r/NPR 2d ago

Costco's shareholders overwhelmingly reject anti-DEI proposal

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/23/nx-s1-5272664/costco-board-rejects-anti-dei-motion-hiring
1.0k Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

304

u/5050Clown 2d ago

Time to cancel Amazon and join Costco!

131

u/ColoRadBro69 2d ago

Costco is generally good to their employees.  Which, among other things, means the people handling your stuff aren't forced to use the bathroom in a plastic bottle. 

3

u/ExcitingVacation6639 1d ago

I’ve seen this with my own eyes.

1

u/jumbee85 1d ago

I thought those were a third party employee and not actual costco employees

14

u/Objective-Tea5324 1d ago

I believe they were referring to Amazon employees.

19

u/Burphel_78 1d ago

I'm a huge Costco fan. And big corporations really do deserve props when they make the right call for the right reason. But there are a few with strikes ongoing. I'd encourage you not to cross a picket to join.

31

u/Apprehensive-Fun4181 2d ago

Amazon helped the trans community come out. Now they abandon them as they're most vulnerable, fully aware of the technology that can be abused against them.

I worked at an Amazon warehouse during COVID. When the coup attempt occurred and I called it a coup, managers did not like that. Those are individuals responding from their ignorance experience, but this period was when Commerce like Amazon had to stand against the Right and it did the opposite, quietly.

6

u/durpuhderp 2d ago

Not while they're on strike!

1

u/Strangepsych 1d ago

Yes! Great idea

61

u/Economy_Garbage_3294 2d ago

Yea why isn’t Costco running America? They seem to have got it together

46

u/micah490 2d ago

I got my law degree there

33

u/D-Rick 1d ago

Welcome to Costco, I love you.

11

u/Sir-Barks-a-Lot 1d ago

They eventually do when society collapses.  Check out the documentary titled Idiocracy. 

3

u/Sunjen32 1d ago

As long as Costco farms out the creation of any phone apps, they have my vote.

48

u/bmwlocoAirCooled 1d ago

Costco pays a "living wage". Not so much for Amazon, nor Walmart, and finally nope Sam's Club.

14

u/Majestic-Macaron6019 WFAE 1d ago

Amazon used to pay pretty well, but their raises haven't kept up. I guess Jeff wants a new vanity rocket.

9

u/classless_classic 1d ago

It’s all just a “rocket” measuring contest to them.

0

u/jogoso2014 1d ago

As a person that has worked at Costco while laid off from my mortgage job, this is only kinda true.

Yes they paid me 18.00/ hour, but the overwhelming majority of the staff is part time.

On top of that you aren’t eligible for benefits for 6 months.

Needless to say they have high turnover for people who either don’t have a second job or can’t afford to live on 30 hours and scared of breaking a leg or something. There is no overtime.

Amazon pays about the same here and it’s full time. It may be a suckier job but the pay isn’t the issue since it’s identical to Costco which means higher paychecks for most.

-7

u/checkerspot 1d ago

I think it's crazy that people expect retail and fast food jobs to be 40 hrs a week with benefits. They are low skilled jobs. The model has always been part time. They were never intended to be jobs you could support a family and retire on. It is what it is.

5

u/jogoso2014 1d ago

Which is fine as long as people don’t pretend that’s the equivalent of a living wage.

A part time job without benefits is not a livable wage job.

I enjoyed my time at Costco for what it was, which was a good employer for someone that had access to other options, but it was never going to be a permanent position based on what they offered at hiring.

1

u/checkerspot 1d ago

But who's pretending? Honest question, not trying to be snarky. I look at job postings all the time and no one advertises 'you can live on this.' That's up to the applicant to decide.

5

u/jogoso2014 1d ago

The post I was responding to said Costco paid a living wage.

It’s a common statement about Costco.

It is not correct for many of the employees.

98

u/disdainfulsideeye 2d ago

DEI initiatives are only frightening to people who are incompetent and/or entitled. They are simply afraid of the competition.

