A step forward would be something like… we’ve restructered into a democratically run co-op, in a tri cameral structure, your costco membership now grants you a vote in something approximating the US House of Representatives, employees now all get votes in some higher authority body approximating the Senate, and then the board of directors acts as a multi person executive branch.
Costco is slightly less egregious than its counterparts, but it is still very much a part of the system and went along with the insane profiteering price increases on essentials.
the thing is, the system in which we have to function forces corporations and people to do evil things, even against their intention or will. being good means sooner or later becoming bankrupt as now you’re working against the system and losing profits.
as another person mentioned - if their suppliers artificially raise prices, whether Costco wants it or not, they have to raise them as well. the market just forced them to do something that limited the amount of things an individual can purchase with their paycheque (as we know, salaries haven’t been exactly keeping up with inflation), and pushed more people into poverty as a result
no corporation is good, and very few are still fighting against becoming fully evil. and as you can see, the fights get more ridiculous every year, the bar of being “good” keeps getting lower
Doesn’t Costco negotiate pretty brutally to secure favorable terms for its purchasing and that ostensibly reflects in the prices members eventually benefit from? I’ve heard that multiple times and I can’t really criticize Costco since I have noticed they really haven’t seemed to have artifically price-gouged or have barely even raised prices on much or what I’ve come to depend on and expect from them
Think I saw the purchasing negotating rooms, looked like a police station. Very intimidating lol, glad I’m on the member side of that one
Your argument would hold more weight if Costco encouraged or even complied with unions. Just because Costco is making sure it won’t be the subject of discrimination lawsuits does not make them the good guy here. I don’t care how many free samples and $1.50 hotdogs you get.
Also that’s a pretty reductive take on what @N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com posted. They were merely highlighting that the larger system in which Costco operates is exploitive. Not that Costco themselves were inherently evil.
They’re a business at the end of the day. If their suppliers raise their prices, they have no choice but to do the same in order to not go broke overnight. It sucks for everyone, and nobody can avoid it.
It’s not that it’s such a great act in itself, it’s no where near enough.
But.
This is a significant win as a large, profitable and respected company is seen to be doing something so insignificant and get such good marketing results. This is the best kind of encouragement we can give to the souless retail machine 😉
And yes… “We will sing your praises if you just follow basic laws” is a pretty low bar, but here we are 😄
Sort of. These policies are really a mixed bag. A lot of fire departments in the 90’s were doing affirmative action things and wound up having to stop because it was getting people hurt and things were burning.
Turns out if there’s a job that’s actually important, you should probably hire the best people for the job. Not the best “of certain demographic” that applied.
That’s been disproven multiple times. The issue was the fire departments were not training the Probies with any real HOT because they didn’t want them.
They went from hiring and promoting based on testing, to hiring and promoting based on ethnicity and gender. So if ten people applied and tested for a captains position and the four highest scoring applicants were white guys, they’d promote number 5.
It’s just plain weird to me that this isn’t seen as the lowest bar in the world, but I’m definitely still taking the W.
Orphan-crushing machine refuses to accelerate crushing orphans is a now feel good story yet again.
This false dichotomy of all or nothing merely benefits the status quo.
A small improvement is better than no improvement and all progress has to start with a first step, somewhere, somehow.
But this isn’t a small improvement.
The DEI policy was already in place.
When that got enacted was the improvement.
This is just not a step backward.
A step forward would be something like… we’ve restructered into a democratically run co-op, in a tri cameral structure, your costco membership now grants you a vote in something approximating the US House of Representatives, employees now all get votes in some higher authority body approximating the Senate, and then the board of directors acts as a multi person executive branch.
In 2024, “not a step backwards” = good news.
How is Costco an orphan crushing machine?
Costco is slightly less egregious than its counterparts, but it is still very much a part of the system and went along with the insane profiteering price increases on essentials.
Costco: Has higher wages and better benefits than competitors, pushes back to keep their DEI policies to protect their most vulnerable employees
You: they’re evil
the thing is, the system in which we have to function forces corporations and people to do evil things, even against their intention or will. being good means sooner or later becoming bankrupt as now you’re working against the system and losing profits.
as another person mentioned - if their suppliers artificially raise prices, whether Costco wants it or not, they have to raise them as well. the market just forced them to do something that limited the amount of things an individual can purchase with their paycheque (as we know, salaries haven’t been exactly keeping up with inflation), and pushed more people into poverty as a result
no corporation is good, and very few are still fighting against becoming fully evil. and as you can see, the fights get more ridiculous every year, the bar of being “good” keeps getting lower
Doesn’t Costco negotiate pretty brutally to secure favorable terms for its purchasing and that ostensibly reflects in the prices members eventually benefit from? I’ve heard that multiple times and I can’t really criticize Costco since I have noticed they really haven’t seemed to have artifically price-gouged or have barely even raised prices on much or what I’ve come to depend on and expect from them
Think I saw the purchasing negotating rooms, looked like a police station. Very intimidating lol, glad I’m on the member side of that one
Your argument would hold more weight if Costco encouraged or even complied with unions. Just because Costco is making sure it won’t be the subject of discrimination lawsuits does not make them the good guy here. I don’t care how many free samples and $1.50 hotdogs you get.
Also that’s a pretty reductive take on what @N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com posted. They were merely highlighting that the larger system in which Costco operates is exploitive. Not that Costco themselves were inherently evil.
https://teamster.org/2024/12/costco-refuses-to-accept-98-of-teamsters-proposals/
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/teamsters-file-unfair-labor-practice-charges-against-costco/
https://jacobin.com/2024/01/costco-workers-unionization-teamsters
I was looking to see if I wasn’t hallucinating.
So, they’re standing by their DEI policies. Good. They’re still anti-union. Bad.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Costco is the least scummy corporation, but they’re still a corporation.
They’re a business at the end of the day. If their suppliers raise their prices, they have no choice but to do the same in order to not go broke overnight. It sucks for everyone, and nobody can avoid it.
It’s not that it’s such a great act in itself, it’s no where near enough.
But.
This is a significant win as a large, profitable and respected company is seen to be doing something so insignificant and get such good marketing results. This is the best kind of encouragement we can give to the souless retail machine 😉 And yes… “We will sing your praises if you just follow basic laws” is a pretty low bar, but here we are 😄
Sort of. These policies are really a mixed bag. A lot of fire departments in the 90’s were doing affirmative action things and wound up having to stop because it was getting people hurt and things were burning.
Turns out if there’s a job that’s actually important, you should probably hire the best people for the job. Not the best “of certain demographic” that applied.
That’s been disproven multiple times. The issue was the fire departments were not training the Probies with any real HOT because they didn’t want them.
https://www.iafc.org/docs/default-source/1vcos/iafc_dei_study_report_final.pdf
What are you even trying to say?
They went from hiring and promoting based on testing, to hiring and promoting based on ethnicity and gender. So if ten people applied and tested for a captains position and the four highest scoring applicants were white guys, they’d promote number 5.
https://www.iafc.org/docs/default-source/1vcos/iafc_dei_study_report_final.pdf
Disproven by a study done by the IAFC