Costco shuts down shareholders demand to ditch DEI hiring practices

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Friday 27 December 2024 23:08 GMT


The Costco board has rejected a request from shareholders to drop its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. The shareholders urged the board to get rid of its “illegal discrimination” program. The Costco board replied to a number of shareholders, recommending a vote against a proposal to “report on the risks of maintaining DEI efforts,” Newsweek reported.

The shareholders had put forward a suggestion that employees of the company could be victims of "illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight.” They argued that it could lead to tens of billions of dollars in legal expenses defending against lawsuits.

“Our Board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary,” said a statement issued by the board.. “Our success at Costco Wholesale has been built on service to our critical stakeholders: employees, members and suppliers. Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics.”

The board added that it wants to make sure all of its more than 300,000 employees "feel valued and respected,” and that by having a diverse workforce, Costco can have more insight and creativity when it comes to what the company offers at stores. The board went on to note that customers will be able to “see themselves reflected in the people in our warehouses with whom they interact.”

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/costco-wholesale-dei-policies-b2670762.html

[live love laugh]

1. Makes me love Costco even more. Them and Aldi.

[3Hotdogs]

16. I'm at Costco at least 3x per month. My only complaint? Watching the parking lot people pushing 20 or 25

shopping carts across the lot.

FerFuxSake. Walmart gives their employees, battery operated tractors to push the carts.

[underpants]

27. I was at Walmart yesterday

Got a good parking spot but when I came out there wasn’t a cart collection area anywhere near. I didn’t want to leave it straggling for whomever had to come out and collect them. I didn’t that at my first job Winn-Dixie and it sucked (in a shirt & tie no less). I saw two guys getting out if a pickup as I was wheeling the cart back inside. They took it from me.

[JoseBalow]

56. I always bring in the cart I use from the parking lot

Even if I have to walk a little bit out of my way to get it.

[Crowman2009]

2. How much do you wanna bet that said shareholders are racist?

[33taw]

34. Not gonna take that bet!!

[Lovie777]

3. Costco is very diverse........

white, Asians, male and straight.

This is another attempt to keep, people of color from good paying jobs and I'm surprised they include Asians. I see that a fair amount of their employees are male.

Jim Crow is making a comeback.

[GB_RN]

5. I Had The Same Reaction

When I saw these “shareholders” (read: Racist-assed Reichwingers) had Asians in their list of groups who would be discriminated against. Probably did that so they wouldn’t look racist. My response to them is, “That’s like calling a shit sandwich a choco-taco. The reality is, you’re still serving a piece of shit. Throwing Asians in there doesn’t mean you’re not racist assholes.”

[AllaN01Bear]

32. but im not raceist. honest

sputter sputt sputt.

[mwmisses4289]

9. Costco is based in Seattle

Large Asian population there. Unfortunately, many of them are just as racist as their white counterparts.

[wolfie001]

22. Every racial category has their segments

Human nature to form groups. Sometimes just for protection. Caesar had his mob that went around killing people. According to HBO's 'Rome".

[BonnieJW]

51. Wegmans has a terrific hiring practice

You will see every kind of human disability, different colors, different nationalities.
There is a wonderful young man at my store who is autistic. He is so happy and has great social skills. He will approach shoppers and ask if they need help finding things. He will engage in conversation and we all love him.

[Frank D. Lincoln]

4. Oh oh, if things like this keep happening it might

restore some of my faith in humanity.

[GB_RN]

6. Unfortunately...

Earlier this week, I read that there are multiple, large corporations that are dropping their DEI policies out of fear of lawsuits, etc., from pricks like these “shareholders.”

[Frank D. Lincoln]

14. Disappointing. nt

[multigraincracker]

7. I wish there was a store closer to me.

One of the few businesses that treat employees with respect.

[Bengus81]

8. And how many of those racist shareholders will hit their computers to DUMP their Costco shares?

NONE......

Stand UP to asshats like them,Musk and the rest and they back down like the school yard bully.

[underpants]

28. People would buy them up

Jeebus. Look at this.

[Bengus81]

30. Yep...they haven't done a split in almost 25 years,they should do one

[mountain grammy]

10. I'm thinking this "request"

Is from people who rarely shop at Costco. In any case they are racist.

[samnsara]

13. Costco was born and bred in the Pacific Northwest..

....i hope our liberal world view has insulated them from trumpian crap..

[orangecrush]

11. K&R

[samnsara]

12. im a shareholder.. i guess I dont have enough shares....

..for my opinion to count...

[underpants]

29. Good for you.

[Marthe48]

15. If corporations who oppose going back

form alliances with other corporations all over the world who also want to keep moving forward by including human rights in their policies, wouldn't that alliance create a strong alternative economy? I know every member of top echelon wants to end up owning everything, but while the megolomaniacs are jostling for all the money in the world, can't other corporations gauge success using sane measurements?

I'm thinking of a parallel economy that operates without the rabid insanity dominating the business world.

