Corporations. Evil. Greedy. Powerful. Koch Industries. Hobby Lobby. Walmart. Monsanto. Exxon-Mobil. Fox News. Enemies of progressive values and an open democracy.
But are there any responsible corporations out there that a progressive can patronize without contributing to conservative coffers? A store that reflects your progressive values? Actually, there ARE a few. Here’s one example.
I had heard that Costco the big-box retailer stands up for our progressive values, so I decided to check it out. A few Google searches led me to some very interesting information.
Full disclosure: I am a Costco member and a regular Costco shopper. But I do NOT own Costco stock, nor do I have any family or friends who are investors (to my knowledge).
On to the data.
In a 2014 Huffington Post article, Costco was ranked second to Google on employee satisfaction with pay and benefits.
A survey released Friday from the jobs site Glassdoor ranks Costco second to Google when it comes to companies with the best compensation and benefits for workers. That puts it ahead of Facebook, Monsanto, Verizon and Microsoft, other major companies that made it onto Glassdoor's list of the top 25 companies.
Costco was highlighted in
another HuffPo article about retailers that pay well above minimum wage to starting employees.
Costco's starting pay is $11.50 an hour, and the average employee there earns $21 an hour, not including overtime. About 88 percent of Costco workers also benefit from company-sponsored health insurance, David Sherwood, Costco's director of financial planning and investor relations, told HuffPost last year.
Speaking of benefits, according to the
GlassDoor website Costco provides health insurance as part of its employee package to full-time and part-time employees working more than 23 hrs per week. They also provide a 401(K) plan, with matching benefits in some cases, and vacation and paid time off for all employees who work beyond their probationary period.
Sample comments from Costco employees, from the GlassDoor website:
Excellent health plans with low premiums and low out-of-pocket costs. Costco pays 90% of employee's premiums. Excellent benefits overall.
The 401k is incredible. I have the option to split up my savings into Costco stock, which is up about 20% this last year. Once a year, the company makes a discretionary deposit into the 401k, which last year was about $5k.
After your first 90 days you get a 50% match 401k, great health, vision, and dental insurance. After your first year, you recieve 9 paid days off.
Is this a fluke? A lucky accident? From an
article at SmartPlanet.com profiling Costco CEO James Sinegal:
A CEO is an unlikely hero for progressive activists, but the left has canonized Costco's James Sinegal with an Internet meme celebrating his reputed fairness with his workers' wages and benefits. A new ‘celebrity CEO' was born from demands for social justice. . . . the ratio of Sinegal's pay to worker pay is far less than data showing CEOs in the U.S. earning 209.4 times more compensation than their employees. That means there's less income inequality at Costco, and workers take home a living wage.
What about social responsibility outside the doors? I found the following tidbit particularly telling. According to a
2013 news release, an organization called The National Center for Public Policy Research, “a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think tank,” is totally outraged - OUTRAGED - that Costco is a member of Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). According to the NCPPR news release:
RILA is currently pressuring its membership to adhere to the association's new sustainability policy that directs retailers to reduce their "carbon footprint" through reduced "greenhouse gas" emissions. It also sets up adherence to sustainability standards that involves the possible redesign and rating of products.
Gasp, imagine that – an organization of retailers that encourages its members to be responsible citizens of the planet; I too am outraged (that I had not heard of them before now).
Well, what about Sam’s Club – maybe they also reflect progressive values? Wait, what? – Sam’s Club? Started by Sam Walton, founder of Walmart?
From HuffPo again:
A typical Costco worker made $45,000 in 2011, according to Fortune. That’s compared to Sam’s Club workers’ average salary of $17,486 per year, according to salary information site Glassdoor.com.
And is this business model actually working?
HuffPo again:
Sam’s Club, the Walmart-owned purveyor of bulk toilet paper and ketchup, had a terrible last few months, the company announced Thursday. Meanwhile its competitor Costco is doing just fine.
So if you want to patronize a store that supports progressive values, I submit that Costco is your store. Case closed.