[DuncanWaring]

...each operating checkout station in a Costco store averages $20,000 per hour in profit.

Where'd you get that number?

It works out to roughly $6 per second, $1600 every five minutes.

I doubt the "gross" is that high, much less the profit.

[editor-surveyor]

I got it from a friend that is a Costco Front end manager.

Thye per second amount looks reasonable when you consider that they deal in only large packages, and sell lots of fairly costly big items.

Where Safeway clerks would be passing single cans of veges, Costco clerks are passing 10 cans minimum, and often 24 cans at once, and a high percentage of the customers are food business customers, sometimes with an entire flatbed cart of the same item.

[nascarnation]

I agree with you. The actual checkout process typically takes 3-4 minutes, and the typical amount is 150 bucks.

This is purely anecdotal, but I stumbled into an open office there when looking for the restroom (located right next door), and there was a spread sheet on the wall showing store profit by dept.

It looked like 90% of the profit came from the pharmacy and the gas pumps.