Comments on: My Letter to Costco CEO Jim Sinegal

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:41:40 +0000

I wrote a letter to the Keebler Elves asking for directions to their tree house and never got a response! I also sent one to Trojan Man because the instructions didn’t tell me when I could take off the condom and now it is glued to my privates, but he was too busy to write. So I am thinking about a blog . . .

By: Jack Mehoff

Jack Mehoff — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:33:06 +0000

Why didn’t you pick up the phone and call Jim? Internet blogs are for wimpy MoFo’s to hide behind, because they don’t have the social skills to function in the real world. Why do you need to know your membership status? If you actually shopped their on a regular basis you could ask. Instead you jackin it in front of your computer, wondering the ultimate question and clocking wait
Times on a phone call. Get a life! Jim’s probably wondering why you don’t have the common sense to call someone instead of dicking around on a website for 20 minutes and timing it. You weren’t wasting an employees time when they actually get paid to answer questions on the phone. But you have wasted a few years with this dumbass blog. Did you write one about how long it takes you to poop and the emptiness you feel after?

By: Mikey Son

Mikey Son — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:45:31 +0000

Correction to my post above:

My employees blow it and I help them to get better at customer service. If they don’t get better over time, then they move on.

By: Mikey Son

Mikey Son — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:42:56 +0000

I found this blog looking for a mailing address to send an improvement suggestion to Senegal personally; however, I realize it is probably rather foolish to think that he has time to read my one letter among the thousands he probably gets every month.

I am an operations manager and own a business, have a family, go to school, etc… As much as I would like to respond to everyone as the owner of my company, it is unrealistic to do so. I have to trust others to do so and, like we have seen in many posts above, people fail. My employees blow and I train them and they get better. If not, they move on. Unfortunately, some managers become managers with very few skills, especially in a big company. It is disappointing they didn’t respond at all to Andy’s letter with at least thanks for the observation and suggestion. A simple response goes a long way to keep customers and I would have to say it is probably the exception at Costco, not the rule, since they had over 58 million members in fiscal 2010 (Costco Audit, 2010).

Whether people agree or not, Costo is a decent company in the sea of corporate America. I have done a lot of research on Costco and written several papers on their business strategy. Public record supports the fact (not emotion) that Senegal cares about his employees overall, even though he can never please them all. When you stack up their track record against the competition, they compensate their employees well; yet, senior leaders have comparably lower compensation packages than the industry standard. This is by Jim’s own choice even though he started the company and could demand more. The average stock crew member appears to make over 40K per year plus excellent benefits. You will be hard to beat that for comparable jobs elsewhere. Costco also caps their profit margins at 14-15% across the board; whereas the average retailer is 20-50% (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010).

I will forward my suggestion to corporate anyway and hope they will consider it even though I am not a member. I like their business model and strategy and would like to see them continue their success at providing family-wage jobs in our country and abroad.

References
Costco Audit. (2010, August 30). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from Gale Database (DC321146): http://galenet.galegroup.com.www.library.oit.edu:2048/servlet/BCRC?rsic=PK&rcp=CO&vrsn=unknown&locID=s8375154&srchtp=cmp&cc=1&c=1&SW=1&mode=c&ste=60&tab=1&tbst=tsCM&ccmp=Costco+Wholesale+Corp.&tcp=costco&docNum=DC321146&bConts=1
Thompson, J. A., Strickland, I. A., & Gamble, J. E. (2010). Crafting and executing strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

By: Darla

Darla — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:52:10 +0000

On line trying to verify my membership. Instead I found this site. In this day and time I can’t believe I can renew my membership on line but can’t find out if my membership is still in effect. All of my other memberships give me this information on line. Come on Costco!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:11:00 +0000

I work at Costco and I can tell you Jim runs a GREAT company. It will be so sad when he retires in Jan.This company is In GREAT HANDS

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:20:22 +0000

I understand the complaint about not having enough electric carts available. However, people really do not seem to understand how expensive those carts are!!! Yes, your local grocery store has more than Costco does but you pay for it with the higher prices you pay there!! Costco has to keep costs down in order to keep prices down. If all the fat lazy people would actually walk the warehouse there would be more carts available for the elderly!!!! (not to mention they might loose a pound or two)

What did people do 20 years ago when the only people who had electric carts were the people who bought them for themselves????

Andy, PLEASE get a life!!!! By all means go to Sams Club, pay more, get crappy service and don’t forget, it you want to return something you only have a limited time to do it, unlike Costco!!!

By: ex-employee

ex-employee — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:23:13 +0000

In response to comment left by Steve Allen 4/29/10; Costco doesn’t attract “classy” people! Costco takes food stamps! They don’t give a sh-t where the $ comes from, or who’s membership anyone shops under. Costco is just another double-standard, side-stepping co. pushing their product line. Steve, you should do some research before you stuff your foot in your mouth next time you decide to have an opinion.

By: ex-employee

ex-employee — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:23:29 +0000

If your experience, suggestion or complaint makes a store manager look bad, keep it to yourself if you want to keep the job. It seems to be Costco’s way to corner, threaten, and “get rid of” employees that threaten a manager’s ability to sweep issues under the rug. I suggest filing a real complaint with the E.E.O.C. !!

By: ex-employee

ex-employee — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:11:38 +0000

Also, if you are an employee that actually “works” at Costco (80% are managers that stand around doing “?” and taking all the credit, or lame a–es constantly milking short-term dissability, etc…)be prepared to be passed up while some store manager’s kid gets the promotion, and never ever think you should get any resolution or justice from management, you won’t.