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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (739563)	9/15/2013 1:31:29 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576832

And finally, CostCo's profits are totally in the membership fees; they don't make any money on the products they sell. BS. Walmart's Sams Club gets membership dues and doesn't make the profits of Costco Costco manufactures a lot of their own products. And they still manage to pay their employees more than double what Walmart pays their's. Why? Because its the damn philosophy in the PNW. Look up Potlatch.......it started with the Native Americans indigenous to the PNW. Costco's Profit Soars To $459 Million As Low-Wage Competitors Struggle The Huffington Post \| Posted: 05/30/2013 9:56 am EDT \| Updated: 05/31/2013 1:54 am EDT At a time when other retailers are struggling to get people into stores, Costco is enjoying a moment in the sun. The big box giant's profit jumped 19 percent to $459 million last quarter, thanks in part to the company’s efforts to offer discounts to lure more members, according to Bloomberg. The company was able to offer those discounts and boost its profits while paying its workers a decent wage, a claim many of Costco’s competitors can’t make. Nor can Costco's competitors claim growth quite like the wholesale retailer. Walmart’s sales suffered last quarter as shoppers struggled with a delay in their tax refund checks and a payroll tax hike. The company’s Sam’s Club unit, which is comparable to Costco, contended with similar obstacles in 2012. Target, another Costco competitor, lowered its earnings forecast for the year, after customers cut back, pushing the retailer’s profits down 29 percent. A typical Costco worker made $45,000 in 2011, according to Fortune. That’s compared to Sam’s Club workers’ average salary of $17,486 per year, according to salary information site Glassdoor.com. Walmart has also been the target of protests by some of its workers, who are protesting what they say are the company’s low wages. For its part, Costco, or at least many of its officials, would like to see the company's practice of paying employees well put into law. The company’s CEO, Craig Jelinek, said earlier this year that he supports President Barack Obama’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, even arguing that lawmakers should boost it to $10 per hour. huffingtonpost.com

To: i-node who wrote (739563)	9/15/2013 3:03:34 PM
From: Road Walker	1 Recommendation Recommended By bentway Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576832

I see Ted already pointed out the Costco/SAMs analogy. But it's still not the point. The point is you and I are subsidizing Walmarts and SAMs low wages. And the bigger point is that the country would be better off, all of us, if everyone that worked full time made a very good living wage. Yes the corps would lose some profits, the small portion that go to their lowest wage employees. Yes their top execs, that are paid like rock stars, might make a little less. But overall, the increased demand for all products and services would increase. And, not to be discounted, we would have a huge increase in family formation and stability, which would make for a higher values society. We would have much less dependence on government, which you should like.