Comments on: This Week at Costco – June 21, 2009

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:09:44 +0000

I guess you didn't actually read my comment, Kristen. I indicated that the manufacturer of the sampled item hires the product demo company (WDS, CDS or the others) and pays for their services as well as the goods that are sampled. I'm sorry that you are not informed about the other product demo companies in the other areas of the country, but it isn't really that surprising since they do not serve the stores in your area or anywhere near your area. You should go take a look at their website, it is pretty obvious how things work from the site. CDS is not responsible for all Costco locations, though they are responsible for the product demos in 212 locations (or there about) in 32 states throughout the Southwest, Midwest, East Coast and in Puerto Rico. And WDS is responsible for the product demos at 167 locations on the West Coast: 59 Costco locations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah, 52 Costco locations in Northern California and Nevada, and 56 Costco locations in Southern California and Hawaii. Both companies are pretty straight forward about listing their pricing information on their websites, which you can find here: CDS Pricing and WDS Pricing. You can see that while the product demo company purchases the item they are sampling, which only makes sense because how could they possibly tell how much they could go through accurately, they expense that to the manufacturer that hired them to preform the demo in the first place. The only remaining question then, at least for me, is whether Costco uses CDS or WDS when they want to have a product demo for their Kirkland Signature branded items or items in their bakery or deli areas. Perhaps they just use their own employees to do these demos,? However, they always seem to be dressed and stuff just like the regular product demo people for all other items.

By: kristen

kristen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:53:07 +0000

Well sorry but your quite wrong. I work for a New York Costco and our warehouse DOESNT pay for the samples or the employees. An outside company called cds does. I even spoke to a few cds employees and spoke to my store manager to verify this. Costco actually has nothing to do with it, I never even heard of wds, neither did they or my manager.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:44:18 +0000

Kristen, actually, the people that manufacture or distribute the products are the ones that pay for the samples and the people that hand them out. These companies hire one of the various exclusive product demo companies - different ones for different parts of the US - that work in the Costco stores. You can find out more about them by taking a look at the website for WDS, the company responsible for product demos in the Western US. I assume that if Costco wants something demoed from their bakery or deli, they go through the same process as other companies.

By: kristen

kristen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:48:24 +0000

Wow I cant begin to tell you how mislead you guys all are. Costco doesnt pay for those samples, an outside company (cds) pays for those items and also pays their employees to sample those products out. Costco does nothing more than sell those items.

By: This Week at Costco – August 2, 2009 | Addicted To Costco!

This Week at Costco – August 2, 2009 | Addicted To Costco! — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:44:59 +0000

[...] PopChips – I’ve written about these before, so for a full explanation about how healthy they are and how they are made, you should check out [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:05:59 +0000

Furniture season is twice a year. The day right after the 4th of July and Christmas (Dec. 25th). I’d hate to be the guy that has to come in earlier to move all the furniture the day after those holidays. Especially with Costco’s work Policy. Why pay 3 to 5 people low wages like Best Buy does, when you can pay 1 person a decent wage to do the same job. Looking at the big picture… If they actually hired more people to help members out, they would probably have to charge more money for things.. So the next time you need help and you can’t find something.. Ask for a Supervisor. the best place to find them is by the Front registers. They are well paid and trained to deal with any questions or concerns you might have.. The guy or girl on the floor might be some help, but not as much help as a supervisor that has a computer by them enabling them to look up almost anything. So the next time you have a question about some thing you saw at Costco and you can’t find anyone to ask but the girl cutting meat or the guy making pizzas in the Deli, Ask a Supervisor..

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:24:19 +0000

I wouldn’t worry about the cost of samples——if manufacturers want customers to try products in Costco they either donate the samples, and/or pay Costco to demonstrate them.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:41:02 +0000

I thought furniture season didn’t start again until August but obviously I’m wrong. You can definitely tell they are getting rid of things like plants and gardening stuff though because those supplies have really dwindled down the last couple of weeks.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:32:35 +0000

It is actually furniture season. Furniture comes out twice a year at Costco. In July and again in January. All the “spring/summer” stuff is leaving to get the furniture into place. If you see patio furniture or any fertilizer kinds of things, snatch it up because it’s going bye bye.

By: Rickie M

Rickie M — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:57:53 +0000

Well I guess you could make a sample smaller than 1/2 that contained both the chocolate dip and plain cookie – cut it into strips. Anyway, I had my generous 1/2 cookie sample and it was very chocolatey to say the least!