it means Costco is one of the places I can go shopping without worrying about running into ghetto trash roaming the place. You see working people of all colors and etc. but you most certainly don't see ghetto trash like you do at Wal Mart.
Jabberwalker @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:43 pm
Yup. Costco shur is classy!
Thanos @ Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:42 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
CanadianJeff CanadianJeff:
Bart I would seriously shake your hand if you were standing in front of me right now. That was about the last thing I expected you to say.
Hope the shock wasn't too much on you!
Seriously, I am an ardent supporter of capitalism and capitalists.
Vermin who suck the life out of an economy for fun and profit are, to me, traitors. I call them traitors because the damage they cause is every bit as bad as an enemy attack.
For instance: The ramifications of 9/11 cost the US probably $2 trillion dollars.
The ramifications of the economic crisis of 2008 and the horseshit that led up to it look to be costing the US in the neighborhood of $200 trillion.
Not twenty trillion. Two hundred trillion.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/06/139027615 ... 1-trillion
We killed Osama bin Laden for what he did.
When are we going to kill the people who f*cked us over far worse than bin Laden did?
But to be clear, I do not fault our economic system for what's happened, I fault the gatekeepers of the economy who are supposed to guard against the kinds of crimes they're profiting from.
+5 inbound.
westmanguy @ Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:13 am
I love Costco. My family definitely shops their loyally. Not everything is dirt "cheap". You have to know your prices. But this list and everything else make it a solid corporate entity.
The only negatives is my local locations need to expand so badly! Richmond Costco is almost always a gong show and that parking lot on a Sunday is the definition of hell.
And Bellingham Costco is bursting at its seems. Too many damn Canadians lined up forever in that gasbar line. 
ShepherdsDog @ Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:18 am
I miss being able to shop at Costco. While we were overseas, it was our regular store about a five minute drive away. In the north end of Kaohsiung, a second larger one opened, two years before we came home. That was about 30 minutes away. they had all the western goods, plus we were able to buy fresh baked loaded 18 inch pizzas for 10 bucks Canadian.....which the locals proceeded to cover with all the condiments they could for the hotdogs
bootlegga @ Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:50 am
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
I don't do Costco anymore. There is something inherently stupid about paying to shop in their stores. It is a major scam.
Anyone who 'pays' for a membership obviously isn't aware of the Executive membership and their AMEX.
I signed up for the Executive membership ($110) and last year earned $150 back in dividends (2% of purchases back). They actually paid me $40 to shop there. Tack on the $300 or so I earned with my Costco AMEX and I'm well ahead of the game (which I also use for gas and grocery purchases everywhere I can).
Of course the obvious retort is that it forces me to shop there.
For some that might be the case, but I would shop there anyways, because many things they have are lower priced than at Wal-Mart or Superstore (try finding 2 litres of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $14 at either of those places).
DrCaleb @ Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:40 am
bootlegga bootlegga:
Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:
I don't do Costco anymore. There is something inherently stupid about paying to shop in their stores. It is a major scam.
Anyone who 'pays' for a membership obviously isn't aware of the Executive membership and their AMEX.
I signed up for the Executive membership ($110) and last year earned $150 back in dividends (2% of purchases back). They actually paid me $40 to shop there. Tack on the $300 or so I earned with my Costco AMEX and I'm well ahead of the game (which I also use for gas and grocery purchases everywhere I can).
Of course the obvious retort is that it forces me to shop there.
For some that might be the case, but I would shop there anyways, because many things they have are lower priced than at Wal-Mart or Superstore (try finding 2 litres of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $14 at either of those places).
Ditto. I have the Executive, and get paid by them to shop there too. Gas is usually a nickel cheaper than anywhere else too. And there are so many things you can't find anywhere else. Meyer lemons? French Green beans? 5kg of steel cut oats?