The oh, so many reasons why I love Costco!

     I love Costco. Few companies really impress me or have my trust but Costco, you have mine. They continually surprise me with the behind the scenes goings on that most of us won't even know about. We go there for deals but Costco is in business with heart. They actually care about us, the consumer and their employees. That is so rare for companies this day. Most businesses are about the dollar. Don't get me wrong, Costco is raking in the bucks but they don't skip on quality and they give back.

      Did you know that the CEO of Costco two years ago capped himself at $350k per year while the CEO of Sam's Club made over $5million? Costco pays their employees on average $17 per hour while Sam's pays around $8. 85% of Costco employees have health insurance. Sam's/Walmart average around 50%. You get the point. But, what I love even more is Costco's dedication to food quality! HUGE! Get this:

     They want to know where their food comes from and how it was raised/made. For their free range eggs, they made sure they are actually free range. When companies said it wasn't economically possible to raise completely free range chickens and eggs, Costco asked their top 3 chicken farmers to test it. They hired people to help the farmers  set up these farms and oversaw the implementation. Well, it worked and you can bet your bottom dollar that Costco's organic free range eggs are exactly that. For their beef, Costco hired the famous Temple Grandin (watch the movie) to go to their Cow farms and to help them design systems for humane treatments of their animals. Temple Grandin! Really. I can't even imagine Walmart/Sam's club even stepping foot into their cow farms let alone hire the biggest name in the business to set it up. Their Chocolate chips have real vanilla in them and just read the back of the bag to see what they did to make sure the cocoa farms are sustainable. I have a year supply of them.

     I went into Sam's twice. Each time I walked out with one item of food: Organic Spinach. That was all they had in the entire store that was organic. Costco, are you kidding me, each time I go there is some new organic or healthy item on the shelves. I am in love with their quality. Here is just a few items that I purchase from Costco:

Organic Chicken

Organic spinach, Kale, greens

Organic beef

Organic Apples

Organic potato and corn chips

Avocado Oil

Organic Peanut Butter

Organic Marinara Sauce

Organic Pasta

Organic Quinoa

Organic Rice

Organic Fruit Twists

Gluten Free bread

Organic Eggs

Organic frozen White corn, brocolli, green beans

Organic frozen berries, cherries, peaches

Organic fresh strawberries

Chocolate Chips

Organic Milk

Organic granola

Real Maple syrup

Organic salads

Organic dressings

Wild caught fish

Organic Strawberry jam

Organic chicken broth

Organic olive oil

Organic creamy tomato soup

And the list goes on.......

Yes, you pay a membership but sign up for American Express and you get some big bucks back from Costco and American express. I usually get over $500 back paying well over my $100 Costco fee. 

Thanks for caring about me, Costco. I will forever be your patron. I can't wait to see what you have next for me. If you don't already, read their magazines they send in the mail to hear about all the great things they are doing. 

I tried you twice, Sam's. I had a free pass. Thank goodness because I would have been ticked that I actually paid to go into the store. Step it up. Costco takes care of people and their products and still manages to be number one in the business. Learn from that, Sam's. It can go both ways.