[dopamean]

You know what would be awesome? If tech was used to not just "revolutionize" how consumers get their products but also how employees were treated at these companies. So often it seems lately that tech giants are built in a super old fashioned way: on the backs of cheap labor.

[user5994461]

Treating their employees well is how Google/Microsoft/Facebook are built. It's easy for them, it's office workers who bring super high margins. The business is more valuable by treating people well.

Businesses based on grunt work, like Amazon, can't do that. Their existence is based on infinite cheap labor, to execute as much grunt work as cheap as possible.

[Asooka]

So why can Costco afford to treat their employees humanely?

[brianwawok]

Costco: 184k employees[0]

Amazon: 591k employees[1]

I think you can also argue that a happy Costco worker = more sales, as they help customers better. May be harder to make the case that if a guy putting stuff in a box is happier, the end customer is any happier.

0 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/284430/costco-number-of-...

1 - https://www.inc.com/business-insider/jeff-bezos-amazon-emplo...

[jjeaff]

Costcos average customer makes more than 100k a year. Their average purchase is more than $100 and price per item is $10+.

They are basically a luxury goods store and can afford to pay employees more.

[johnvanommen]

Costco is an interesting case. Their profit is based on membership fees. That's why they're so fixated on customer service and happy employees.

For instance, Wal Mart makes more money if you shop their frequently. They have a vested interest in selling you products.

Costco makes their profits off the membership. So whether you shop there once a year or once a week, they continue to get that membership revenue.

On a side note, I wonder if that's the reason that lines at Costco are so miserable and their hours are so short? Perhaps Costco would prefer that you just stay home? Conversely, my Wal Mart is open 24hrs a day and the checkout process takes a couple minutes.

[dragonwriter]

> For instance, Wal Mart makes more money if you shop their frequently.

So does Costco; they are profitable even before membership fees, and that's including fixed costs; so more unit sales means more profits. But the membership fees are pure profit on top of all that (and actually encourage people to shop more.)

> On a side note, I wonder if that's the reason that lines at Costco are so miserable and their hours are so short?

IME, the lines are long because of the quantity of items people tend to purchase (but they also move quickly for their length.) The hours are short because hours with low sales volume accumulate costs quickly.

> Conversely, my Wal Mart is open 24hrs a day and the checkout process takes a couple minutes.

IME, checkout at Walmart is much more variable than Costco; the average may be less time, but the range seems to go much higher. The longer hours, including hours with very low staffing, contribute to that, because there's more opportunity for staffing to not be aligned to a cluster of customers.

[madengr]

Costco has few items compared to a typical big-box or grocery store. Most of the items are in bulk containers, positioned by fork lift, and cost $10+. They don't bag items after check out. The employees don't dawdle around; they are always hustling.

It's hard to get out of Costco without spending $100. They must have a large revenue/employee. They probably have $1k/min flowing out of the store; much more than Walmart.

Sams Club is dingy and poorly lit. It's a reflection of Walmart.

[jjeaff]

Some Sam's clubs are just as nice as Costcos. It really depends on the market it is in. It just seems that Costcos minimum standard is higher. Because there is variation in Costco quality as well... But Costco is more likely to only locate in the more upmarket locations.

[user5994461]

Costco doesn't deliver millions of package a day for free to the door of their customers, does it?

[Asooka]

Maybe Amazon should retire the one-click same-day offer as well, if it requires this level of human misery to fulfil. Personally I've never received a package in less than two weeks and I still shop at Amazon since they have the best availability and prices.

[jjeaff]

There is no additional labor involved in shipping a package in 1 day vs 7 days. It's just that the stores that take 7 days to ship operate Perpetually behind schedule. To get products out in 1 day, you need enough slack to handle the times when things get busy so you don't get behind. There is no inherent need to abuse employees to do that.

I have an online store and we always ship within a few hours of receiving the order. It's not hard at all. After it's shipped, it's up to the carrier anyway.

[user5994461]

Bullshit. It takes crazy amount of labor to ship in one day instead of the usual 2-3 days.

It requires employees on shift every night to handle any package immediately. It requires employees to work on Saturday and Sunday to cover week end orders. It requires employees to do longer hours to complete any burst of orders at any time.

What do you think happen to items that are not in the vicinity? They have to be transported overnight across hundreds of miles to a closer distribution center. Again, night and high pressure work.

[dopamean]

"free"

[bpicolo]

> for free

Except for the part where you pay for it.

[knownothing]

> Treating their employees well is how Google/Microsoft/Facebook are built.

Not sure Microsoft is the best example: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/13/business/technology-temp-w...

[threatofrain]

Is tech supposed to just "solve" political consensus? Like blow bast it like Napoleon or something? At the end of the day, I fear that people sincerely and durably disagree on these matters, meaning that political deadlock is the legitimate outcome.

Tech makes it easy for people to share snappy political prose on Facebook, but what about the non-tech skill of human conversation? Are people any good at talking to each other on political matters?

[fjsolwmv]

Automation means fewer total employee s, so fewer abused employees