PUBLISHER Ginnie Roeglin
EDITOR David W. Fuller 425-313-8510 dfuller@costco.com
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anita Thompson 425-313-6442
athompson@costco.com
MANAGING EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
MAGAZINES BOOKS
T. Foster Jones 425-313-6748 Tim Talevich 425-313-6759
Tod.Jones@costco.com ttalevich@costco.com
ONLINE EDITOR
David Wight David. Wight@costco.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
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
ASSISTAN T EDITORS
Stephanie E. Ponder, Seattle sponder@costco.com
Jessica Jihye Han, Seoul jhhan@costcokr.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve.Fisher@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS Annette Alvarez-Peters, Brian Basset,
Gloria Blakely, Hope Katz Gibbs, Ralph Grizzle, David Horowitz,
Chris Penttila, Valerie Ryan, Robin Sharma, Rick Steves, 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, Brenda Tradii
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ASSISTAN T PRODUCTION MANAGER
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ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
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Deborah Lipman, London 011-44-1923-830481 dlipman@costco.co.uk
Viviane Pellerin, Ottawa 613-221-2195 Viviane. Pellerin@costco.com
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ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
BUSINESS MANAGER Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER
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Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
D. Ted Harris 425-313-2937 dtharris@costco.com
COSTCO WHOLESALE
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The Costco Connection is published by Costco Wholesale. All
editorial material, including editorial comments, opinion and statements of fact appearing in this publication, represents the views of
the respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of Costco Wholesale or its officers. Information in The Costco
Connection is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but
the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. The publication of any advertisements is not to be construed as an endorsement of the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated
in the ad that there is such approval or endorsement. Products
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WA 98027. Copyright © 2008 Costco Wholesale.
FRONTend
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
JUST WHEN IT LOOKS as if the gray days of winter will
never end, American Express brightens the day for millions
of Costco members with their annual rebate checks. Each
February, American Express includes a rebate check in
their True Earnings® Card statements, payable toward
merchandise at Costco.
The True Earnings Card pays an annual rebate of
a full 3 percent on all restaurant purchases, 2 percent on
travel-related purchases and 1 percent on all purchases
at Costco and everywhere else. And coming soon is an
additional rebate of 3 percent on gas purchases! You
can read more about the American Express True Earnings Rebate Card on page 70.
What will you get with your rebate?
Speaking of rebates, Costco Executive Members earn up to an additional $500
per year on most of their Costco purchases, but that is only part of the story. Executive
Members also receive many other benefits and savings on a variety of personal, business
and financial services, as described on page 77. To get the most out of your membership
and earn the greatest rebate, sign up for the American Express True Earnings Rebate
Card and upgrade to Executive Membership.
This month you are sure to find something to spend your rebate on in our annual
Wallet of Savings coupon book, which offers special savings on HP notebook computers,
Garmin nüvi GPS units, Vizio 42-inch LCD HDTVs, Panasonic digital cameras, Brother
printers, BlackBerry Pearl phones/PDAs, plus furniture, watches, handbags, spas and
more in our warehouses and on costco.com.
Finally, don’t forget Valentine’s Day on February 14. Your favorite wine collector would
love a 2005 Bordeaux, said to be one of the best vintages of the past two decades (page 41).
You can also send three dozen long-stemmed roses to your valentine for $59.99 on costco.com.
If your sweetheart prefers sweets, consider the gift set of award-winning Theo Chocolates, also
on costco.com. Theo is the only true bean-to-bar maker of organic and Fair Trade
Certified chocolate (page 75). Fine chocolate would go great with that 2005 Bordeaux.
Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Costco! C
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice
President, E-Commerce and
Publishing, and Publisher of
The Costco Connection.
from the editor’s desk
David W. Fuller
THERE IS A BRIEF piece of writing in this issue that I
hope you will take an extra moment to read. Author Robin
Sharma’s “The Positive Workplace” column (“Anyone can be
a leader,” Fresh Views, page 9) deals with the subject of leadership. And it makes some points well worth pondering. ”
But there is more to this column than its discussion
of leadership. David W. Fuller is Assistant
What struck me as remarkable was the way in which Vice President, Publishing, and
Sharma wove into the piece, by way of example, an ode to Editor of The Costco Connection.
his departed friend Greg Brophy. In opening this personal
loss to his readers—you—Sharma demonstrates the fearlessness we all should have in expressing our stories, even in times of anguish. The open heart nearly always offers comfort
and, yes, leadership to others. Yet how rare it is to see genuine openness in the mass media.
A writer’s willingness to share his deepest beliefs, anxieties or triumphs with his readers is, perhaps, one antidote to the kind of mass-media blathering that annoys all of us,
even as we continue to consume it—the stories about celebrity misadventures, political
duplicity or violent crime.
The Costco Connection has placed itself firmly in the camp, not of “good news,” but
of what we hope our readers agree is worthy news. It is a camp that welcomes the type
of openness demonstrated in Sharma’s column. It is a camp that searches for values and
concerns among its writers and readers that go beyond momentary prurient interest.
Certainly The Connection wants to introduce you to the value of Costco’s products
and services. That is, as they say, job number one. But, as with Sharma’s column about
leadership, sometimes the subtext can be just as valuable. C
