Since there has been discussion on Costco for the last two weeks, it seems only appropriate that a poll be run to get down to the bottom of The Boys relationship with Costco.
Costco & The Boys - POLL
- Thread starter THE KOD
- Start date
Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."
Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands.
Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."
He also dismisses calls to increase Costco's product markups. Mr. Sinegal, who has been in the retailing business for more than a half-century, said that heeding Wall Street's advice to raise some prices would bring Costco's downfall.
"When I started, Sears, Roebuck was the Costco of the country, but they allowed someone else to come in under them," he said. "We don't want to be one of the casualties. We don't want to turn around and say, 'We got so fancy we've raised our prices,' and all of a sudden a new competitor comes in and beats our prices."
At Costco, one of Mr. Sinegal's cardinal rules is that no branded item can be marked up by more than 14 percent, and no private-label item by more than 15 percent. In contrast, supermarkets generally mark up merchandise by 25 percent, and department stores by 50 percent or more.
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Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands.
Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."
He also dismisses calls to increase Costco's product markups. Mr. Sinegal, who has been in the retailing business for more than a half-century, said that heeding Wall Street's advice to raise some prices would bring Costco's downfall.
"When I started, Sears, Roebuck was the Costco of the country, but they allowed someone else to come in under them," he said. "We don't want to be one of the casualties. We don't want to turn around and say, 'We got so fancy we've raised our prices,' and all of a sudden a new competitor comes in and beats our prices."
At Costco, one of Mr. Sinegal's cardinal rules is that no branded item can be marked up by more than 14 percent, and no private-label item by more than 15 percent. In contrast, supermarkets generally mark up merchandise by 25 percent, and department stores by 50 percent or more.
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Wal-Mart isn't the biggest in every business. Costco Wholesale is the largest wholesale club operator in the US (ahead of Wal-Mart's SAM'S CLUB). The company operates more than 415 membership warehouse stores serving 42 million cardholders in 36 US states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the UK, primarily under the Costco Wholesale name. Stores offer discount prices on, on average, 4,000 products (many in bulk packaging), ranging from alcoholic beverages and appliances to fresh food, pharmaceuticals, and tires. Certain club memberships also offer products and services s
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The manager a very nice young lady looks at my paperwork then asks for my credit card and credits me the $100 difference without asking one question....... Testimonial / The Boys
Costco will offer nitrogen fill-ups for free to its members if they buy new tires or just want nitrogen to replace air in their tires, said Robert Moyer, tire director at Costco, which is the first major corporation to install nitrogen units.
But there?s another company that is breaking the Wal-Mart mold: Costco Wholesale Corp., now the fifth-largest retailer in the U.S. While Wal-Mart pays an average of $9.68 an hour, the average hourly wage of employees of the Issaquah, Wash.-based warehouse club operator is $16. After three years a typical full-time Costco worker makes about $42,000, and the company foots 92% of its workers? health insurance tab.
Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti explained: ?From day one, we?ve run the company with the philosophy that if we pay better than average, provide a salary people can live on, have a positive environment and good benefits, we?ll be able to hire better people, they?ll stay longer and be more efficient.?
A 2004 Business Week study ran the numbers to test Costco?s business model against that of Wal-Mart. The study confirmed that Costco?s well-compensated employees are more productive.
The study shows that Costco?s employees sell more: $795 of sales per square foot, versus only $516 at Sam?s Club, a division of Wal-Mart (which, like Costco, operates as a members-only warehouse club). Consequently Costco pulls in more revenue per employee; U.S. operating profit per hourly employee was $13,647 at Costco versus $11,039 at Sam?s Club.
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Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti explained: ?From day one, we?ve run the company with the philosophy that if we pay better than average, provide a salary people can live on, have a positive environment and good benefits, we?ll be able to hire better people, they?ll stay longer and be more efficient.?
A 2004 Business Week study ran the numbers to test Costco?s business model against that of Wal-Mart. The study confirmed that Costco?s well-compensated employees are more productive.
The study shows that Costco?s employees sell more: $795 of sales per square foot, versus only $516 at Sam?s Club, a division of Wal-Mart (which, like Costco, operates as a members-only warehouse club). Consequently Costco pulls in more revenue per employee; U.S. operating profit per hourly employee was $13,647 at Costco versus $11,039 at Sam?s Club.
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Boys, completely agree with you on Costco. we have been members for over 15 years.
They also have great prices at their pharmacy on prescriptions.
Great place to shop and they do take anything back with original documentation and price tags.
ctownguy / testimonial
They also have great prices at their pharmacy on prescriptions.
Great place to shop and they do take anything back with original documentation and price tags.
ctownguy / testimonial
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Costco issued The Boys his own private card to
get his refunds with.
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Costco has agreed to offer me free merchandise if the poll is taken by at least 100 Madjacks members and viewed by at least 1000. Some of the free merchandise would include: One rotisserie chicken a week for a year, one case of 35 count water per week for a year, 2 bottles of my choice of scotch and a case of beer, along with my picture on the wall as member of the month.
:142smilie :mj07: Scott, I usually do not like your humor as it is often disjointed and usually lame. The previous comment ,however; did make me chuckle.
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:142smilie :142smilie :142smilie
Just got home from a wedding in Jackson Ga.
Got the happy couple.......
You guessed it.............100 dollar gift certificiate from .....
COSTCO !!!!
So my wife turns to me on the way and says, what has got you so interested in Costco all of a
sudden .
I said.... honey ...they got some great refunds
and unlike you, no questions asked.
Got the happy couple.......
You guessed it.............100 dollar gift certificiate from .....
COSTCO !!!!
So my wife turns to me on the way and says, what has got you so interested in Costco all of a
sudden .
I said.... honey ...they got some great refunds
and unlike you, no questions asked.
The funny thing is a friend of mine was looking into buying some home entertainment equipment, and without consciously realizing it I went into this whole rant about CostCo and their return policy, about TheBoys experiences etc. It was like he was using me as a puppet and speaking through me. Weird...I think he's brainwashing us.Saint / testimonial
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I have done this several times also.
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I have done this several times also.
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If you bring in your receipt for a refund and are treated rudely by any Costco employee...
you guessed it.
