Got a blog tip? Contact us
« The Great Pizza Cup Mystery | Main | Save your Television »
Cheers for Costco, Jeers for Honda
Here are two quotes of interest from today's New York Times. There were others, but you're going to have to learn to read the paper for yourself.
First up is a statement by Bill Dreher, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, quoted in "How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart." The article draws a distinction between Wal-Mart's notoriously stingy attitude toward employees and Costco's comparatively generous compensation/benefits package.
"Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco 'it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder.'"
Now, Mr. Dreher is a Deutsche Bank analyst. His only concern is what Costco's stock is going to do, not how society benefits from companies providing a living wage and health insurance. And we have no reason to believe that Mr. Dreher is opposed to either a living wage or health benefits on principle. But, all that being true, the article says Mr. Dreher "complained." Complained? Kinda makes Bill sound like an asshole, doesn't it?
Second, we have a quote from Honda Accord Hybrid owner Mark Buford in "Hybrid Cars Burning Gas in the Drive for Power." Not following the car world as closely as I should, I learned from this article that Honda's Accord Hybrid doesn't use significantly less fuel than its conventional Accord. Instead, the hybrid components increase the car's performance. So rather than being a more environmentally-friendly car, the Accord Hybrid is just a... very nice car. And Mr. Buford says:
"I wasn't prepared to give up anything to 'go green' -- not performance, amenities, or space."
Given that the typical hybrid car -- Honda Accord included -- costs such a premium that you'll probably never make up the extra cost in gas savings, a buyer has every right to expect reasonable performance, amenities and space. But Mark wasn't "prepared to give up anything"? Anything? Kind of makes Mark sound like an asshole, doesn't it?
Posted by ja3 on 07/18/2005 | Permalink
Comments
I would think Costco has a far lower critical mass of employees than WalMart; bravo to them for what they do accomplish, however.
Posted by: Elliot Essman | Jul 18, 2005 7:52:09 PM
how the heck do we contact Mr. Bill Dreher and tell him we think Deutsche Bank should stop paying HIM altogether? I do find it interesting that Deutsche's "corporate cultural affairs" section of their website states:
"wherever we do business, we would like to help to enrich cultural life, promote the advancement of society and create things new. As a corporate citizen, we take on co-responsibility for creating socially stable, culturally rich and ecologically sustainable living conditions."
socially stable and sustainable - yeah, Mr. Dreher, being "too generous to your employess" certainly wouldn't help that cause at all. wish I could email the guy.
Posted by: jessica | Jul 20, 2005 3:37:13 PM
Thanks for your comment, Jessica. It is such a silly statement. But in fairness, for all we know Bill wrote something like "While Costco's ways are socially admirable, the downside for investors is their growth is slow."
Ah, the ambiguities of journalism!
Posted by: ja3 | Jul 20, 2005 3:48:32 PM
Just how did Mr. Dreher's values get so twisted that providing wealth to shareholders and CEO's is more important than providing goods to customers and jobs to employees? Kudos to Costco!
Posted by: Sue Spaven | Jul 22, 2005 2:47:56 PM
Dreher isn't even the biggest cesspool-posing-as-human quoted. Check out this tidbit from the same article:
[start of quote] Emme Kozloff, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, faulted Mr. Sinegal as being too generous to employees, noting that when analysts complained that Costco's workers were paying just 4 percent toward their health costs, he raised that percentage only to 8 percent, when the retail average is 25 percent.
"He has been too benevolent," she said. "He's right that a happy employee is a productive long-term employee, but he could force employees to pick up a little more of the burden." [end of quote]
. . . WHERE do I start? He could "force" them to waer diapers to cut down on bathroom breaks too . . . the matter-of-fact evilness of this is too damn much . . .
Posted by: Michael Rothbaum | Jul 23, 2005 2:22:31 AM
