A Corporation That Breaks the Greed Mold

[Baltimoreboy]

Do big time CEOs -- no matter how compassionate and cuddly they might be personally -- have to be SOBs on the job?

Yes, says the conventional wisdom of greater CorporateWorld. The bottom-line dictates that wages and benefits be slashed and that offshoring be pursued with a vengeance. It's not personal, just business. "Look Ye to Wal-mart," boom the Market Gods, directing CEOs to follow the anti-labor, low-wage, no benefit, 'move it all to China' ethic of this giant. The gods decree that no one can out-compete Wal-Mart, so best to imitate the beast.

Apparently, Jim Sinegal has been going to the wrong church. He's CEO of Costco, the profitable warehouse club retailer that's fast growing across the country. He takes a shockingly heretical view of his job, boasting of his company's fair treatment of employees: "We pay much better than Wal-Mart," Sinegal says. "That's not altruism. It's good business."

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/19014/

This appears to be a good place to shop. I don't think I have one nearby. Any experience with Costco?

[leftofthedial]

1. I'm not a member

but several friends and family are and are quite happy with them.

[supernova]

2. Several DUers swear by Costco

we've had threads in the Lounge about them before. I haven't been in one yet... but I'm game esp if the prices are similiar.

[Baltimoreboy]

4. Even if the prices aren't too similar

Looks like a good place to shop or work.

[Robroy]

3. Costco is to Wal-Mart

What Lowe's is to Home Depot. Lowe's and Costco are the good guys.

[eleny]

6. Yay!

Lowe's is going into the space that Super K-Mart abandoned. I've been a member of Costco and thought it was a cleaner and more cheerful store.

[Jose Diablo]

5. I shop Costo

Prices are great, excellent meat department. Just about everything you would need, they have. and the employees do not have an attitude. Drug prices are lowest, except maybe Canada through the internet.

It's well worth the membership fee's.

[whistle]

7. Apparently, because there is a group of people known as....

...stockholders who the CEO's are responsible to, get it the owners who have greed as their sole reason for controlling a company and investing their money in, so the stockholders require the CEO to maximize their returns through profits, capital gains and piracy. No other way for that to work. Just can't squeak by that requirement, unless you're the Enron CEO, in which case it's fine to steal from everyone.

[Baltimoreboy]

8. That was fast

All the responses so far are very positive. Looks like I will have to drive a bit (not in my neighborhood) and check one out.

[Insider]

9. white marsh, glen burnie, arundel mills

www.costco.com

thanks for posting, baltimoreboy :hi:

[Baltimoreboy]

10. I live in Rockville now

Gaithersburg looks like my best shot.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. We don't have a costco, but that is cool to hear.

[AndyTiedye]

12. With Costco and Target, Who Needs Walmart?

They are better companies and they sell better stuff.
The only trouble with Costco is that you have to buy a lot.
They are great for bulk purchases, but useless for small quantities.
They are a warehouse store, so this is to be expected.

Target competes directly with Walmart, and Target is a good corporate citizen.

And Lowes has the appliance I want in stock, which Home Despot would take 3 weeks to order in (and wanted $50 more for).

[jilln]

13. Except Costco seems to like to try to steal people's homes ...

When I read this post I remembered something I'd read about Costco in North Texas and how they were trying to use eminent domain to take land to build new stores.

For anyone who doesn't know, eminent domain is when the city forces you to sell your land (usually at an unfair price) in order to build something that is SUPPOSED to be for the public good, such as hospitals, highways, etc. It's now being used to build STORES... a quick google search gets you tons of hits on Costco+eminent domain:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=costco%2Beminent+domain


It's cool they're good to their workers, but that's only one issue of many.