Tim Talevich, Seattle 425-313-6759 ttalevich@costco.com
Lorelle Gilpin, Ottawa 613-221-2009 Lorelle.Gilpin@costco.com
Sue Knowles, London 011-44-1923-213113 sknowles@costco.co.uk
Raymond Kyunghwan Kim, Seoul 82-2-2630-2703 khkim@costcokr.com
SENIOR EDITOR T. Foster Jones Tod.Jones@costco.com
ONLINE EDITOR David Wight David. Wight@costco.com
ASSISTAN T EDITOR Jacqueline Jin, Seoul jjin@costcokr.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Stephanie E. Ponder sponder@costco.com
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Annette Alvarez-Peters, Brian Basset, Paul & Sarah Edwards,
Susan Hirshorn, David Horowitz, Danica Lo, Valerie Ryan,
Marc Saltzman, Gary M. Stern, Kristi Vaughan, Pat Volchok
ART DIRECTOR Doris Winters dwinters@costco.com
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR
Lory Williams lwilliams@costco.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Ken Broman, Bill Carlson, Susan Detlor, Chris Rusnak,
David Schneider, Dawna Tessier
PRODUCTION MANAGER Pam Sather psather@costco.com
ASSISTAN T PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR, OTTAWA
Elaine Emond Elaine.Emond@costco.com
COLOR TECHNICIAN MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jane Klein Shucklin 425-313-8277 jshucklin@costco.com
ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Isabel Levasseur, Ottawa 613-221-2394
Isabel.Levasseur@costco.com
Deborah Lipman, London 011-44-1923-830481
dlipman@costco.co.uk
Steve Trump, Seattle 425-313-6969 strump@costco.com
ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
BUSINESS MANAGER Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715
rcruz@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTAN T
D. Ted Harris 425-313-2937 dtharris@costco.com
COSTCO WHOLESALE
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088
999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, Washington 98027
Fax: 425-313-6718
E-mail: connection@costco.com
For information on warehouse hours and more:
1-800-774-2678 costco.com
The Costco Connection is published by Costco Wholesale. All
facts, opinions and statements appearing within this publication
are those of the writers and editors themselves, and are in no
way to be construed as statements, positions or endorsements
by Costco Wholesale or its officers. Publishing offices are located
at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027. Information in The
Costco Connection is gathered from sources considered to be
reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. Copyright © 2006 Costco Wholesale. Products advertised
may not be available at all locations at time of publication.
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
AS THE LAST LAZY days of summer wind down, it’s
time to get back to business. Whether you’re thinking
about starting your own small business or working for a
Fortune 500 company, you’ll find lots of great tips in
our cover story about the Sloan brothers and their company, StartupNation, beginning on page 18. The seven
practical tips from these two down-to-earth guys apply
to businesses of any size and at any stage.
Costco was originally founded to be a wholesale
resource for small businesses. While our business has
evolved over the years to include a wider assortment of
consumer goods, we still consider small businesses an important part of our market.
For example, did you know that Costco delivers business supplies from our six Business
Centers in five metropolitan markets—Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego
and Phoenix? You can shop at these locations or order business supplies on costco.com
for delivery directly to your business.
If you live outside these major markets or operate a business out of your home,
we’ll soon be able to better serve you with a broader selection of business products and
supplies on costco.com. Stay tuned for more information on our expanded business
supplies program over the coming months.
Many students are heading back to the business of school later this month. To get them
off to a fresh start, you’ll find everything they need in our collection of back-to-school
items, starting on page 57.
As your schedule fills with school and sports activities this fall, save time and your
sanity with the prepared entrées and side dishes in our Service Deli. As Pat Volchok explains
in “Buying Smart” (page 44), you can put a delicious and economical dinner on your fam-
ily’s table in minutes. You’ll find more menu ideas and our Costco cookbooks on costco.com.
Last but not least, we wrap up the summer with our final month of special savings
in our Passport Coupon Book. This month, you’ll find hot deals on furniture, flooring,
computers, TVs, business services and more.
Happy August from all of us at Costco! C
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice
President, E-Commerce and
Publishing, and Publisher of
The Costco Connection.
I HAVE A READER named Lew Paz to thank for inspiration this month. Paz read my July column about thought-fulness and sent me a copy of his book, Pushing Ultimates,
Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge (PlumBell
Publishing, 2006). An exploration of a wide range of philosophical and metaphysical topics, it appears to be more
David W. Fuller is Assistant than a quick read, just the kind of thing for those “reflec-
Vice President, Publishing, and tive pauses” I touted in the column.
Editor of The Costco Connection. But it is Paz’s action in sending the book to me that
I want to discuss. You see, we live in a world that seems to
be increasingly faceless. Our daily conversations are full of expressions such as “the media,”
“the government,” “the corporate world,” “the medical establishment” and on and on.
These collective nouns often leave the impression that paths of communication are a one-way street—from these institutions to us.
The truth is, such seemingly faceless entities, which, after all are composed of individuals, generally are much more accessible than we imagine. We simply have been conditioned
to receive information from them, rather than convey it to them. The reality is that, even in
this age of automated call centers, it often still is possible to pick up the telephone and reach
a reporter at the daily newspaper, or an aide of the local Congress member, or the vice president of marketing at a major corporation. Certainly, some are easier to reach than others.
But I think you would be surprised at how accessible the individuals at some of these seemingly faceless organizations can be.
I suggest that the next time something moves you, negatively or positively (as in Lew Paz’s
case), you take a step away from the acceptance of facelessness and contact the real live
human who moved you. Whether that person is pleased or not to hear from you, he or
she will be just as heartened as you to know that there is a real human on the other side
of the communication. C
from the editor’s desk
David W. Fuller
