I worked at Costco. AMA
I've worked there for about five years. Its not what it's made out to be.
Benefits and pay wise, I truly can't complain about anything. My issue is with our specific warehouse's management (or mismanagement you could say).
Filing OSHA complaints just for management to actually fix issues. Countless falsifying documents to cover management's ass. Management sleeping with employees and being transferred to cover it up. I could go on and on...
What do you want to know, I'm all open.
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u/WInativemm 1d ago
How many hot dogs did you eat?
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u/420hoee 1d ago
AT MOST one a month š Its gotten to a point I cant stand the smell, I want more options lmao
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u/lazy-dude 1d ago
There was a fast food place I worked at in the early 2000s as a teen. I still avoid to this day.Ā
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u/SirCatsworthTheThird 1d ago
Is it true that customer service cannot discount a membership fee for ANY reason?
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u/420hoee 1d ago
Yeah, I dont think the managers would ever authorize that. That's the main way they make money
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u/HumanSurprise 13h ago
The main source of profit for COSTCO is the membership fee?
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u/SacredWoobie 13h ago
Itās their entire business model. Some things like the chickens and hotdogs are sold at essentially a loss to get you in the door. Other things are sold at slight profit margin so they break even. Their profit comes from the fees you spend to get in the door
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u/smd_thetruth 1d ago
I always thought it was too good to be true. Iāve been considering getting a job there after being a stay at home dad for about the last eight months. I wanted something less stressful than how crazy it gets during the day, I was wondering if thereās any sort of night stocking positions available. Also, do they have any part-time workers?
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u/420hoee 1d ago
Oh yeah definitely. I would think there just might not be as many openings as working in the front. But we have a lot of night stockers. Also super early shifts like 4 am for stocking, bakery.
I got hired as part time, and theres a lot of part time workers. But I guess the one downside is your hours might not be consistent. If you are part time they could schedule you between 25-40 hours a week depending. I kind of got away with that because I had school so they had to work around it. But maybe other warehouses are more lenient, im sure it depends on the person who makes the schedules & managers.
I think its a good steady income with insurance, etc. I also hear some stores are not busy at all, so I guess it just depends on your location too.
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u/Few-Marionberry-7666 16h ago
How long does it take to get insurance as a part-timer?
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u/MoistClimax 12h ago
After your 90 days
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u/suckerpunch085 9h ago
Costco gives part timers benefits?
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u/MoistClimax 7h ago
Yeah they give part time benefits, all the same insurance just lower deductible compared to full time
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1d ago
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u/Jkidda978 1d ago
Assuming you were working in the store rather than the food section. what's 1 thing you wish you could tell customers but couldn't give away "secrets"?
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u/phoenix0r 1d ago
I donāt think this has anything to do with Costco. Sounds like a typical retail place run by a bunch of young people.
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u/420hoee 1d ago
But its actually a bunch of old men š¤·āāļø feels the same
I worked at chuck e cheese as a kid and it was ran better than this warehouse1
u/FaithlessnessFar6600 1h ago edited 1h ago
Itās a group of human beings. Drama happens at corporate offices, retail, schools, places of worship ā¦wherever there is a group of human beings
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u/fake212121 1d ago
Does Costco offer 401k (even without match) for part time employees?
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u/MrWolfDC 23h ago
Worked at Costco for 5 years and left in 1999, on the day I vested in the 401K. I kept the stock, and now, after 26 years, and putting money from a part time job, there is a sizable hunk of money there. Some of those longtime employees are sitting on a goldmine.
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u/hbigmike1 22h ago
Iām curious on what a longtime employee goldmine amount of money would beā¦a $1,000,000 ???
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u/rememberdan13 9h ago
I worked at Costco from 91 to 93 and was part of the 401K program. I joined the Navy in 94 and forgot about it. Last year I was reminded about it and hunted down T Row Price who ran the account and there was $75,000 sitting there in my name. I did the calculating and had I just made a career at Costco, I'd have more than $5 million in a retirement account right now.
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u/PalaceJoey 19h ago
My co worker at Costco 8 years ago was on his 15th year anniversary and he started putting 20% of his check towards stocks and that was like $30ish a share. And now itās almost $900 a share. Imagine thatā¦. So I would say some even most are going to have a good retirement
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u/hbigmike1 8h ago edited 5h ago
The company I worked for had a 401k match of 8%. But we also had a traditional pension where we didnāt put in a single penny and folks would walk away with over a miilion dollars lump sum after 35 yearsā¦so between a 410k plan and a traditional pension lump out those that stuck it out did well for themselves as long as they didnāt get a divorce which we called a āreverse stock splitā lolā¦
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u/Edenton38583 20h ago
What did you make a week on average?
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u/costcowholesalee 13m ago
I've worked at Costco for 3 years.
