Costco: The Only Company Wal-Mart Fears (1 Viewer)

[kamyiu]

in california you can buy alcohol and pharmacy items w/o a membership.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> The CEO of a Fortune 500 company who caps his own salary at a relatively modest $350,000 per year

Is that his total compensation (not counting the obvious like health insurance)? CEOs usually get bonuses, stock, etc.

If you look up Bill Gates' official salary, it's in the same range. How do you get to be worth $40 billion if your pay is 300k? All the stock that's not counted as part of the salary.

I'm not saying anything's wrong with that, just that I wouldn't compare the guy to an employee with that salary.

I have a Sam's card; until recently there were no Costcos around here, & for most people it wouldn't make sense to join both.

When I picked up the Looney Tunes 4 DVD box there for under $39, I didn't care a bit about what Sam's CEO makes or who he is, & I'm sure 99% of customers agree with that. It's none of my business what their employees make.

As for "greedy shareholders", how do you define that? When people buy stock, they do so because they think the price will eventually rise. Are you saying investors are greedy?

 

[Chris Lockwood]

And how does Costco know how much its members make?

 

[Malcolm R]

According to the article, he does have significant stock options. But many CEO's seem to bleed their companies from all angles including mega-million salaries on top of stocks, etc.

 

[Philip_G]

speaking of memberships... I keep remembering things and coming back to this thread.
I let my sam's club membership expire also, I lived like 3 blocks away, but the thought of having to write a check, and deal with all the people for the small trips I make to the store made me never want to go, I went on average 2 times per year.

 

[Nick Graham]

Casey, I've seen a couple in the Olathe/Overland Park area, but I don't even believe there is one in Wichita (yet, anyways).

 

[Paul O]

Here's an eye opening read on Walmart and the effects that it has througout the economy. Personally I've become a lot more conscious of what i purchase and from where.

www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

 

[kamyiu]

support local businesses. screw the hateful chain stores.

 

[Philip_G]

what local businesses?? Here it's target, walmart, king soupers (kroger basically) and that's about it.

 

[larry mac]

My only beef w/ Costco is that they don't accept Visa or Mastercard, just American Express, Cash, or check,

They do take Mastercard and Visa, if they are cash/debit cards. I used my Visa debit card there all the time until I let my membership expire. $45 is a rip IMHO, they have alot of balls charging that much. Sams only charges $30 or $35. Plus, there is only one Costco in the whole eastern half of Dallas County and there are Sam's out the yahoo. I did prefer Costco however; it's kinda like Target and K-Mart.

With either one you probably have to spend about $500 before you break even and start saving. And remember, they have your money up front! So unless you buy a big ticket item, it's going to be a few months before you recoup your investment and start going into the plus side. It's basically a rip-off but I still renew (eventually) every year.

Another thing, if you buy tires and batteries then you are definitely stuck because of the warranties. Sams tire and battery dept. and prices are better than Costco IMO.

 

[Doug Pyle]

I choose not to shop Sam's or Walmart for anything, regardless of any savings in price. For me, it's about ethics, not just price alone. Few employers are perfect, but Walmart is on the leading edge of treating employees as disposable.

I didn't care a bit about what Sam's CEO makes or who he is, & I'm sure 99% of customers agree with that. It's none of my business what their employees make

I hope the percentage is off, but it is the bargain-at-any-(social)-price mentality that creates a demand for exploitation by employers, and sky-high reward to CEOs whose profits rest on forcing workers to accept unfair (illegal?) conditions such as to work off the clock and without usual employee benefits.

Where to draw the line? Is a $2 saving on a DVD worth it if it means the employees who served you that deal must work overtime off the clock or fear losing their jobs? As a customer, I choose to respond to reports of dismissing employees who complain about unfair labor practices or firing those who try to organize employees, by spending my $$$ elsewhere where I get a fair deal without financing the suffering of underpaid employees.

I hope Costco is indeed as much better as this thread suggests, in all the ways discussed, as I enjoy the savings there.

By the way, wouldn't Walmart practices, if true per the type of horror stories heard so often (such as the one in this thread), be illegal? To find out, couldn't a state's department of labor, the IRS, or a labor lawyer easily conduct a sting, by getting a staffer hired on at a Sam's or Walmart and record what actually happens when they refuse to work a lunch or claim overtime pay after working off-clock? Such a practice, if true, would be illegal in many ways - and not only by violating labor ethics and laws. It would be a tax fraud (by avoiding paying income tax and FICA and workers comp etc.). It should be investigated and, in the meantime, I'll shop elsewhere.

