Costco Connection - December 2006

DIALOGUEletters
Online Edition Bonus Dialogue
Odds and ends

Cover appeal

In your message [“From t he Editor’s Desk”] in November you said you wanted to “honor those workers who, instead, find fulfillment in their daily tasks.” Please do so for the people who designed the cover of this month’s Costco

Connection. It is a masterpiece! Take time to admire it. A snow-covered community on Christmas Eve.

Santa’s sled (a computer mouse) [flying] beneath the full moon. The caption reads, “Not a creature is stirring except for your mouse.” Beneath the sled, it reads, “Costco.com dashes into the holiday season.” What a great parody!

Please pass my congratulations to those workers who created it. I repeat, it is a masterpiece!

Barrie E. Parrish
Kirkland, Washington

Healthy savings

I have been taking Kirkland Signature® vitamins for many years and have enjoyed good health as a result. Recently I decided to start taking [a combination of] glucosamine and chondroitin. The cost of that particular product was very high, so I checked Costco and found the Kirkland Signature brand. In a rating of products, Costco was up there among the best of the best, and the price of the Kirkland Signature version was much less than other brands, with the quality better than some of the more expensive brands. Bravo, Costco.

Since I have been taking Kirkland Signature glucosamine and chondroitin, my arthritis has been under control. It took a few weeks, but there is a real difference.

Irene Bartley
Boynton Beach, Florida

other loved ones with the numerous details of your burial.

My wife and I carry prepayment cards, as do our children, on our behalf. Dealing with a reputable worldwide funeral service, it will take only one

phone call to set the entire burial procedure in motion. This is considerably more important to us than saving perhaps $1,000 over 20 years or so.

Herbert M. Rosenthal
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Postgraduate studies

My husband and I have a longstanding college rivalry. He is a graduate of University of Notre Dame and my alma mater is Georgetown University.

One morning, after one of my twice-weekly trips to our local Costco warehouse, my 3½-year-old son was singing the Notre Dame fight song in the kitchen. It suddenly dawned on me that I had better start promoting my alma mater. I got down on my knees and looked my son in the eyes and said, “Yes, honey, Daddy went to Notre Dame, but do you know where Mommy went to college?”

As I swelled with Georgetown pride, he lowered his eyes and thought for a moment.

You can imagine my surprise when he looked up at me and answered a bit tentatively, “Costco?”

Paula Greeley
Avon-by-the-Sea,
New Jersey

then go back to the food or not. Now they are really enjoying their food, in fact are wolfing it down, something they have not done before.

I just wanted to let you know that I am making huge savings by switching from [boutique brand], but money was never the issue. My Bostons love your Kirkland Signature premium small dog food.

Jill and Mick Douglass
St. George, Utah

Knee versus elbow?

I would just like to point out that the November 2006 ad for Kirkland Signature Glucosamine/Chondroitin depicts a picture of what I think is an elbow joint when the ad states, “Give your knees a break.”

Gerardo M. General, M.D.
Chino, California

That ad resulted in more free medical advice than we usually receive. All the physicians who pointed out this mistake are correct. The manufacturer concedes that there was a mix-up in art selection by their advertising agency.—Ed.

Dog-gone good

Planning ahead

Two reasons come to mind why Suze Orman’s November response [about prepaying burial costs] is not a good one:

1. I believe it will be far less expensive to purchase coverage when as young as possible, making a one-time payment in full. Check the cost for various ages and [compare that to] saving an equal amount at current interest rates. Prepaying will be less expensive in almost every case.

2. Numbers aside, more important is not having to burden children, grandchildren or

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We have two Boston terriers, ages 4 and are pretty finicky e was browsing throu Costco Connection, article on Kirkland S dog food and decide it a try. I was amaz dogs licked their plat