Sue Knowles, London 011-44-1923-213113 sknowles@costco.co.uk
Raymond Kyunghwan Kim, Seoul 82-2-2630-2703 khkim@costcokr.com
ASSISTANT 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 Rhonda Abrams, Brian Basset, Peter Fretty,
Susan Hirshorn, David Horowitz, Shana McNally, Harvey Meyer,
Andrea Downing Peck, Valerie Ryan, Marc Saltzman, 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
PRODUCTION MANAGER Pam Sather psather@costco.com
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Elaine Emond, Ottawa elaine.emond@costco.com
COLOR TECHNICIAN MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jane Klein Shucklin 425-313-8277 jshucklin@costco.com
ASSISTAN T ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Melanie Woods, Seattle 425-313-2558 mwoods@costco.com
Deborah Lipman, London 011-44-1923-830481 dlipman@costco.co.uk
Leah Clement, Ottawa 613-221-2383 Leah.Clement@costco.com
ADVERTISING SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Steve Trump strump@costco.com
ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
BUSINESS MANAGER Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715 rcruz@costco.com
CIRCULATION / EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
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 state-
ments of fact appearing in this publication, represents the views of
the respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorse-
ment 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 publica-
tion of any advertisements is not to be construed as an endorse-
ment of the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated
in the ad that there is such approval or endorsement. Products
advertised may not be available at all locations at the time of pub-
lication. Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah,
WA 98027. Copyright © 2008 Costco Wholesale.
FRONTend
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
AS SUMMER WINDS TO A CLOSE and kids prepare to
go back to school, it seems appropriate to turn our atten-
tion to education in this month’s issue. Here at Costco,
though, education is a year-round activity. Our CEO, Jim
Sinegal, often reminds us that 80 percent of our job as
managers is to teach, teach, teach. We are to teach our
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice newer employees about Costco’s core values and ethics,
President, E-Commerce and member service and essential operating philosophies.
Publishing, and Publisher of That is how we sustain the founding principles of our
The Costco Connection. company as we continue to grow in size and geography.
As you’ll read in this issue’s cover story, we do not
believe in simply buying products and putting them on our shelves for sale. Instead,
our buyers are involved in every link of the supply chain, starting with the growers or
factories that produce our products, to deliver the highest-quality products at the lowest
possible price, in a sustainable manner. Our buyers must have an in-depth knowledge of
their items and the market factors affecting their supply and cost. They need to teach
our suppliers about Costco’s philosophy and standards and continuously work toward
improving the quality and value of every item we sell. Likewise, the managers of ancil-
lary Costco businesses such as Gas Stations, Hearing Centers, Optical, Pharmacy, Photo
Centers and Tire Centers are certified experts in their fields, well exceeding the typical
state requirements. We do our homework so you don’t have to. That will leave you with
a little more time to help your kids with theirs!
August also wraps up our 2008 Passport to Savings coupon program. This month
you’ll find savings on back-to-school products such as HP notebook and desktop com-
puters, Samsung LCD computer monitors and SanDisk USB drives, as well as Bissell
carpet cleaners, Sonicare toothbrushes, Garmin GPS, Singer sewing machines, Cuisinart
coffee makers, bedroom furniture, Philips 52-inch LCD HDTVs, leather recliner chairs
and more. You’ll also save on a variety of services, including online investing, money
market accounts, identity protection, mortgage and real estate services, and more
services for small businesses.
Enjoy the savings this August from all of us at Costco! C
from the editor’s desk
David W. Fuller
IF YOU ARE ONE of the many eagle-eyed regular readers
of this magazine, you may notice a proliferation this
month of two words that have been placed on several
of our pages. The words are “PAID ADVERTISEMENT.”
You may wonder why these words are placed on
some ads but not on others.
Well, there is a method to this madness.
It has to do with what publishers traditionally have
termed “the division of church and state.” To publishers
that division means the all-important distinction between
advertising and editorial material.
Generally, ads clearly look like ads and articles clearly look like articles. Publishers
interested in maintaining editorial integrity and conveying such efforts to their readers
have policies that do not allow ads to mimic the look of articles. There are times, how-
ever, when even the best give-and-take between publisher and advertiser yields an ad
that still might be mistaken for something the editors may have created. That is when
the words “PAID ADVERTISEMENT” come to the rescue.
Now, if that all seems somewhat self-evident, I can assure you that even with this
precaution readers continue to confuse paid content with editorial content. It’s hard to
blame them since we live in an age of product placement (when advertisers pay to have
their products placed in movies or on TV shows) and of ever-blurring lines between
“church and state” in the media world.
As ironic as it may seem, The Costco Connection, a publication produced by a com-
mercial enterprise largely to encourage shopping, is proud of its efforts to clearly delin-
eate our paid advertising from our non-paid articles. C
AUGUST 2008 The Costco Connection 5
David W. Fuller is Assistant
Vice President, Publishing, and
Editor of The Costco Connection.
