Latest News Updates: Costco is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. As of July 2009[update] it is the third largest retailer in the United States and the ninth largest in the world.As of October 2007[update], Costco is the largest retailer of fine wine in the world.In the United States, the main competitors operating membership warehouses are Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.Although Sam’s Club has more warehousesthan Costco, Costco has higher total sales volume.Costco employs about 142,000 full- and part-time employees,including seasonal workers. As of September 2009[update] Costco had 55 million members.For fiscal year 2009, which ended on August 31, 2009, the company’s sales totaled $71.42 billion,$1.28 billion of the revenue was net profit.Costco is #24 on the Fortune 500.The ACSI (The American Customer Satisfaction Index) named Costco number one in the specialty retail store industry with a score of 83 in Q4 2008.Costco is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States and was founded in Kirkland, Washington[citation needed] with its first warehouse in nearby Seattle.Costco has locations in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
Most Costco locations have a food court, offering a quarter-pound 100% beef hot dog or polish sausage and 20 oz drink (with refill) for $1.50, the same price since 1985. In Australia the hot dog is made of pork and is sold at A$2.49 with large soda[32] In Mexico, the hot dog is made of pork, and includes a drink (with refill) for $25 MXN. In the UK, the hot dog is also made from beef and you also get a drink (with refill) for £1.50. Costco sold more than 82 million quarter-pound hot dogs in its food courts in 2008.Pizza is also available in most locations as cheese, pepperoni, veggie, or combo, and can be ordered to go at many locations. Frozen yogurt is also served in chocolate, vanilla, or swirled together. Also offered are very berry smoothies, mocha latte freezes, chicken bake sandwiches, turkey wraps, twisted churros, and chicken caesar salad. French fries are also offered in some locations. Due to slow sales, the pretzel was replaced by the churro.The nutrition data for the Costco Food Court items is posted online.In April 2010, certain Costco warehouses in the U.S. replaced their Coca-Cola drink fountain selections with Pepsi, accompanied with a change in labels on the disposable cups.Costco is only open to members and their guests, except for purchases of liquor and gasoline in some U.S. states due to state laws; and prescription drugs due to federal law.[citation needed] Memberships must be purchased in advance for one year (as of May 5, 2007).[6] Purchases made at Costco’s website do not require a membership; however, a 5% surcharge is added to purchases made by non-members. Purchases made with Costco Cash Cards also do not require a membership, and there is no surcharge. Canadian and United States Costco locations only accept American Express, PIN-based debit cards (Interac in Canada), cash, and checks. Guests of members are not allowed to write checks. American Express is the only accepted credit card (in the United States and Canada) because they charge Costco very low interchange fees (a percentage of revenue from total sales made); as Costco’s margins are low in comparison to other retailers. Costco accepts Flexible Spending Account (FSA) debit cards for qualifying purchases at the pharmacy and optical departments in the US. Costco.com accepts the American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards.Costco focuses on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume.[citation needed] These goods are usually bulk-packaged and marketed primarily to large families and businesses. Furthermore, Costco does not carry multiple brands or varieties where the item is essentially the same except when it has a house brand to sell, typically under the Kirkland Signature label. This results in a high volume of sales from a single vendor, allowing further reductions in price, and reducing marketing costs. If Costco management feels the wholesale price of a product is too high, they will refuse to stock the product. For example, on November 16, 2009, Costco announced that it will stop selling Coca-Cola products due to the soft drink maker refusing to lower its wholesale prices.Costco resumed selling Coca-Cola products on December 14, 2009.Costco also saves money by not stocking extra bags or packing materials; to carry out their goods, customers must bring their own bags or use the merchandise shipping boxes from the company’s outside vendors. Such boxes are often found in large, metal box bins (most of which are colored red, however some warehouses may have different colors). The boxes are placed there by employees after they are empty.Costco memberships can be refunded in full at any time before they expire. Costco guarantees almost all of their products with a full refund within a reasonable amount of time. Exceptions include televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, digital audio players, and cellular phones; these may be returned within 90 days of purchase for any reason for a refund. After 90 days those returns must be done through the manufacturer according to the terms of the warranty. Costco has negotiated with manufacturers to extend the manufacturers warranty to two years for new TVs and computers. Costco also offers a free “concierge” service to members that purchase electronics, to help answer questions regarding setup and use and avoid potential returns due to not understanding how to use the products.

Costco Cash Cards can be purchased in the warehouse and members can load them with money to make non-cash purchases at all Costco warehouses in the United States and Australia. Because Costco gas stations take only Costco Cash, debit cards, and American Express, people who can only pay for gas by check or cash must purchase a Costco Cash Card inside the building before filling up. A Costco Membership is not required to purchase an in-store item with a Costco Cash Card. A non-member may not purchase or re-load a Costco Cash Card, however, they may spend more than the total value of their cash card provided they do not write a check for the remaining balance.