Costco is like the United Nations

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Saturday, February 3. 2024

Costco is like the United Nations

Every 5 or 6 months, we are due a Costco expedition. Clothes soap, dish soap, ketchup, capers. ribeyes, lamb chops, excellent olive oil and butter, Irish cheese, Mexican coffee, good still hot baguettes - all that good stuff. Mrs. BD sorta wanted a big screen TV because they are so cheap, but I pointed out that we never do TV.

My gym trainer teases me that I'm not a real American if I don't watch TV at night. He likes football. To each, his or her own. The thing about Costco is that there are people from everywhere in the world of every imagineable language, color, size, age, and shape. Amazing, everybody enjoying the abbondanza.

It is interesting to feel like a minority but it just sorta amuses me. Not Mrs. BD so much.

Posted by Bird Dog at 16:30 | Comments (23) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

The truly amazing thing about Costco is its management. Senior executives try to visit every store once a year -- not to talk to the store manager but to sit down and talk to ordinary staff members to learn what really is going on and what could be done better. And they pay very well.

Very few other large companies act like this, but it shows in how the stores run. Clean, efficient and, as you say, catering to all tastes and backgrounds.

Walmart, in contrast, does not pay nearly as well and senior management seldom ventures into the field. It shows.

#1 Costco admirer on 2024-02-03 16:46 (Reply)

Two different models. Walmart has over 9 times as many stores and a product line that is many times larger than Costcos. Mid management would be who visits Wal Marts, not upper management. BTW, the internet claims that the average hourly employee for Wal Mart makes about 110 % of the wage that the average hourly employee makes.
If you want to make a comparison, the Sam's Club to Costco would be a more appropriate one.

#1.1 James on 2024-02-04 12:49 (Reply)

I'm with your wife, I don't appreciate going into a store and feeling like a minority in my own country. I'm so old I remember when it was an oddity to see anyone from another nation/race. When I was a child I can remember my parents referring to some guy walking on the street as "He is a German". I was too young at the time to know anything about WWII and all things connected. I like to feel safe and that isn't something I'm real willing to give up like the Biden administration. The Dems could give a rat's ass about my and my family's safety. No Costco closse so I don't get to shop there.

#2 JC on 2024-02-03 17:15 (Reply)

I concur, JC.

I don't like the idea of walking into a store in my own country where Americans are in the minority, but that can be done in my neck of the woods as well.

#2.1 feeblemind on 2024-02-04 12:51 (Reply)

I'm with your wife, I don't appreciate going into a store and feeling like a minority in my own country. I'm so old I remember when it was an oddity to see anyone from another nation/race. When I was a child I can remember my parents referring to some guy walking on the street as "He is a German". I was too young at the time to know anything about WWII and all things connected. I like to feel safe and that isn't something I'm real willing to give up like the Biden administration. The Dems could give a rat's rear end about my and my family's safety. No Costco close so I don't get to shop there.

#3 JC on 2024-02-03 17:17 (Reply)

W-w-w-w-a-i-t a minute!

Costco has people who work actively with Hamas? Peacekeepers who run prostitutes in third-world countries? Offices that run propaganda campaigns for China and Iran? Like that UN?

I had no idea.

#4 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2024-02-03 17:38 (Reply)

Came here to say something very similar. Do not besmirch the good name of Costco by associating it with the cesspool that is the UN.

#4.1 RJP on 2024-02-03 17:41 (Reply)

What is the most expensive vehicle in the world?

A Costco's shopping cart.

#5 Heltau on 2024-02-03 21:10 (Reply)

You can be assured that the top level managers and owners participate in the World Economic Forum. However, on the face of it it looks as if Costco is one of the few "INDEPENDENT" businesses that use good sense in working within the framework of a healthy capitalist economy.

If you come to a city just north of Seattle--Kirkland (name sound familiar?) you will see a VERY VERY large Costco store and the vast majority of customers are from the Indian sub-continent. Those customers are directly or indirectly recipients of Bill Gates "Special immigration" deal for his employees. You see Mr. Gates ain't dumb he understands that the education Indian students receive is far superior than anything we have going on here in this country! Bill Gates has been bringing in thousands of people from India for at least 30 years! Mrs. BD would be stunned to find that indeed in that Costco store she is a stranger in her own land.

#6 faculty wife on 2024-02-03 22:54 (Reply)

I have a different take on the Indian immigrants and the Indian H-1B. I have worked with many of them and I must say I liked them, nice people. But they aren't here taking our jobs because they are smarter. It is a scam. There are Indian corporations that exist entirely to send their workers to the U.S. There are influential Indians lobbying (as in bribing) our congress for more and more jobs. The Indians who get H-1B jobs are shepherded by a "boss" while they are here. They aren't stupid but essentially they come here not able to do the job that they are hired for and other Indian H-1B workers cover for them as they learn on the job. They work together to get the work done for each individual. If someone can't do it 2 or 3 of the other Indian H-1B workers will take up the slack and make it appear he is doing his job. Their work in general is OK but they make mistakes and cover it up because they must the "boss" demands it. You have seen the problems with the Boeing airliners where the software caused crashes this was the result of Indian software workers.

SO You might ask then why do companies hire the Indian H-1B workers. Simple, they get a deal. The Indian workers will work 80-100 hours a week with no overtime and not a complaint to get the company in trouble. If the company is large with maybe 50-100 or more IT workers the company is constantly dealing with turnover and finding new qualified IT employees. If they contract with one of the Indian H-1B scammers all that ends the scammers will provide a constant supply of H-1B workers and all the company has to do is keep telling congress Americans don't want these jobs. The H-1B program is designed to do this to replace American workers in the best jobs. Everyone but the American workers benefit from the H-1B scam. The company gets what they want of less money and effort. Congress gets what they want and the Indian corporation pushing this get what they want.

