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 INTERNATIONAL
T. Foster Jones 425-313-6748 Tim Talevich 425-313-6759
Tod.Jones@costco.com
ttalevich@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
Sungwon Pae, Seoul 82-2-2630-2700 swpae@costcokr.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Stephanie E. Ponder, Seattle sponder@costco.com
ONLINE EDITOR
David Wight David. Wight@costco.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve.Fisher@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Wally Amos, Greg Anrig, Maria Bellos Fisher, Carl Germano,
Marcy Goldman, Rosalind Gray, David Horowitz,
Susan Hirshorn, Merrill Matthews, John Morell,
Suze Orman, Annette Alvarez-Peters,
Marc Saltzman, Eric Taub, Irene Thomas, 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, Steven Lait,
Chris Rusnak, David Schneider, Brenda Shecter
PRODUCTION MANAGER
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ASSISTAN T ADVERTISING MANAGER
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Steve Trump strump@costco.com
ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
West: John McCarthy 818-706-8066
johnmccarthy1@sbcglobal.net
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Northeast: Frank Colonno 201-962-2759
fcmediapartners@optonline.net
Midwest: Stu Opfer 630-832-3600
stu@opfermedia.com
Southeast: Carl Mischka 252-626-8199
CarlMischka@aol.com
BUSINESS MANAGER
Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715 rcruz@costco.com
CIRCULATION / EDITORIAL ASSISTAN T
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
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Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA
98027. Copyright © 2012 Costco Wholesale.
FRONTend
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
MANY OF US LIKE to spend this time of the year fixing
up the inside and outside of our homes. If you are ready
for a little pre-spring cleanup, you’ll find lots of tips in
this issue.
An updated kitchen not only makes meal preparation
easier and more efficient, it also improves the appearance
and the future resale value of your home. Costco offers
many products and services that can save you money
on a kitchen remodel, including appliances, cabinets,
countertop surfaces, faucets, furniture and lighting. You’ll
find many of these items at the Special Order kiosks in
the warehouses and on Costco.com. If you do decide to
remodel, check out the economical tips on page 39, and read about attractive and
affordable LVT flooring on page 43.
This would be a good time to swap out your old bulbs with the new, energy-efficient
LED bulbs. Learn more about this new technology on page 35.
February (March in cooler states) is time to spruce up your yard. Costco eliminates
the guesswork by stocking the correct yard products at the right time in each region.
Pat Volchok dishes the dirt on Costco’s products and lawn and garden care on page 88.
Valentine’s Day is a bright spot to look forward to this month. You’ll find ideas for lots
of great valentine gifts in this issue, including jewelry, watches, electronics and apparel,
available in the warehouses and on Costco.com. Costco.com can also send a beautiful
bouquet of three dozen roses (and vase) to your valentine on either February 10 (order
by February 5) or February 13 (order by February 8) to avoid weather-related delays.
Costco American Express cardholders can look forward to their annual American
Express rebate check this month in their credit card statements. Perhaps you’d like to
apply yours toward a family vacation at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando
Resorts. Our Costco Travel story on page 77 will help you save money and maximize
your vacation time.
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice
President, E-Commerce and
Publishing, and Publisher of
The Costco Connection.
from the editor’s desk
NOW THAT WE have stepped firmly into 2012, I’ve
been thinking about how we really have left the 20th
century behind us and are now becoming creatures of
the 21st century. Even people like me, born before the
midpoint of that last century (just barely), seem to be
routinely embracing technology that we only marveled
at a few years ago.
Not that I am yet streaming movies from the
Internet onto a 70-inch home-theater television screen,
but I’ve got plenty of friends, acquaintances and readers
who are (but with smaller screens).
That’s why I see a story like the one on pay-per-click advertising (page 23) as being
pertinent and useful not only to our readers who might advertise, but also to the more
general readers who are increasingly the recipients of such ads.
A lot of media watchers and other pundits commiserate over the impact technology
has had and will continue to have on book publishers, moviemakers, writers, editors, photographers—the kind of people I have been hanging out with professionally for 40 years.
To them, I can only say what some may consider trite, but others know is true:
Regardless of the technological delivery systems, content remains king. This has been
proven time and time again as each new wave of devices or new systems of transmission
have been developed, from the book, to the movie screen, to radio, to television, to the
computer, to the Internet, to mobile platforms. This is where organizations such as HBO
come in (see the cover story on page 24). By fearlessly telling compelling stories, they have
been able to ride the waves of technological change for more than 40 years. Their original
movies and series (and those of other first-class creative groups) clearly are favored by
21st-century time-shifters like me.
I suspect that could be the case on into the next century. C
David W. Fuller is Assistant
Vice President, Publishing, and
Editor of The Costco Connection.
FEBRUARY 2012 The Costco Connection 7
