Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco

Re:Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco by robryan on Wednesday August 28, 2013 @10:48PM (#6293980)

I wouldn't really consider them an expense in the same way as labour costs. Maybe in terms of the costs of distribution and storage for things that aren't moving. Things that are moving though with a profit margin aren't really a cost center.

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Re:Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco by mseebach on Thursday August 29, 2013 @05:18AM (#6294974)

In bookkeeping, no, but in looking for opportunities for efficiencies, it's pretty relevant.

Say, you've got a single employee on a $60k salary moving goods worth $10mm, but at a razor thin margin, so your profit on the goods is $100k, and your net profit is $40k. If you want to increase your net profit, it would probably be easier and yield a bigger return to see if you can do something about your $9.9mm product expense than your $60k salary expense.

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Re:Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco by eru on Thursday August 29, 2013 @02:16AM (#6294536)

Oh, but you still have to pay interest on that tied up capital. (I.e. the faster you move your inventory, the cheaper it gets.)

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