Like David Burn at AdPulp, I agree with Michelle Miller's line on Costco:

According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, Costco puts Wal-Mart to shame in the arena of low pricing. They steadfastly hold to the rule that nothing shall be marked up more than 15% (compared with competitor's markup of 25% and more). They pay their employees an average of $17 per hour... 42% higher than Sam's Club... and have one of the best health plans in the industry.

Costco's stock has risen more than 10% in the last year. Employee turnover rate is nearly non-existent. Sales revenue for June of 2005 is up 9% from the same period last year.

What does Wall Street have to say about this? If you can get their thumbs out of their mouths long enough to tell you, they wail that Joe is too generous. He just isn't shaving enough off the top for them to get their greedy little hands on. An analyst from Deutsche Bank whines, "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder." "They could probably get more money for a lot of items they sell," complains another analyst at ThinkEquity...

My God. A business that puts its employees and customers before the Almighty Profit does exist. Isn't it amazing that a simple thing like that would create cult-like customer loyalty and $40 billion in revenue... with almost no advertising?