Posted on 09/03/2013 5:43:22 PM PDT by grundle
link only
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/why-walmart-will-never-pay-like-costco.html
Costco has a very limited inventory.
Costco also sub-contracts their employees.
The fundamental effect of a minimum wage is to remove from the marketplace people whom it would force to charge more for their labor than it was worth. This will force those who would have hired the people who have been removed from the marketplace to instead hire some people whose labor is worth more (likely hiring a smaller number of more-productive people). The labor of people who are still be worth hiring will be in greater demand, and such people will be able to charge more for it. On the other hand, given that more welfare dollars will be required to support those who have been made unemployable, and given that those dollars will have to come from somewhere, it’s doubtful that even those who are nominally helped by the minimum wage laws will actually benefit.
For me Costco is useless, it is too expensive, I shop at a combination of 4 stores and markets for what I want, three of them on one route on the same day when my work puts me on that road, and Walmart on it’s own day because it is where I buy mostly staples and toiletries.
I’m not going to renew my Costco membership.
Their employees are service oriented, extremely knowledgable and super friendly. I don't get (most of) this from WallyWorld.
In addition to the limited inventory, Costco doesn’t worry about presentation as much as WM. Instead of stocking 2 cases of item X to one spot, two feet down 3 cases of item Y, etc. They normally just drop a whole pallet or disposable cardboard shipper, cut the plastic off and move on. No taking items out of boxes, etc.
A far better comparison would be Sam’s Club vs Costco.
We used to shop at one grocery store because it was no frills and many items were cheaper. But I’ve noticed their prices aren’t that good anymore. I think it has a lot to do with so many people using EBT’s they don’t care anymore. But some of us must bargain shop. So I go online and look at the ads for various stores. We plan a route and go to those stores to get the deals. We shop twice a month. I haven’t heard much good about Costco. And to pay a fee to shop there? I think not.
Please stop posting.
It is Walmart, not wallyworld.
It is cheaper than Costco, and in Costco I have gone numerous times with friends to see what the deal is, and I walk out empty handed.
I know that the left loves Costco for their democrat party support, and that they hate Walmart for being pro-guns and anti-union.
Read the article, they are two different businesses.
So does Sam's Club. It would probably be more accurate to compare Costco and them rather than Costco and Wal-Mart.
A better comparison would be sales-per-employee between Costco and the Sam’s Club division of Wal-Mart.
The nature of those two operations drives a larger revenue-per-employee-action than the “Wal-mart” stores, even the “Super WalMart” stores.
In the latter two, shelf-stockers can spend a lot of time putting inexpensive stuff on shelves, and cashiers spend a lot of time checking-out a lot of inexpensive stuff; at a Wal-mart store, a cashier may have to handle a dozen individual cans of soup; at Costco/Sam’s Club the cashier handles a single case of six or eight cans.
Costco is owned by a lib Dem.
They have entirely different business models.
Its worse then paying to shop there (Sams or Costco). Their prices really aren’t all that great.
Do a price comparison based on unit price. Some things are cheaper but others are more expensive.
No it doesn't. It means that Costco is selling higher end goods.
FWIW, I am a member of bth Costco and Sam's Club (Walmart's equivalent). I shop both stores.
Costco is closer and in a better neighborhood; but I prefer Sam's because it carries the goods I need for the office, and the help and other customers are so much nicer. Sam's hours are better too.
Seriously.
Thanks for posting. I find Megan McArtle to be a very thoughtful and prolific writer.
As others have noted, Costco is a membership club that carries higher end products and limited inventory. They are located close to, and cater to, higher income areas. Their customers buy only certain items there.
One additional benefit to Costco is that being a warehouse club, they have a much smaller shrinkage due to theft, because of the membership required to enter the store, and the limited number of small higher priced goods that are typically targeted by shoplifters such as cosmetics.
The whole argument is a fraud by the usual leftists looking desperately to justify their arguments.
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