[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

In a word.....YES!

In two words...HECK YES!


As to the questions on "what's the difference between Costco and Sam's," I've found that while Costco reputedly carries less products (SKU's) than Sam's...their general quality is much higher.

It is not unusual at all, to find high-end/luxury products at Costco, whereas I find Sam's has pretty much what you would find in Walmart...just at different quantities.

What also makes Costco fun...is the 'Treasure Hunt' aspect of it.

Their expertise on shoppers psyche is second to none, which often makes me spend more money than intended (getting out of of Costco without dropping less than $200 on things I didn't know I needed...is hard).

Costco rotates their inventory often, so if you don't buy that really good deal on a quality/luxury product now...it may not be there the next time.

Then, of course is their rotisserie chicken...which has a cult following of its own


Costco Chicken (carve here)

There really isn’t a sneaky catch to these low-cost meals. Most supermarkets sell their rotisserie chickens within a range of $5 and $7, reports the Wall Street Journal.

But those places might be skimping on the size of their birds. According to the same report, Costco’s chickens weigh at least three pounds cooked, while rivals’ usually weigh one-and-a-half to two pounds.

According to Costco’s chief financial officer, the retailer loses between $30 and $40 million a year on the chickens. Still, they refuse to raise their prices to a more reasonable $5.99. The reason: They really believe $4.99 is how much a chicken should cost. “That’s us,” said the CFO on a call with analysts. “That’s what we do.” In a less selfless way, the chickens keep foot traffic high at the store, which benefits its bottom line.

And last, but certainly not least, is that I find Costco employees to be generally happier & more helpful...than other warehouse store employees.

Which is most likely due to the fact that they pay and treat their employees well.

11 More Reasons To Love Costco (poke 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?

Did I mention that...I LOVE Costco?