re: #334 nines09

Went to Costco in Harrisburg Pa yesterday.
Needed/hoped to pick up steaks. Got them!
And they not only demand every person who enters wear a mask, but if you want to play stupid shithead and show up without one, THEY GIVE YOU A MASK.
I thanked every employee I came across.

Costco v. Walmart
hbr.org

Though the businesses are direct competitors and quite similar overall, a remarkable disparity shows up in their wage and benefits structures. The average wage at Costco is $17 an hour. Wal-Mart does not break out the pay of its Sam’s Club workers, but a full-time worker at Wal-Mart makes $10.11 an hour on average, and a variety of sources suggest that Sam’s Club’s pay scale is similar to Wal-Mart’s. A 2005 New York Times article by Steven Greenhouse reported that at $17 an hour, Costco’s average pay is 72% higher than Sam’s Club’s ($9.86 an hour).

On the benefits side, 82% of Costco employees have health-insurance coverage, compared with less than half at Wal-Mart. And Costco workers pay just 8% of their health premiums, whereas Wal-Mart workers pay 33% of theirs. Ninety-one percent of Costco’s employees are covered by retirement plans, with the company contributing an annual average of $1,330 per employee, while 64 percent of employees at Sam’s Club are covered, with the company contributing an annual average of $747 per employee.

(the article this is quoting from is 2006.
Recent figures are that Costco pays an average wage of $21/hr, Walmart is $13)