To: tejek who wrote (739603 ) 9/15/2013 9:29:42 PM From: Brumar89 Read Replies (1) | Respond to I found this amusing: Until 2009, Costco did not accept food stamps . As of March 14, 2009, an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted Jim Sinegal, co-founder and president of the company, as saying, "Generally we don't have customers who use food stamps." [ 35]BJ's Wholesale Club 's decision in April to accept electronic food-stamp benefits chainwide, [36] Costco announced in May 2009 that it will accept food stamps on a trial basis in two New York City stores starting in June 2009 and depending on its success, might expand it to all New York City stores. [37] The company subsequently announced plans to expand the program beyond New York City, targeting first the "hard-hit areas like Michigan , Indiana, and the central valley of California ", expanding to "half its roughly 410 U.S. stores by Thanksgiving ", and then going nationwide.Teamsters , [58] the majority of Costco locations are not unionized although there seems to be a move in 2012 to unionize some locations in Canada. [59] The non-union locations have revisions to their Costco Employee Agreement every three years concurrent with union contract ratifications in locations with collective bargaining agreements. Only remotely similar to a union contract, the Employee Agreement sets forth such things as benefits, compensations, wages, disciplinary procedures, paid holidays, bonuses, and seniority. The employee 'agreement' is subject to change by Costco at any time and offers no absolute protection to the workers. As of March 2011 [update] , non-supervisory hourly wages ranged from $11.00 to $21.00 in the United States, $11.00 to $22.15 in Canada, and £6.28 to £10.50 in the United Kingdom. In the US, eighty-five percent of Costco's workers have health insurance , compared with less than fifty percent at Walmart and Target. [60] [61] Costco also uses Club Demonstration Services, based in San Diego, California.[ citation needed ] In Canada, demonstrations are done exclusively by Professional Warehouse Demonstrations. [62] Demonstration employees receive a pay and benefit package that is less than that of Costco employees . [63]