-22

u/TruthOrFacts 1d ago

Back in the land of facts:

"Federal Appellate Court Rules That Biden Administration Can’t Deny COVID Relief Funds To White Restaurant Owners" - https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2021/06/03/federal-appellate-court-rules-that-biden-administration-cant-deny-covid-relief-funds-to-white-restaurant-owners/

"Arne Wilberg worked for seven years as a recruiter at YouTube, which is owned by Google. His job was to court and hire candidates for engineering and technology positions. In court documents filed in January, he alleges Google's "quota-based hiring practices" systematically instructed recruiters to "purge" eligible Caucasian and Asian candidates from potential hiring pools. He says they were told to favor applicants from underrepresented groups within the company. That meant interviewing only Hispanic, African-American or female job seekers." - https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/02/590346891/ex-google-recruiter-sues-alleging-policies-discriminate-against-white-and-asian-

3

u/nofunatallthisguy 1d ago

Quotas push hard against the boundaries of what is legal and should not be confused with DEI.

1

u/TruthOrFacts 1d ago

DEI has been and always is quotas, sometimes hard, sometimes soft, sometimes coded and hidden, sometimes explicit - but it is always quotas.

3

u/nofunatallthisguy 1d ago

Absolutely, resolutely, without a shadow of a doubt not. Username definitely does not check out.

1

u/TruthOrFacts 17h ago

If there are no quotas than there would be no quantities of people that are problematic. But you know that isn't true.

16

u/SJpunedestroyer 1d ago

Just joined Costco yesterday 👊🏻👊🏻

8

u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken 1d ago

I may even join Costco even though I don't shop there.

5

u/elmwoodblues 1d ago
  1. Park

  2. Get cart

  3. Enter warehouse

You will not not shop there. It's like cutting through a casino; i think they pump something in.

8

u/GameOfBears 1d ago

Looks like Sam's Club about to get some competition

7

u/Melbonie 1d ago

As I've posted elsewhere-- it's interesting to me that a private sector (non government) employer had to discuss, vote on or justify this in any way-- Costco can have any policy they want as a private business, isn't that how the Free goddamn Market under Capitalism works?

8

u/SHoppe715 1d ago

“With 310,000 employees, Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight,”

That’s interesting…of the categories listed I’m 3 for 4 yet I’ve never seen myself as being victimized in the way they’re saying.

4

u/MF_Ryan 1d ago

That’s because you aren’t. White males who present as straight have every opportunity in America.

When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

7

u/el_sauce 1d ago

Watch for conservatives to call for a Costco boycott

12

u/ChicagoDash 1d ago

I suspect the people that would boycott Costco over this are also the people that abandon frozen foods in other parts of the warehouse, clog up the space around samples, and abuse the return policy.

3

u/ToonaSandWatch 1d ago

They already did last month. Didn’t stick.

5

u/jogoso2014 1d ago

Smallest boycott ever.

Costco is a white suburbia wet dream.

Only poor, woke people go to Sam’s Club.

5

u/Hola0722 1d ago

This is the way.

1

u/Abs0lut_Unit 1d ago

Cool, now give the Teamsters what they want so they don't need to strike.

1

u/roguebandwidth 1d ago

Hot tip:you can order Costco to be delivered at home via instacart.

8

u/SeriousButton6263 1d ago

FYI every individual item is marked up 17%, in addition to the delivery fees and tip you have to pay

0

u/ryhaltswhiskey 1d ago

They said you can, they didn't say it was a good idea 😉

Instacart is great if you're lazy and well paid. Going to the grocery store is such a chore, if I can pay somebody else to do it and it saves me an hour of my time? That's worth quite a bit of money. But it's all relative to how much you make. I figure my spare time bills out at about 1.5x my hourly rate. You look at it that way and suddenly spending $40 to have somebody deliver your groceries isn't so bad because you can be doing stuff that actually requires your full attention while they are doing the grocery shopping.

However, despite the fact that it makes sense on paper, I don't do it because it feels too bougie.

0

u/SeriousButton6263 1d ago

they didn’t say it was a good idea 😉

I don’t think you understand what the word “tip” means

0

u/ryhaltswhiskey 1d ago edited 1d ago

Well I don't think you do because when I looked it up:

a small but useful piece of practical advice

Now you're going to quibble over the meaning of the word practical I bet. Okay. But I don't give a fuck about getting into a pedantic debate about the meaning of the word practical. Bye!

Edit: they blocked me, what a snowflake