®

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 BOOKS

T. Foster Jones 425-313-6748 Tim Talevich 425-313-6759 Tod.Jones@costco.com ttalevich@costco.com

ONLINE EDITOR

David Wight David. Wight@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

ASSISTAN T EDITOR

Stephanie E. Ponder, Seattle sponder@costco.com

REPORTERS

Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve.Fisher@costco.com

COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer

CONTRIBUTORS

Rhonda Abrams, Jessica Cerretani, Paul and Sarah Edwards,
Philip Galanes, David Horowitz, Susan Hirshorn,
Heidi Smith Luedtke, Bryan Reesman, J. Rentilly,
Mark Saltzman, Daniel Post Senning, Claire Sykes, 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 Tradii

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Pam Sather, Seattle psather@costco.com
ASSISTAN T PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com
COLOR TECHNICIAN MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jane Klein Shucklin 425-313-8277 jshucklin@costco.com

ASSISTAN T ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Melanie Woods 425-313-2558 mwoods@costco.com

SENIOR ADVERTISING PROJECT COORDINATOR Steve Trump strump@costco.com

ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER Bill Urlevich

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
West: John McCarthy 818-706-8066 johnmccarthy1@sbcglobal.net
Texas: Nuala Berrells 214-660-9713 nuala@sbcglobal.net
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
P. O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088
999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, Washington 98027
Fax: 425-313-6718
Email: connection@costco.com

For information on warehouse hours and more: 1-800-774-2678 or visit Costco.com

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 the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated in the ad that there is such approval or endorsement. Products advertised may not be available at all locations at the time of publication. Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027. Copyright © 2011 Costco Wholesale.

FRONTend from the publisher’s desk

Ginnie Roeglin

THE HOLIDAYS ARE upon us! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa or simply enjoy this month’s focus on sharing time with family and friends, this is truly a special season of the year.

As you can imagine, it’s a busy time at Costco, in the warehouses and on Costco.com. Our buyers have worked around the clock to make sure the items our members are looking for are available.

We know these holidays can sneak up on you before you are prepared, and Costco is here to help. If there are gift recipients on your list who still need to be crossed off, you’ll find plenty of ideas in this month’s issue. Is there a techie in your life? Gadget gifts abound, including 3D and wireless-ready TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, complete home theater packages, cameras, tablets and wireless speaker systems. For information on these and more, see “Gadgets for Gifts,” on page 57, and check out the “Instant Savings” on many tech items, beginning on page 52.

And to help you with any technical issues you may have with setting up your new electronics, Costco’s Concierge Services offers free tech support to all Costco members. Buying Smart’s Pat Volchok delivers the story on page 78.

In our Arts & Entertainment section, you’ll find fascinating interviews with Helen Mirren, Kathy Bates and Andrea Bocelli, who talk about Prime Suspect, Midnight in Paris and One Night in Central Park, respectively, all on DVDs available at Costco. Additionally, the author of The Help and the director of the movie version, along with actress Emma Stone, describe how this story came to be. Both the book and the DVD are available at Costco, and there is an exciting giveaway as well (page 41). Be sure to read Pennie Clark Ianiciello’s Book Pick ( The Night Circus, page 39) for this month, and find out more about the puzzle master who creates dramatic jigsaw-puzzle cityscapes (page 49).

Finally, a reminder that if you are ordering from Costco.com, standard three-day shipping will deliver by Friday, December 23, if shipped by December 20, and that, due to size constraints, not all items are available for three-, two- or next-day air.

From all of us at Costco, happy holidays! C

Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice President, E-Commerce and Publishing, and Publisher of

The Costco Connection.

from the editor’s desk

David W. Fuller

YOU MAY HAVE noticed that Costco has no motto. It’s
unusual among large companies not to have one. But mottos
tend to be self-adulatory, and although those of us here are
very proud of what we do, we tend as a company to shy
away from tooting our own horn. Nevertheless, I’ve always
felt that if Costco were to have a motto, a good candidate
would be “Divide and conquer” or, perhaps, “Do the math.”
Either one would be a reference to Costco’s greatest
contribution to the world of merchandising: its persistent
and intense concentration on value over price. Costco is not
the first discount merchandiser or the first retailer to stress
consistently low prices. But Costco has distinguished itself by its focus on the discipline of
providing the best value for each dollar spent.

That’s where those proposed mottos come in. In order to understand the value in many of the products Costco sells, one has to do a little math—division in particular. As obvious as that may seem to you, I can assure you I have seen comments in the press and on blogs calling our prices high. These seem to be written by people who have not done the math.

When converted to units (whether pounds, ounces or pieces), the target is always for Costco’s prices to be the best available. Other elements also go into the value equation, though, including subjective product attributes such as taste, design and bonus features. All are scrutinized and evaluated by our corporate buyers as part of the value built into the price.

Thinking about this while driving to work today, I noticed a motto on a van in the lane ahead of me: “Quality, it’s a matter of pride.” How true. Yet how wrong that would be if the d in “pride” were replaced with a c. C

David W. Fuller is Assistant Vice President, Publishing, and Editor of The Costco Connection.

DECEMBER 2011 The Costco Connection 5