Costco is very pro-consumer. Management will not stock an item if they feel it's priced too high. Their Kirkland Signature brand is also pretty good quality I've found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco#Sales_model

I worked for an insurance broker in the small business sector for a while generating new lead sources. Costco was one of the organizations I was talking to. They were very emphatic that they did not want to provide insurance through brokers, because they felt a broker was unable to guarantee the level of service they wanted.

I was very impressed by that. Our CEO, not so much. I'm sure he still thinks Costco hates money.

Interesting. Maybe it's not so much that Costco hates money, they just love their customers more. It's possible, and apparently works.

The Kirkland Signature brand is actually typically rebranded goods from industry mainstays. Their beer, for instance, is rebranded Gordon Biersch, which is pretty good beer, by all accounts.

For a while, the Kirkland Signature brand "Canadian Whiskey" was just repackaged Crown Royale. Same whisky at half the price.

To me this sounds like a double edged sword. Though, i do like costco personally and shop there frequently.

Having sold to CostCo before, I can attest that it forces inefficiencies out of the process very quickly. And they will not accept an inferior product, either. Also they have efficiency built into every aspect of their business, down to the specific layout of the shipping crates to be sent, to minimize worker labor for setup and display of product.

I don't see where the other (bad) edge of the sword is.

Their food products always seem subpar at times. Not all but often enough that I don't shop for food there anymore.