Costco Connection - January 2007

member connection

Kim and Carol Pedersen

KORY PEDERSEN\

Personalized pacifiers

ANY PARENT who has ever lost a child’s pacifier knows that uh-oh feeling: “Is that one my child’s?” “Is it safe to use again?” “Can I answer these questions before all #X%#@# breaks loose?”

Costco members Kim and Carol Pedersen have one of the answers. Their company, MyPacifier.com ( www.mypacifier.com), in Fremont, California,

allows personalization of pacifiers for easy identification to answer the first question. The low cost ($15 for three; discounts for bigger orders) facili-

We want to hear from you IF YOU HAVE a note, photo or story to share (it should be about Costco or Costco members in some way), you can send it to “The Member Connection,” The Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088, or e-mail to connection@costco.com with “The Member Connection” in the subject line. Submissions cannot be acknowledged or returned.

tates multiple purchases to keep a stockpile handy so you won’t fret about the latter two.

The product was created by Kim’s cousin, Pia Callesen, in Denmark in 2005 under the name

Navnesutten®. The Pedersens were offered the opportunity to be the sole distributor in the United States. The site went live in March 2006, and it didn’t take long to prove the business has teeth. MyPacifier.com keeps a stockpile of the most common names in order to facilitate three-to seven-day delivery on orders. Custom printings may take up to two weeks.

MyPacifiers have achieved a touch of fame, making an appearance on The Tony Danza Show and being placed in the gift baskets of award-nominated actors from 24, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and others. No word on whether the recipients use them to avert tantrums on the set.—Steve Fisher

A family
affair

MY ENTIRE extended family shops at Costco regularly. We, in fact, live in what we call the "golden triangle" in Colorado, because we’re equidistant from the Costco locations in Superior, Westminster and Arvada. We visit Costco about three times per week!

However, I don't think I fully realized how deep our connection with Costco had grown until recently when I was baby-sitting my 3-year-old niece, Tori Teegardin. She presented me with this beautiful piece of artwork.

When I asked her about the picture, she said, “It’s a map.” And when I asked her what it was a map of, I knew how obsessed with Costco we had become. “Well, that's Costco, right there,” she said, pointing to the heart in the lower left corner.

I think you have a dedicated future generation of shoppers here in Colorado!

—Wendy Abshire

Arvada, CO

Adam@Home by Brian Basset

SPECIAL TO THE CONNECTION. ADAM IS © BY BRIAN BASSET, UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

Costco rocks

LONNIE BOS found Costco useful in his old life in the vending supply business. And he’s finding it useful in his new one as a gospel rock artist with the band Tracing Days ( www.tracingdays.com).

“It’s probably just easier to ask us what we don’t buy from Costco,” says Bos. Based in Bozeman, Montana, the group (and family members) travel to gigs in a van equipped with rubber from Costco’s Tire Center. The band used computer equipment and software purchased at Costco to manage the release of their first CD, Control. Bos used video-editing software he purchased at Costco to compile rough cuts of the band’s new video, which has been picked up nationally by the Gospel Music Channel.