Emily Nguyen, Week #7: Please the Shareholders!
Wearing branded merchandise of major companies who may produce our favorite consumer goods (like food or cosmetics, or fashion brands) has always been a sort of pet peeve of mine. It’s like walking around as a free billboard advertisement for a corporation who doesn’t care about you, yet you blindly support them anyway. Yes, I understand not all companies are bad (but a whopping majority do love to sacrifice care to appease shareholders), and that some people are just crazy about Dr. Pepper, but it still rubs me the wrong way.
However, there is one corporation in America that I do heavily support to the point of scouring thrifts for merch: Costco Wholesale!!
Everybody loves Costco. There cannot exist a single person who dislikes Costco for any reason. I mean, I love it enough to want their merch and I just denounced this whole thing of putting on clothes with a brand written all over. Their chain of retail stores spanning across America—and even internationally, in the largest global metropolitan areas—has amassed a significantly positive image from consumers around the world. Costco’s employees, especially, are treated wonderfully by the third-largest retailer in the world, enjoying immense benefits and good pay for a job that does not require a college degree—and thus remain loyal to the company. Yet, Costco, too, prioritizes rewarding their “shareholders” in their code of conduct. This is that code:
Obey the law.
Take care of our members.
Take care of our employees.
Respect our suppliers.
If we do these four things throughout our organization, then we will achieve our ultimate goal, which is to:
Reward our shareholders.
With all their honesty, this point of their business practices only serves to illuminate their bright image. It is no surprise that other corporations also “uphold” similar codes of conduct, to dress up their public reputation. But it is apparent that Costco is one of the only major American businesses that has built their membership-only retail stores on this foundation, offering cheaper items which undercut their revenue but in turn benefit from the consumer’s trust in paying for a Costco membership. Costco genuinely respects their customers this way, and it is this very style of business that I respect so much. The fact that they openly satisfy their shareholders, yet stay true to ethics is what much of American business is missing.
The lack of a similar drive to keep consumers satisfied with strong standards that do not crumble to greed (like keeping that beloved hotdog priced at $1.50 even in a recessed economy) is just so commonplace with America’s major corporations. Just look at the top 500 U.S. companies ranked by revenue—the Fortune 500. Walmart is rank 1 on this list and their business practices are the complete opposite of Costco—being highly competitive and burning out their workers. I don’t know any fans of Walmart. It’s always under fire for its various capitalist abuses. How many of the companies on this list can you actually support, without ignoring corrupt consumer treatment and sneaky operations?
Some say Costco is capitalism done right. I wholeheartedly agree. I wish their methods were modeled by the rest of the American retail industry—maybe then we would not deem America’s capitalism as a hellscape for consumers nationwide. Perhaps, if all companies adopted and executed this philosophy of taking “care” of employees and customers, America’s consumer buying power would flourish and corruption be busted! Ha.
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| A Costco hoodie coming soon to an AP Lang classroom near you—I will be the one wearing it though. Source: Depop |
Celine has to be the worst brand that plasters their logo over bland pieces of clothing, because I genuinely do not understand why any self-respecting homo sapien would want to spend an egregious amount of their hard-earned money on a plain white shirt with a name written in the most basic font (aside from Arial) sprawled across it. What makes Celine’s white shirt so annoying to me is the fact that the company charges up to over $1,000 for something that’s really not worth all that money—I mean, it’s literally just a white shirt. There’s clear dishonesty and manipulation in the way they attempt to use their “luxury” branding to create an infinite profit glitch that far exceeds their cost of production. It’s corporate greed at its best—which is why I appreciate Costco as much as you express in this post. First of all, their well-known strategy of using their warehouses as stores (and thus cutting significant storage and transportation costs) doubles as a marketing technique, as customers get the sense that they’re seeing the real, unfiltered side of the company and its practices. Costco’s generosity, through good deals on many products (although I will say not all of them), selling items in bulk for convenience, and relentlessly cheap hot dogs (thanks to the founder), additionally builds rapport with a trusting and loyal customer base. Just by engaging in business practices that helped its customers, Costco is executing genius marketing—I mean, when was the last time you saw a Costco ad? You probably have, but they’re infrequent.
ReplyDeleteIt all boils down to honesty and sincerity. Celine, like many other luxury brands, engages in various shady practices, including worker abuse, company racism, and promoting body dysmorphia. Because of all of this, it has to overcorrect by selling a falsified image of itself as an untouchable, opulent, high-quality brand. Meanwhile, Costco demonstrates that organic marketing through (relative) honesty and fairness amounts to a much more stable and well-loved public image.
Emily, I really admire the interesting hooks you have on every blog you write. I can never anticipate how you will connect the hook to the rest of your blog but it works perfectly every time. While I can not say I have thought a lot about buying merch from companies, I can say that I find it unfortunate how uninformed so many people are (including me) about the ethical guidelines that companies hold themselves to. I find it sad that I am very probably supporting many brands that mistreat consumers and employees without even knowing it. However, I am extremely pleased to know that Costco is not one of these companies. I think it is a universal thing for everyone who grew up in America to have a fondness for going to Costco. Some of my strongest childhood memories involve trying the Costco samples and standing on the cart with my sister while my dad pushed us around the store. I love the fact that you included the code of conduct in the blog rather than simply alluding to it; it really showcases how good their intentions are. It's refreshing to see a company that is not solely out for money. I also really appreciate the fact that you mentioned how different companies treat their workers because the way a company treats their employees is a direct representation of their priorities and intentions as a company. I really enjoyed reading this blog and I am looking forward to seeing a Costco hoodie in class.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I agree there is no reason anyone should hate Costco. In fact, after reading your blog I think people should like it even more! I didn’t realise just how great of a model Costco has. It is so smart to step away from the usual capitalism model of “we have what you want so you need to pay crazy prices for this thing” and build trust with the buyers through fair prices that rarely change. I thought your inclusion of Costco’s code of conduct was really insightful as it gave even more credibility towards Costco as it showed that they were actually following through with their claims unlike some of the other corporations like you stated. Luckily we have some companies we can still rock merch for with pride, like Costco and Arizona Tea who have never raised the price of their drinks (like Costco’s $1.50 Hotdogs). I can't wait to see your Costco hoodie in class!
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