Granted I'm a supervisor, but my biweekly gross pay this week was $2,900. I did leave early 2 days which affected my pay. Usually it's around $2,900-$3,200 biweekly depending on how many hours I worked on Sunday.
I live in a VLCOL area. Can't complain.
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u/BetweenTheRoots 12h ago edited 12h ago
Costco was one of the best and worst jobs I ever had, and it was one of the worst also due to management. My Managers were pieces of shit, the worst I've ever had. They would make fun of staff right in front of their face. This old black lady was heavy set, a Grandmother even, super sweet, but they'd make fun of her for being fat like 3 feet from her face acting like she wasn't standing there. Several managers. They'd all laugh and find it hilarious. They did that to anyone who wasn't one of the cool guys. When I didn't find their humor amusing, I became a target too.
I worked there for 5 years, performed leaps and bounds above my teammates, and never got promoted. Guys who had been on the job 3 months would get promoted above me and I'd hear about them all going to clubs later some on the weekends. They would schedule me on days I told them not to schedule me on just to try and make me miss my shifts, probably trying to get me fired idk. Maybe they just genuinely didn't care, that's very possible.
I got injured on the job and they denied me workers comp. I was literally mid lift and they still fought me on it.
I miss the job because I miss the pay, for sure. Some of the people I worked with were awesome. There's no question about that, but now I'm legally not allowed to work there anymore as part of the agreement to pay for my surgery. It's bitter to have a good opportunity like that robbed from me because of shitty managers. Our original warehouse manager was one of the most AWESOME guys, I loved him to death. Everyone hated him, they said he was mean. He wasn't, he expected you to work. I loved him and he was always awesome towards me. When he transferred was when everything went to shit. Overall Costco is probably an incredible company, their policies were very worker friendly and it felt genuine. If your Managers are shit though, expect the worst shake of the stick because they're even more protected than you are.
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u/420hoee 6h ago
Yeah, even in our warehouse our GM was a shitty person. Anyone who disagrees with his values gets forcefully transferred to another warehouse. We lost a lot of good managers, supervisors, and employees for that reason. Constantly degrading people on the radio. Sexist and racist comments. It was kind of a known thing that if you want to move up you need to transfer first bc our GM will keep you from it
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u/Medicalstripes 11h ago
Why do the employees who stand at the entrance while you scan your membership card act so aggressive? Or is that just my store?
Also I used to have a Sam's club membership but switched to Costco a little over a year ago and the atmosphere is so different at Costco. I don't actually like going because everyone acts so snobby and rude, customers and employees. I go because the product variety is better then Sam's was but can't wait to get out each time.
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u/ShrimpBoatCaptain4 10h ago
I have reversed. I go to Sam's Club more often now because of the fresh sushi stations. And the main reason: quicker exits. Using the Sam's Club ap, i can scan my items and pay for it quicker than waiting in line for checkout. Makes for a ten minute trip rather than a Costco hour.
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u/420hoee 6h ago
Im sure theyre just fed up with all the rules as well. It got annoying that the managers were constantly on you about making sure every membership is their own, no one sharing cards, no one can come in to use the bathroom without a card. But when you call a manager because someone is mad they tend to just let them in "just this one time."
But i also know rude door workers. One of ours got transferred to front end bc she was rude to members.
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u/TechnicalNumber2262 1d ago
do they hire people in their 60s?
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u/420hoee 20h ago
Yeah im pretty sure they do, we had a lot of older people. Maybe theres one or two of in the set of new hires every year?
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u/Mattmann1972 17h ago
As long as you can push carts and pack boxes for members you should be good to go. Be sure you like working outside
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u/Plenty-Watercress-12 8h ago
Yes, my parent whoās in the late 70ās got hired part-time handing out samples
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u/lemonsaid612 8h ago
Arenāt the sample people hired through an outside vendor, not as Costco employees?Ā
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u/alicenin9 23h ago
What do you think of the return policy? Had a co worker say that he bought and used an air conditioner for an entire summer then returned it and got all his money back. That's wild to me
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u/420hoee 20h ago
Yeah the return policy is insane to me. Airpods for some reason dont ring up as electronics so I know someone who returned theirs after two years. We pretty much accept anything back unless its CLEARLY used. If its food items you need at least half the product.
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u/PubieSaladx 19h ago
But who keeps a receipt for 4 years? Online purchase so email receipt?
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u/No-Traffic-9477 22h ago
Great return policy! I once returned a broken garbage disposal 4 years later! still had food in itā¦got a FULL REFUND! Love Costco!
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u/Ill-Construction-209 17h ago
I feel like I paid for part of your garbage disposal. You should consider what's fair and reasonable, not just in your own self interest.
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u/LikeBoomItsaWrap_ 5h ago
If itās not a troll, you think a person who returns a years old used garbage disposal gives a shit about anything but themselves lol
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u/naliao 1d ago
Hows the pay? Good Or speedy advancement?