[GiqueCee]

17. Opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion...

... really is the bottom of the barrel, and low-life MAGA filth are scraping it. They don't even offer a pretense for their obscene bigotry anymore. It sickens me to the heart that my stepsons are among them, and they certainly didn't learn it from their mother and me; she's even more ashamed of them than I am, and that's saying something.
Trump and his cult members are a virulent cancer, and nothing good will come of their having regained the Oval Office.
Make America Great Again? Bullshit.

[FakeNoose]

33. Agree totally - especially for a retail company

I mean, what do the crazy MAGA-cultists think, that middle class college-educated white people are standing in line to work at Costco and Walmart? Very doubtful, and most of those jobs are not much better than min. wage anyway.

It's not the same thing as Elon Musk laying off 90% of the Twitter workforce. Now Musk wants to hire cheaper workers from India. THAT should be something the MAGAs could start protesting. Not Costco.

[Joinfortmill]

18. Good for them.

[efhmc]

19. As a single person with small needs, I have never used Costco but rethinking that now.

[LAS14]

42. We're just two and we go maybe every five or six weeks.

We get toilet paper and paper towels, because we have a storage space for them. A package of two dozen eggs, because eggs last forever. A brick of cheddar cheese, a bag of coffee, a pack of frozen chicken breasts, a pack of frozen pork chops, a huge pot roast (cut it in four and freeze them), a case of no-cal Gator-Aid (Ade?), maybe some other stuff. We always get a little money back at the end of the year to cover the yearly membership.

[Bob_in_VA]

58. You might try it

I'm a single, retired guy. Costco is very useful for certain bulk items, for example, toilet paper, facial tissue, paper towels, paper napkins, plastic kitchen waste bags, and coffee ($18 for a 46 oz bag of a local coffee brand); a few frozen items like boxes of small frozen pizzas, chicken and fish fillets, frozen fruit and occasionally, if I'm about out and the pull date is far enough out, milk. Sure, I can get all those things at my regular grocery store... if I don't mind spending 25 - 35% more. But I do mind, so it's Costco. Even with my fairly limited purchases, I save more than the yearly membership fee.
In addition to the more regularly purchased items, I have also gotten some good deals on electronics. And they sell gasoline at a slight discount over the local stations.
Some folks balk at buying there, thinking that they won't have the necessary storage space. Well, my last house was a 2 BR, 1 1/2 bath, 1400 sq ft townhouse and I could fit all of the above items neatly. Just had to plan the storage spaces.
A further thought. If you have one or more single friends, you can 'buddy up' and buy a larger package of something and split it with them.

[Dem2theMax]

61. I'm a single person, and I shop there about every six weeks.

I get a prescription filled there, without insurance, because it's cheaper than with insurance. They have their pricing online, so you can check it ahead of time, before you ask your doctor to send a prescription there. Depending on what your copay is, Costco may beat the price, without insurance.

I buy all kinds of things there. The items that I tend to avoid are some of the fresh fruits and vegetables. They come in such large amounts that they go bad before I can eat them. But they do have a pretty good supply of frozen fruits and vegetables, so I usually do that instead.

Some other single folks have already listed items that they buy, and I tend to buy the same things.

They always have deals on clothing. I'm someone who always has to try on something, to make sure it fits. So I'll buy a couple of different sizes, take them home and see which one works for me. Then the next time I go back, I return the one that doesn't fit. They don't have anywhere to try on clothing. But their amazing return policy takes care of that problem.

And they always have deals on something that you thought you couldn't live without, and you buy it and you realize it was the best thing you ever purchased!

[jvill]

20. Why do so many white folks not want other families and children to feel safe?

[wolfie001]

21. Go COSTCO!!!!

Those racist haters can go roll themselves over to the local WakMart

[mahina]

37. Ironic but depressing

Racism is hateful and makes us weak as a country, divides us against ourselves. Fat shaming and disability shaming does too.

[SKKY]

23. Love me some Costco even more now!

Might have to tell Sam's Club to go piss up a rope.

[EmmaLee E]

55. good plan!

[JohnSJ]

24. This bullshit is being pushed by the National Center for Public Policy Research, and extremist right wing, racist

organization with some notable thugs such as Jack Abramoff, and others from Project 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#:~:text=The%20National%20Center%20for%20Public,vice%20president%20from%201986%2D2011.

These racist pieces of garbage have been going after companies to try and reverse large corporations DEI policies.

They are a hate organization.

In my view we are actually in a Civil War right now against these types of groups who have every intention of destroying our democracy.

