Winter 2014 January 17 Saturday (The Business of Costco)

 41 degrees (33 wind chill) this morning. 44:58 minutes walking six earthquakes

Wonderful weather yesterday.  On my way back home, ed the relative warm weather on the drive home!

Better yet, the nice weather is supposed to last through a three day weekend!

We are proceeding with “weeding” many of our clothes etc. to donate next Tuesday when a charity comes around to pick up items.  I plan on trying on a lot of my clothes get ride of what doesn’t fit or that I simply don’t wear.

Watched a “Frontline” shows we had taped yesterday.  One was   on Putin and his history, also one on the NRA.  Strange that we watched both on the same evening!  

Of course, I know there are still bad weather days ahead, but I’ll enjoy the nice whether now! 

Watching a show on how Costco purchases their products.  It isn’t a show I normally watch, it just happened to be on when I turned on the tv.  (This is normally the time of day when I watch my taped boxing, videos or CNBC on days when the stock market is open.)

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at what I am seeing and learning.  It’s not what Costco is doing as much as I am amazed at some of the things people will buy and how they view purchasing. 

Basically, Costco has such a big market, they basically name their own price to the manufacturers and analyze and test the products and can ask the manufacturers to make product changes.

Apparently one of the successes of Costco is their attention to detail and testing of their products before (or as they sell them).  One of their most tested items is toilet paper.  

Their goal is to “do the little things right” and they have rigorous benchmarks for testing their products.  (I won’t go into detail, but it is amazing what they test for.)

The Founder is quoted as saying that Sears, Montgomery Ward etc. deteriorated because they “lost their way” and didn’t follow the rules of quality, low prices and low margins.

I have said many times that “if you get the little things right, the big things will take care of themselves”. It is good to find out I am right.

We lived two miles from a Costco in Lakeland, and their isn’t one here at all.   We miss it.  There is a “Sams” about a mile away, but it is so dirty, disorganized and rundown, we go to a  Sams about 10 miles away. We can see the effects of competition.  

That’s it for now, Saturday, January 17, 2015.