Costco's CEO explains how to make record profits:

[Playinghardball]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Yup. Funny thing. Workers work harder and better when they are valued by management.

And Happy Workers bring in and keep happy customers.

Very. Simple.


I guess Wal*Mart's management doesn't really care about any of that. As long as they rake in the money, they're happy, and nobody else's happiness matters.

[NV Whino]

2. Also...

1. Yearly fee
2. Cash only (debt card or American Express, which insists on full payment every month)
3. Bulk buying and selling

...and what he said.

[Ikonoklast]

7. AMEX payment schedule varies by type of card issued.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. So true (But he isn't Costco's CEO anymore)

Jim Sinegal has been a model for me since the days of Price Club.
& R

[AzDar]

4. K & R

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. Costco is making record profits by catering to 100K+ households

They're in the business of selling a sense of frugality to Range Rover driving suburban moms.

The problem for the struggling retailers is their customers are slipping into poverty, whether or not they happen to be assholes is a secondary issue.

I interviewed with Apple in 2007 for a retail back-office position and we discussed some strategy, when I expressed my reluctance in light of the economy to leave my position to work for a retailer again one of the Apple executives laughed in my face and said "You meet me at the Apple Store at South Coast Plaza on Saturday afternoon and tell me again with a straight face that we're in a recession."

[mick063]

6. The point is.......

Costco creates "Range Rover" driving suburban moms.


I'm all for Range Rover driving suburban moms. I would love it if the country was chalk full of 100K households. You get a husband/wife team working there and viola......100K household.

That is the point. A retailer for others to emulate instead of WalMart.