[orleans]

25. i've never been in a costco

i went with a neighbor (a million years ago) who belonged to sam's club (and that was all the rage at that time so this was pre-costcos around my area) and just looked around. i concluded it would have been completely impractical for me to "join" simply due to the buy-in-bulk system; i had a little family (2 adults and 1 child), no basement to store huge amounts of crap, no extra freezer to store huge amounts of food.

when costco opened up around here i assumed it was the same concept (with the bonus of it appealing more to dems for a couple reasons, one being it wasn't owned by the waltons or whatever the hell the walmart family was called.) while i totally appreciated that and the fact that they paid their workers fairly and a lot better than other places, i still had no use for buying in bulk

[KPN]

50. Yeah, that makes perfectly good sense. At the same time, I did get a membership and learned that

grocery shopping at Costco was not for me for those same "bulk" related issues. However, I did find that there are indeed somethings that I do have room for and that are not perishable or have a long shelf life, as well as other single item things that I actually am looking to buy that they have at a much better price than I can find anywhere else; examples: coconut water, Gatorade, ibuprofen, razor blades, energy/protein bars, clothing items. I have also purchased some tools there -- most notably a wood splitter (the exact one I was shopping for) at more than $100 less than what I could get it for anyplace else. Same thing with tires. And finally, I wear hearing aids and have for 15 years. I've been able to get hearing aids at Costco for half what I was quoted for the same pair elsewhere twice now (total savings = $4000+.

But , yeah, the business model does have some problems as you mentioned. One of them that strikes me is that the people who shop at Costco are often the people who can afford to buy in bulk. So the notion that they provide product at a significantly lower profit margin applies in large degree to only that segment of society. That bothers me -- as it does shopping at my local supermarkets where I can stock up on items we routinely purchase (like coffee) when it is on sale because I can afford to buy in bulk. Ergo, life is cheaper grocery-wise for me compared to those who live paycheck to paycheck. One of the many flaws of minimally-regulated capitalism.

[orleans]

52. since you're a member -- do you know if the store would let me in to look around?

i'm curious now as to what i might buy there. but isn't the membership like $100 or something?

[KPN]

54. They do! Just tell the person at the door that's what you want to do. I think annual membership

is now $65 -- so yeah, you have to be sure the savings are worth it. Some years I let it lapse because we live a couple hours from the closest one. But with 2 kids living in Portland the last 8 years or so, we get up there often enough that I've renewed it every year lately. ... It really comes down to your personal situation as to whether it's worth it, but it may be even if you don't buy bulk. Worth the look.

[CrispyQ]

26. Wow. A company that cares for its stakeholders more than its shareholders.

“Our success at Costco Wholesale has been built on service to our critical stakeholders: employees, members and suppliers."

[Think. Again.]

31. The article doesn't bother to mention how many the "number of shareholders" is...

...I suspect it's a very small number (of magats) who probably don't carry much voting weight.

[not fooled]

41. Yes, lazy writing in this article

Should have revealed just what % of Costco shareholders participated in this Reich-wing stunt.

[Think. Again.]

47. Yeah, but probably not lazy...

...it seems the article's intention is to pretend corporate "shareholders" are strongly against DEI hires, and it was a good opportunity for the author or paper to write out the anti-DEI talking points in the article for the public to read.

[not fooled]

48. Yep, an agenda.

Agree with you. I see that in almost all conventional media coverage pertaining to corporations. Steering public thought along certain lines is more important than including more information that might not sit well with corporate America.

[Think. Again.]

49. yep.

I like your username.

[Greybnk48]

35. This drop DEI demand is another version of "White Lives Matter."

I'm glad COSTCO told them to stuff it. I love Costco even more now. We just bought someone a membership for Christmas!

[flamingdem]

36. Costco rocks

Who knew?

[ificandream]

38. Thank you, Costco.

Now bring back Red's Turkey Sausage breakfast sandwiches and Don Lee Farms Chicken Patties, please.

[LAS14]

40. And that lamb shanks prepared meal. nt

[LAS14]

39. Glad to hear this. We've been patronizing Costco....

... for years, consciously choosing it over Sam's Club and that other one for it's business plan of increasing profits by reducing staff turnover and pilferage by having good benefits.

One more reason to stick with them!!

[coffeenap]

43. Could they please buy MSNBC? nt

[Bengus81]

46. I don't see what the point would be of these right wingers buying it....

First off they'd lose about everyone that has a show except Schmo and MEEKa. And..what good would it do to parrot the same NAZI crap that FOX will be spewing too?

Waste of money but if they want to spend it...........

[KPN]

44. Gotta love Costco! Basically, they are being true to their original values.

[dutch777]

45. What RWers miss with this cause is that people considering working for these businesses care about DEI

And people that buy from them as well. Costco and Walmart and Target have enough of a revolving door. The millennial generation cares about equality and many have choices who they work for. These businesses may make some rich RW investors happy at the risk of further cutting their available people power. One blast on Instagram and a few TikTok influencers going negative over a company bailing on DEI could hurt a company in both employee recruiting and sales.

[johnnyfins]

53. Such horseshit

Shareholders should be nowhere near day to day operations.

[Tweedy]

57. Good for Costco

Also good for Costco’s bottom line

The more diverse an environment, the better the chances of survival also just happens to be biology 101.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

59. Costco rejected a proposal by an right-wing investor group to end its DEI efforts

Link to tweet

[JHB]

60. "tens of billions of dollars in legal expenses"?

For shareholders of COSTco, they don't seem to know what things cost.

[Deep State Witch]

62. Judging by the Diverse Crowd at my local Costco Today

Them catering to "diversity and inclusion" is working for them.