PUBLISHER Ginnie Roeglin
EDITOR David W. Fuller 425-313-8510
dfuller@costco.com
MANAGING EDITOR Anita Thompson 425-313-6442
athompson@costco.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
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
Steve Fisher
steve.fisher@costco.com
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899
connection@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Annette Alvarez-Peters, Wally Amos, David Horowitz,
Harvey Meyer, Valerie Ryan, 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
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
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
ADVERTISING SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Melanie Woods
mwoods@costco.com
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 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 advertised may not be available at all locations at the
time of publication. Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive,
Issaquah, WA 98027. Copyright © 2007 Costco Wholesale.
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
YOU KNOW THAT Costco can save you money on
top-quality merchandise in our warehouses, but did
you know that we can also save you money on services
for your home or business? As our cover story on page
20 explains, over the past 10 years our Member Services
team has negotiated exclusive discounts and benefits on
a wide variety of programs for Costco members that
can save you thousands of dollars. Executive Members
generally receive even greater discounts or additional
benefits on most programs.
Our satisfaction guarantee applies to our third-party services just as it does to our merchandise. We closely monitor all of our services
and stand behind the quality and value that they offer. Be sure to check out the chart on
page 24, which lists all of the auto and home, real estate, medical, financial and small-business services that we have to offer. You can learn more about all of our services or
enroll in many online at costco.com.
Costco Travel is another service that you may not know about. It offers great savings
and special benefits on cruises and vacation packages in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico,
Disneyland, the South Pacific islands, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa, Las
Vegas and more. You’ll find information about Costco Travel on costco.com.
Our latest new service is our Costco Concierge service, which offers free, top-quality
technical support to Costco members who purchase our computers, televisions, projectors, cameras, camcorders, iPods and other MP3 players. While returns of these products
are limited to 90 days, our free technical support covers the lifetime of these products.
You can learn more about Costco Concierge on page 59.
Finally, the fresh foods departments in the warehouses are prepared with everything
you’ll need for your Easter or Passover meals this month. We’ve included a variety of delicious spring holiday recipes on page 28. And, as Pat Volchok explains on page 54, our new
line of Kirkland Signature™ spices, rubs and seasonings will add a delicious zest to your
dishes at a fantastic price.
Happy Easter and Passover 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 NO CHALLENGE too big for the small-business person.
If you doubt that, then I suggest you read reporter
Will Fifield’s article about Costco members Edward
Beggs and Craig Reece, owners of Neoteric Biofuels
(“Oil change,” page 39). Doing business as PlantDrive,
David W. Fuller is Assistant this small firm is tackling nothing less than the world’s
Vice President, Publishing, and energy crisis.
Editor of The Costco Connection. Like the best of small businesses, PlantDrive has
targeted a specific niche within that vast arena: showing
individuals how to convert their diesel engines so they can run on vegetable oil.
What is worth noting here is that small-business people are not the types to throw
up their hands just because a problem seems overwhelming. In fact, the argument is
often made that the majority of innovations that have moved the modern world ahead
have come not from the laboratories of large corporations, but from the workshops of
small entrepreneurs, inventors and visionaries.
So why might that be?
Does it have to do with bureaucracy? Does it have to do with a perception that the
bigger the enterprise, the more cautious it must be? Does it have to do with the freedom
that being small sometimes allows?
Or perhaps it simply is a matter of focus. PlantDrive has a single, clear, compelling
mission. All of its time, resources and energy (yes, I know, but I couldn’t resist) can be
directed at achieving one basic task.
Recently, researchers have been concluding that individuals who multi-task end
up not accomplishing as much as those who don’t. It just may be that the same is true
for businesses. C
