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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 Brian Basset, Tiffany Bass Bukow, Richard Deitsch,
Paul and Sarah Edwards, David Horowitz, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Shana
McNally, Andrea Downing Peck, Angela Pirisi, Dave Ramsey, J. Rentilly,
Valerie Ryan, Marc Saltzman, Eric Tyson, Pat Volchok, Liz Pulliam Weston
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
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
ASSISTAN T ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
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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
THE SHAKY ECONOMY is on everyone’s mind these
days. In these uncertain times, we are all looking for ways
to ensure our financial health. The Connection recently
gathered a group of five financial experts and asked them
to offer their advice. Starting on page 24, each expert provides recommendations for a different age group, as well
as financial tips that are applicable to all ages on page 27.
Of course, it makes more sense (and cents) than ever
to save by shopping at Costco. In addition to stretching
your dollars with our low prices on food, gas, pharmacy,
optical and non-food items, your membership also gives
you access to a variety of moneysaving services, such as
online investing, auto and home insurance, mortgage and refinancing, real estate, auto
loans, money market accounts, credit-card processing and more. As with all items at
Costco, we have contracted with only top-quality providers to offer the best possible
services at the lowest possible prices. To learn more, see page 75 or click on “Services”
on costco.com.
Speaking of savings, our Summer Passport to Savings program begins this month.
Watch your mailbox for our blue coupon book filled with thousands of dollars in savings
on a wide variety of items and services in our warehouses and on costco.com. This
month we’ve included several special offers on great gifts for dads and grads, such as
big Vizio and Philips HDTVs, a Panasonic digital camera, a collection of DVDs from
Twentieth Century Fox, a Philips Norelco razor, Garmin and Magellan GPS navigation
systems, a comfortable rocker/recliner, Samsonite luggage, a men’s diver watch and more.
If you happen to be in the market for a new car this summer, you’ll even find a special offer from Volvo on two different vehicles priced at $1,000 less than Volvo employee
pricing! See What’s New on page 70 or visit costco.com for more information.
As a special thanks to our members, we are pleased to distribute our second annual
Costco Household Almanac, free to the first 1. 5 million members who shop in our warehouses on Father’s Day weekend, June 13 through 15. The Costco Household Almanac is
filled with tips and techniques to help you get the most out of your Costco purchases
and to make your life a little easier. If you don’t happen to receive a copy, you can find
an online version on costco.com. Read more about our new almanac on page 53.
Happy Father’s Day and congrats to grads 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
AFTER READING this column, you would be perfectly
justified in coming up with a nickname for me: the
Third Debater.
That’s because there is no way I can resist weighing in
on a subject that has weighed heavily in my life: the relationship of neatness and organization to creativity.
(See this month’s Debate: Is being neat and organized
overrated?, page 16.)
I find myself agreeing with key points made by both of
our debaters. In fact, I love David H. Freedman’s assertion
that “creativity is deeply entwined with messiness.” If
you’ve ever seen photographs of Picasso’s numerous studios, you know what he’s getting at.
On the other hand, Standolyn Robertson makes an excellent distinction: “being
organized is not necessarily the same as being ‘neat,’ because organization is about
function, not appearance.” Thank you, Standolyn! And the 3-foot-high stacks of magazines and files on the floor of my office also thank you. Ugly they may be, but ask me
for that compelling article that ran in Good magazine two years ago and I can put my
finger on it in less than a minute … faster than Googling for the digital version.
For me, this is one of the toughest questions we have asked in 20 years of running
Debate. So in my role as Third Debater I end up being equivocal: I commend those who
are organized and those who are neat, but I will always have a lurking suspicion that their
synapses are missing something by not constantly being assaulted by the wonderful
potential that can be found in a well-constructed mess. C
JUNE 2008 The Costco Connection 7
David W. Fuller is Assistant
Vice President, Publishing, and
Editor of The Costco Connection.