"He has been too benevolent"

July 16, 2005, 6:15PM
Is being generous good for business?
Costco CEO profits as he offers top pay, benefits
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
New York Times

ISSAQUAH, WASH. - Jim Sinegal, the chief executive of Costco Wholesale, the nation's fifth-largest retailer, crows about Costco's private-label pinpoint cotton dress shirts.

"Look, these are just $12.99," he said while lifting a crisp blue button-down inside Costco's cavernous warehouse store here in the company's hometown. "At Nordstrom or Macy's, this is a $45, $50 shirt."

Combining high quality with stunningly low prices, the shirts appeal to upscale customers — and epitomize why some retail analysts say Sinegal just might be America's shrewdest merchant since Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart.

But not everyone is happy with Costco's business strategy. Some Wall Street analysts assert that Sinegal is overly generous not only to Costco's customers but to its workers as well. ( Why I heart Costco )

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Oh hell. I just tried to pick up a lit incense charcoal (think briquette but round). I thought I was grabbing the part that wasn't lit, and was informed by offended nerve endings that I was WRONG. I just tried brushing my teeth with my left hand. That was a hoot.

It's a good thing I don't wear make-up.

Oh dear, typing and more especially mousing tomorrow at work is going to suck a whole lot.

Owie owie ow.

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Oh yeah. I keep meaning to buy this book.

Bigger, Better, More Interesting Problems

Is there anything more dangerous than getting up in the morning and having nothing to worry about, no problems to solve, no friction to heat you up? That state can be a threat to your health, because if untreated it incites an unconscious yearning for any old dumb trouble that might rouse some excitement.

Acquiring problems is a fundamental human need. It’s as crucial to your well-being as getting food, air, water, sleep, and love. You define yourself—indeed, you make yourself—through the riddles you attract and solve. The most creative people on the planet are those who frame the biggest, hardest questions and then gather the resources necessary to find the answers.( Read more... )