 

[Doug Pyle]

Here is a forum link for Walmart employees to anonymously discuss their work, which I found by typing "walmart labor practices" in a web search.

Here are some current posts relevant to our thread (can't vouch for accuracy beyond that these are current posts at the employee forum):

Federal jury found WALMART GUILTY of forcing employees to work unpaid overtime between 1994-1999.Walmart violated federal and state wage laws.Portland,Oregon.The suit claimed managers got employees to work off the clock by asking them to clean up the store after they clocked out and by deleting hours from time records.It also said walmart also reprimanded employees who claimed overtime.Workers felt forced to work after clocking out because managers assigned them more work than they could complete in a regular shift.Story from the Associated Press today.

Something else:

"Some of the undocumented workers who were arrested in the raid on Wal-Mart yesterday were making $2 a day. Not an hour -- a day. As my husband said this morning, "Where did they arrest them -- Bangladesh?""

Its source: USA Today online

And horror stories about oversees labor exploitation:
1worldcommunication.org on Bangladesh and other Walmart garment worker conditions

 

[Malcolm R]

Costco again criticized for treating employees well rather than stuffing investors' pockets...

How dare they operate a US Corporation that treats their employees well! Don't they know this is America 2004 where employees should be happy to have part-time, minimum wage jobs with no benefits and investors are due every fraction of a cent they can get at the expense of those actually doing the work?

(For those so impaired, the above commentary is sarcasm...mostly.)

 

[MickeS]

I like Costco a lot, but what cracks me up is that they have $35,000 jewelry on display in the store. WHo goes there to buy that stuff?

I save the membership fee on the meat and the printer refills alone.

 

[Philip Hamm]

They have 64" Pioneer widescreen HD rptv's for $2199, and have a good selection of name-brand tv sets as opposed to the Chinese junk at Sams.

Word. I just got a Philips 27" TV formy family room at Costco. The price was pretty good. They also have projectors (drool).

 

[DaveF]

WHo goes there to buy that stuff?

Read the article at the beginning of the thread. It claims that many of their customers are affluent, and shop for discounts on big-ticket luxury items. Makes since: saving 10% on five bucks worth of ground beef (literally) pocket change. But saving 10% on $35k jewelry, lets you buy that 64" HDTV and still have money left over.

I wish there was a CostCo out here. Sounds like that would be worth the membership.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I like my Costco membership because it makes me walk half a mile while I go from sample station to sample station for a quick snack.

 

[Joe Szott]

Let me preach about the greatness of Costco (my wife and I are huge fans.)

We go to Costco every weekend and stock up on food for our family of 4.5 (wife, me, 2 kids, and weekend teenager in college.) The products are always high quality and although you have to buy a lot of it, it works out to be very cheap. Every week we get bananas for $.99, 18 eggs for $1.59, and whatever else we need. Typically our bill is about $100, but considering that we are getting the lion's share of that week's food, maybe a DVD or two, few clothes, and other random neccesities that isn't too bad.

Now here's the genius part: we have the executive membership that costs $100 a year, but pays you back 2% for all costco purchases once a year. So every year, we get about $105 back from Costco for shopping there. So they PAY US $5 for our membership (it is a gift voucher though, so it's not really *cash*.) Plus we added the AMEX card to that member card for free which gives you another 2% back for every purchase on that card, INCLUDING the Costco purchases (so we get 4% back on everything in Costco.) That one usually comes out to $350 or so a year, which is a month of groceries at Costco. So we shop for the neccessities all year and Costco basically gives us a month of free shopping AND a free membership in return. Is there any way to beat that?

Plus the executive membership gets you all kinds of goodies you can access if you wish: 5c long distance everywhere, fleet deals for autos, low house/car insurance rates, travel packages, small business services, whatever.

Oh yeah, and photo processing and printing digital photos to paper is incredibly cheap at Costco, we use that all the time.

 

[Marc S Kessler]

We've had Costco here for about 4 years and we joined the day they opened. Their stores are far superior to Sams in almost every way. Since we pass there frequently we buy their gas. With both a pick-up and an SUV the gas savings alone pay for the membership.

 

[Jack Fanning]

I like my Costco membership because it makes me walk half a mile while I go from sample station to sample station for a quick snack.

So true Patrick, I like to go shopping at lunch time....so there's more added savings from Costco!