Costco pays its hourly employees an average of 22 dollars an hour.

[techs]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/06/news/economy/costco-fast-food-strikes/?google_editors_picks=true

Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco

One company that hasn't had to deal with such strikes is Costco.

The no-frills warehouse chain pays its hourly workers an average of just over $20 an hour, compared to just under $13 at competitor Wal-Mart. Even President Obama praised Costco in a recent speech about helping the middle class.




Wow. Costco pays a pretty decent wage.

 

[Red Storm]

Did not know Costco paid that much. Good for them and their employees. :thumbsup:

 

[dbk]

well you gotta pay to shop there so..

 

[Linux23]

Holy sh!t i'm gonna get me a job at Costco.

 

[Red Storm]

well you gotta pay to shop there so..

The small annual fee more than makes up for itself over the course of a year.

 

[highland145]

Can't walk out the door without dropping $100 ($1k for the daycare). I can get out of McDs for $5.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Who would've guessed they pay in bulk?

 

[JEDIYoda]

well you gotta pay to shop there so..

okay so.....whats your point?

 

[ElFenix]

Who would've guessed they pay in bulk?

/thread

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

well you gotta pay to shop there so..

Pays for itself in my experience. Added benefit is I don't have to support slave driver Wal-Mart in the process. I refuse to support a pos co like Wal-Mart or dealing with the Wal-Mart clientele aka people of Wal-Mart.

 

[Vdubchaos]

And it shows. Go ahead and walk into BJs or SAMs club and you will quickly learn that they don't pay as well (you can tell by the type of people they have and their "level of happiness" that is clearly stamped on their face.

 

[Printer Bandit]

i guess the money they save on plastic bags they give to the employees.

 

[JimKiler]

My college MGMT class we had our final case study on Costco and not only do they pay you $40K to work in the store but the only way to get into corporate is by starting at a store. They are a firm believer in promoting throughout the rank and file.

 

[dr150]

$22/hr doesn't stop there.....

You make store manager and you could easily be hitting $500k+.....

 

[mshan]

Watch the CNBC documentary The Costco Craze (http://www.cnbc.com/id/46603589) Actual episode on tv is 1 hour.

At that point, employees were making $20 / hr and benefits (19 minute mark here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/368405) Full time jobs are apparently very, very difficult to get unless new warehouse is opening nearby.

It is philosophy of founder (Jim Sinegal?) to treat employees well, and I think he wasn't trying to churn employees constantly, so that is part of the way he can offer higher wages to his employees.

 

[spacejamz]

According to the article, the Costco employee is 37 years old and has worked at Costco for 19 years....No such information was given about the Wendy's or Wal-mart employees.

The article states "The workers hold similar positions at these companies. Levels of experience vary but the wages are representative of the average worker we interviewed."

Something doesn't sound right with that sentence....Working 19 years at the company doesn't have an impact to the average salary? So new hires make about the same as someone who has been there 19 years?

Seems like there was some cherry picking going on when this story was written. I don't disagree that the morale of Costco's employees is much better than Sam's. I have memberships to both clubs...

 

[xBiffx]

In what world is Walmart competing with Costco?

Prices, not even close in most cases. Walmart is far cheaper for many products because their profit margins aren't as high. You don't have to pay to shop at Walmart, you do at Costco. There aren't nearly as many Costcos as Walmarts so in a lot of cases there isn't any competition on the local level. Because of this there are a lot, and I mean a lot (2.1M for Walmart vs. 160k for Costco), fewer employees. This means that there are more upper management/executive jobs on a percentage basis which will obviously inflate an average. That last fact is probably the biggest contributor to this average wage difference.

Also, to highlight the significance of the membership fee on these averages.

Membership Data (as of 9/02/12):
67.4 million cardholders
36.9 million households
26.9 million Gold Star
6.5 million Business
3.6 million Business add ons

That equates to $1.5B in just Gold Star memberships a year. That doesn't even count Business and Executive memberships. You factor those in and you are over $5.5B annually that Walmart isn't taking in for memberships that Costco is.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Isn't Costco a publicly traded company? How was he able to justify paying $20 on average?

 

[crownjules]

This is why Costco constantly gets buy out offers. Firms are just drooling to go in there, slash wages down to minimal levels, and watch the dough roll in. Sell the company off once the effects of those cuts start to hurt the bottom line. It's the American way.

I drive ~45 mins every 2-3 weeks to shop at Costco. BJs and Sam's have nothing on their butcher department. And their in-house brand is pretty damn good too. Now if only they sold gas and had a closer location to me.

 

[Red Storm]

This is why Costco constantly gets buy out offers. Firms are just drooling to go in there, slash wages down to minimal levels, and watch the dough roll in. Sell the company off once the effects of those cuts start to hurt the bottom line. It's the American way.

I drive ~45 mins every 2-3 weeks to shop at Costco. BJs and Sam's have nothing on their butcher department. And their in-house brand is pretty damn good too. Now if only they sold gas and had a closer location to me.

The Costco by our house does sell gas, and as expected it's the cheapest out of all the nearby stations.

 

[QueBert]

The small annual fee more than makes up for itself over the course of a year.

They're evil evil evil blah blah blah, I still save more shopping at Walmart. To me paying money for a membership makes little sense when the shit I buy will still end up costing me more. Also the hours of Costco sucks, I can shop at Walmart at 3 in the morning if I feel like it. Walmart is A LOT cheaper and the selection difference between the 2 is night and day.

 

[crownjules]

The Costco by our house does sell gas, and as expected it's the cheapest out of all the nearby stations.

Damn, guess they just don't do it at the two locations here.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

In what world is Walmart competing with Costco?

Prices, not even close in most cases. Walmart is far cheaper for many products because their profit margins aren't as high. You don't have to pay to shop at Walmart, you do at Costco. There aren't nearly as many Costcos as Walmarts so in a lot of cases there isn't any competition on the local level. Because of this there are a lot, and I mean a lot (2.1M for Walmart vs. 160k for Costco), fewer employees. This means that there are more upper management/executive jobs on a percentage basis which will obviously inflate an average. That last fact is probably the biggest contributor to this average wage difference.

Also, to highlight the significance of the membership fee on these averages.



That equates to $1.5B in just Gold Star memberships a year. That doesn't even count Business and Executive memberships. You factor those in and you are over $5.5B annually that Walmart isn't taking in for memberships that Costco is.

Yes I agree prices aren't close and neither is the quality of goods you get. Costco wins in spades in both departments. Keep shopping at Wal-Mart with your fellow toothless comrades.

 

[middlehead]

The Costco by our house does sell gas, and as expected it's the cheapest out of all the nearby stations.

Because they're usually the last to raise prices, the Costco near me is consistently selling Premium gas for the same price everyone else charges for regular+ethanol. My fuel efficiency really likes Costco.

 

[spacejamz]

The Costco by our house does sell gas, and as expected it's the cheapest out of all the nearby stations.

The Costco and Sam's by me have the cheapest gas. Their prices are pretty close (usually $.10 cheaper/gallon) than the regular gas stations in the area.