#6.1 OneGuy on 2024-02-04 10:10 (Reply)

#7 faculty wife on 2024-02-03 22:56 (Reply)

Recently, here in mass., judging by the redo of supermarkets, this 75 year old, born and bred USA citizen, feels like I have entered a foreign country. And that is my hometown market.

#8 Judith on 2024-02-04 00:15 (Reply)

About 25 years ago I was on a business trip in Greenwich CT and needed something from a grocery store. The hotel directed me to the local grocery in Rye NY I think. When I entered the store I was clearly out of place and the stares let me know. I got out of there quickly and could not speak the language spoken in the store or even at checkout. Not comfortable and that was decades ago.

#8.1 JC on 2024-02-04 08:29 (Reply)

You hit Costco and did not get one of their rotisserie chickens?
Quelle sauvage!

#9 Mark Matis on 2024-02-04 05:49 (Reply)

I'm with you about television. Years ago I read "Arguments for the Elimination of Television," and I agree with it. Went without one for a long time. Now have one, but rarely watch.

"I get the news I need on the weather report!"

#10 Frank on 2024-02-04 07:34 (Reply)

First, some discourse on Costco's management philosophy:

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-costcos-obsession-culture-drove-success

Second, it is true that for those of us now entering our eighth decade, the United States has become more visibly diverse during our lifetime. There are, of course, ways in which that can make us feel uncomfortable. I certainly felt that way when I went to a diner in Dearborn, Michigan on the way to visit the Ford Museum. I did not feel welcome there, at all. Why? Because the others there were exercising their own sense of tribalism, and I was an "other."

The same is true in Miami, where I now live. Only about 2% of the local population over 60 is White and not "Hispanic." Almost always, I am the only White non-Hispanic in a store when I shop, and for almost everyone there English is their second language. This does not bother me at all.

God bless America in all its diversity.

#11 Costco lover on 2024-02-04 10:45 (Reply)

Mike Gill agrees diversity is great. In fact roughly 94% of all the people killed in America agree. About 88% of everyone raped in America agree. Roughly 90% of the victims of violent crime agree. And close to 100% of the victims of shoplifting agree that without diversity America just wouldn't be the same!!! Without all that diversity America would be the safest country on earth!!! Diversity is our strength. But I'm feeling guilty, we have all the diversity so I propose we send them all back to the countries of origin and let those countries flourish. It just isn't right that we get all the effects of that diversity.

#12 JustMe on 2024-02-04 12:43 (Reply)

It certainly is nice to see such accurate statistics and tolerance for others. Why not throw in some anti-semitism and make it a trifecta?

#12.1 Costco lover on 2024-02-04 12:48 (Reply)

Nice backhanded insult. So I have a simple question: Is it that I noticed who is committing all or most of the crime OR is that that I actually said it out loud that bothers you? Oh! A second question: How much murder, rape and violence must I tolerate to be a good person? Mike Gill wants to know. So many, many others want to know. If you are only killed once you have no right to complain, right? Is that your theory of how tolerance works? Oh, their just teens having fun! Don't be so racist. Here let me accuse you of antisemitism to show you what a real asshole i can be when I'm triggered by someone speaking truth. In the words of Andrew Breitbart; Fuck You!

#12.1.1 JustMe on 2024-02-04 15:26 (Reply)

Of course, the point you brought up has nothing at all to do with Costco and everything with domestic politics writ large.

Here in the City of Miami, we have no serious shoplifting problem and crime, although present as it always is in a very poor city such as this one, is quite low by national standards. And carjacking is practically unknown.

The reason is that many first generation citizens here who formerly lived in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Central or South America are quite conservative and vote that way. So shoplifters get arrested and jailed and the criminal laws are enforced. Not with a heavy hand, but consistently and more or less fairly.

On the other hand, in the big cities of the north and far west, many voters are third or fourth generation, think they own the place and vote for "progressive" polices that seem to lead to chaos.

I do not conclude from these facts that diversity is our problem. And hating on immigrant groups, which also has a long history in this country, does not contribute anything useful to our national dialogue.

PS I am not Jewish. I just dislike gratuitous prejudice in all its many forms.

I will stop now.

#13 Costco lover on 2024-02-04 15:51 (Reply)

I don't have a racist bone in my body. My two children are biracial and one of my grand daughters is biracial different race. It is a cop out for you to throw out the race card. Address the issue not evade the issue. In any event my response should have been more temperate. I stand by everything I said 100% except the F-bomb, that was unnecessary.

#14 JustMe on 2024-02-04 19:00 (Reply)

Damn place won't let me comment!

#15 Aggie on 2024-02-04 21:12 (Reply)

It used to be a semi-annual event for us too, because it was so far away. But a few years ago, one opened up pretty close by, so Costco can be a weekly option now - and it usually is.

We get a broad demographic in ours, too. I think this is a Costco feature, because I have never seen an exception to this rule. I notice a disproportionate representation of East Indians, Chinese, Koreans. We are a big university town, so that's part of it. But the other part is that value-shopping in the Costco vein requires a skill-set that not represented in the regular Walmart clientele, or even Sam's Club. In my area, you'll find a disproportionate Hispanic representation in those two places, for instance, mostly blue-collar folks. Just an observation, not a hit on racist or classist themes.

#15.1 Aggie on 2024-02-04 21:13 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Saturday, February 3. 2024

Costco is like the United Nations