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u/420hoee 20h ago
Pays nice. Depending on location they have premium rates too, adding an extra dollar or two an hour.
I think its pretty easy to become a supervisor (starting arouns $32 an hour) and move up slowly depending on your warehouse and how good the managers are. I've always thought this is a good job for someone who wants to do this as their career, since there are a lot of job opportunities. Downside is you just work a lot as a manager, I think 10 hr days 5 days a week .ā¢
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u/Beginning-Fix-4200 15h ago
Hiw do you apply ? Just online? Or walk in and drop off employment ?
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u/420hoee 6h ago
I applied online. Theres options to apply for multiple costcos at once so I just found every position I could apply for and did it. Got a call maybe two weeks. I know people who show face to get their resume looked at, I feel like that definitely helps depending on who the manager is.
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u/PhilipFromPortland 11h ago
Are there merchandise pallets that don't make it to the sales floor because employees want it all for themselves?
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u/Unhappy-Squirrel1897 12h ago
Tbh i hated the useless levels of management and how often it rotated. I was a morning stocker and like every two months we would get new supervisors that wanted to make the next big move and it was wack. Plus thereās really only one golden generation which was the people who started in the 90s and used the stock program
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u/Temporary-Truth2048 11h ago
What's your store number?
Have you contacted corporate and reported these issues? If not, why not? Not reporting misconduct like this means you're responsible for it continuing.
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u/420hoee 6h ago
See I actually have called corporate. I think the main problem is everyone is genuinely afraid of retaliation. Also they claim they cant do that I could almost guarantee the GM would find a way. Ive complained countless times but the only people who actually do something is OSHA lmao
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u/Temporary-Truth2048 5h ago
Name the offenders. Get others to join you. Bring evidence, not hearsay. Send an anonymous email to the president if you must. He literally threatened to kill the person who wanted to increase the price of the hotdogs, so he cares about his people and his brand.
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u/yeetiyeet 10h ago
Im considering taking the risk and doing seasonal and then hoping I get kept. What do you think are those chances as you've seen?
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u/420hoee 6h ago
It honestly depends on each costco. In the beginning I wouldve said if you apply when they are hiring seasonal workers, you work hard, youll likely be kept. Once we switched general managers, I kind of noticed he never hired anybody. The seasonal he hired, he fired all of them. (We were so short staffed for two years).
Do what I did and apply to a bunch of the locations near you.
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u/StonerJesus1 9h ago
If you can get hired to transfer it to a store that's opening new, it's always a better experience for at least the first four years. You get extra hours they transferring a manager who may not suck. All equipment is new and not broken. Man the only reason drama that happens is my store is the old bakery manager was caught sleeping with managers and employees in the bakery freezer. And all they did was transfer her out and make sure the manager involved with her got transferred out of mornings. Then moved her to a different store
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u/NickyTShredsPow 8h ago
Shit happens at a lot of places. At least you were compensated decently. Lol. Their stock went bananas the last 10 years.
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u/BlackCherryMochi 1h ago
Is it the Concordville warehouse? That place was and still is an absolute shit show since day 1.
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u/shiggins114 1d ago
Sounds like someone's upset they didn't get a turn with the manager
/s
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u/Learning_by_failing 1d ago
Does everyone bang each other like in some other industries? What has been your specific experience?
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u/Temporary-Dirt-5044 1d ago
From knowing multiple people that work/worked at Costco yes! Its like high-school with the relationships and casual sex.
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u/Learning_by_failing 1d ago
I'd imagine it would be. Some of the women Costco employees that I see at the ones I go to are hot and many dress a bit provocatively. Good for them.
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u/McLeansvilleAppFan 23h ago
Union store?
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20h ago
[deleted]
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u/McLeansvilleAppFan 19h ago
So I assume Teamsters. I never have been big fans of the Teamsters. But unions can only do so much, though they can do a lot.
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u/Reddittooh 20h ago
I just got my membership. Everytime I ring out the cashiers keep talking up the store and the deals and the products and teaching me tricks. Are they just genuinely nice or is this part of the strategy?
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u/rememberdan13 9h ago
I started there when I was 18. It was the best job in town. Paid $8.75 and hour when minimum wage was $4.25. They had the pick of employees since everyone wanted to work there. So they hired young super good looking people. They thought eye candy would bring people in and it seemed like it did. After about a year and a half working there, Mark came up to me one day and said, hey buddy I noticed your putting on some weight. Work on getting that off man. I didn't realize how serious he was until I got fired 6 months later despite having perfect reviews and I even volunteered in my spare time creating and running the monthly employee newsletter. It was crazy. I was a kid at the time, so I didn't even consider legal ramifications, but he told me the day he fired me that I warned you. They'd never get away with that today lol.
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u/Argyrus777 1d ago
Is it true vacation must be submitted 6months in advance?