Costco (NASDAQ:COST) are the third largest warehouse chain in the US (and the ninth largest in the world). They are a long way behind Walmart but they have only a slightly smaller turnover than second-placed Kroger. Their head office is in Issaquah, Washington.
The company was founded by Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman who opened the first warehouse in Seattle, Washington in 1983.
In 2009, the company turned over $71.4bn upon which they made a profit of $1.8bn (2.5%). Costco employs 147,000 people in its 572 warehouses spread across USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
At the time of blogging, Costco had just released sales figures for January 2011 which showed an increase of 12% on January 2010.
Costco operates the low-price, high sales volume business model with the majority of its goods being sold bulk-packaged. Many of these products are their own ‘Kirkland’ line, so-called after the original head office location of Kirkland, Washington. Costco also have a reputation for refusing to stock proprietary lines which either compete with their own brand or which they deem to be over-priced.
The company website for the US branch of Costco can be found here.
There is a link to ‘Employment Opportunities’ at the very bottom on the right hand side. Clicking this goes to ‘Employment with Costco’.
Selecting ‘Search hourly paid jobs’ goes to this page.
There is an option to choose between a specific position or a location.
There is no facility to return all jobs therefore I sampled Alabama and Alaska. These returned 3 locations in each state and then a variety of job types that were supposedly available (there is no way of checking). Unfortunately it was then necessary to register in order to apply.
The lack of reassurance that the jobs are still available and the need to sign in are two black marks in an otherwise very informative and clear site. The third is that no salaries were given. How many people are discouraged by this?
The following job types are available at Costco:
- Accounting
- Administration
- Auditing
- Aviation
- Benefits
- Communications
- Community Relations
- Construction
- Consumer Services
- Facilities
- Food Service
- General Liability
- Graphic Design
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Journalism
- Legal
- Logistics
- Marketing
- Merchandising
- Payroll
- Property Management
- Publishing
- Purchasing
- Quality Assurance
- Real Estate
- Risk Management
- Safety
- Security
- Sign Center
- Taxes
- Traffic
- Technical Writing
- Training
For more information, these are detailed Costco job descriptions.
The careers page states that Costco require the following attributes in their employees so this is what they will be looking for you to demonstrate in your application:
- Ambition
- Commitment
- Energy
- Enjoy challenges and opportunities
- Integrity
- Service-oriented mentality
The company has a policy of recruiting from its own ranks so there is definite logic in getting a toe-hold with them and then looking around for a more lucrative / responsible position within the organization. This applies to all levels and not just on the shop floor.
In their own words:
“Today, we have accountants, lawyers, buyers, and human resources personnel who began their careers as stockers or cashiers in our locations. We believe that Costco’s future officers are currently working in our warehouses, depots, and business centers, as well as in our Home and Regional Offices.”
Costco offer its employees the following benefits package:
- Health Care – 2 different plans
- Dental Care – 2 different plans
- Pharmacy Plan – co-payment program offering drugs from $5 or 15% of the purchase price. Pick up prescriptions at work using the in-house pharmacy.
- Vision Plan – Up to $60 towards eye exam and annual allowances for spectacles / contact lenses.
- Pension Plan – 401(k) scheme with proportional company contributions increasing with years of service
- Dependent Care Assistance Plan – pretax program for the payment of daycare for children up to the age of 13.
- Care Plan – Free independently-run program which provides trained counselors for employees to discuss their personal issues with.
- Life Insurance – Free basic life and accidental death insurance. For an additional premium may be extended to cover employee’s family.
- Short-term Disability Insurance – supplements state programs if the employee is prevented from doing their job. Policy covers absence for events such as illness and pregnancy.
- Long-term Disability Insurance – pays out 60% of earnings for absences in excess of 180 days.
- Long-term Care Insurance – pays nursing home fees for employees with more than 10 years of service. For an additional premium may be extended to cover employee’s family.
- Stock Purchase Plan – buy stock without trader’s fees through payroll deduction.
These are more details concerning Costco’s benefits.
Costco include a timely warning about a fraud that has been occurring in their name. Apparently phishers have been sending out bogus Costco job offers in order to either persuade victims to part with a ‘training’ or ‘registration’ fee or to obtain personal or bank details. Costco states very clearly that they never ‘head-hunt’ by email so, if you get such an offer and haven’t applied to them, just delete the email. If you are in doubt, get the relevant Costco phone number from their website and ring them. Don’t use any contact details on the email, of course!
The Costco website is very informative and has a good, no-nonsense navigation system. I also liked the ‘no-frills’ attitude as reflected in the absence of pointless Flash presentations and irrelevant shop advertising.
On the negative side, salaries are not mentioned, there are no specific vacancies described and the side navigation bar does not change for the jobs section such that ‘FAQ’s’ do not relate to jobs with Costco but are entirely to do with collections, deliveries, payments and such like.
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