I kind of think that Costco is a small bit of proof for how the problems in the world are not caused by an economic ideology, but by people. It's just that capitalism rewards the worst actions taken by the worst people. If there were fewer selfish pieces of shit, if CEOs were willing to actually pay their employees better wages without pressure, if billionaires didn't exist because they'd already given away their money to actually fix the world's problems, then we wouldn't have most of our issues. That world has not, does not, and will not exist. The only way to build a better one is by fighting for it. I'm going to get downvoted to hell, aren't I? Oh, yeah, socialism is cool, you should do that.
this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
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It's just that capitalism rewards the worst actions taken by the worst people.
Um, unregulated garbage late stage capitalism sure. Maybe that's all capitalism, because it does seem like it degenerates to that in every case. 🤷
The only way to build a better one is by fighting for it.
That's exactly what democratic socialism is. It's the fight for a better world.
It's funny to me that folks can easily see the flaws in "the other side" but never their own side. Like, pretty obviously communism sucks in reality (the theory is well meaning) because you "have" to go through single-party socialism first, and once people get power they're unlikely to ever give it up, but just as obviously capitalism sucks in reality because if a business has too much money and no government is enforcing antitrust it can buy up all of the competition.
That's why you're better off with a compromise. That compromise, IMO, is democratic socialism.
You're right, but that's also the point of why people say capitalism is bad. It rewards the worst people. The goals are not aligned with doing good. It's aligned with maximizing exploitation, whether that's resources or people (aka human resources, if you didn't know what they think of you).
It isn't capitalism that causes issues. It's that the system rewards those who cause the issues. It doesn't do anything on its own.
Sweet. And then Costco will give us that money since we covered that cost. Start checking the mailboxes :) /s
They actually may. They keep records tied to membership number and already have a system set up for yearly rebates.
It would be funny if only Costco members got tariff refund checks
It would be a big positive news story for them as well. Might even pull some customers away from Sam's.
If anyplace would they might. They got a notable boost in traffic just by explicitly saying they wouldn't drop their DEI policy when that was his favorite tantrum.
Investors are already gambling with this money. Companies sold their rights to refunds to other companies for fraction of the value. Banks bought it and are now waiting for Trump to pay them. One of investors is the son of US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
https://www.wired.com/story/cantor-fitzgerald-trump-tariff-refunds/
I just wish, Taco, personally, along with his estate/family could be sued, directly.
Not that I think it will go anywhere in either case, but it'd be nice to have him personally held to account.
I sure as hell hope all his ill-gotten gains can be later seized, even if they are in the pockets of Uday/Qusay or Jared and Vanky.
Counter point to all the pro-costco sentiment, they've implemented what looks to be flock cameras on their properties. Its in their ToS, look for "ALPR".
Are they then going pass the money on to the consumers? Because no fucking way did they eat those tariffs taxes.
And that fuck up that they allow Flock on their property.
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
I'm a vendor for Costco. Don't let another big corporation fool you. They just dump all the problems on their suppliers and vendors while staying as hands off as possible. It's just another mega corporation that has done a better job on its public image than other similar companies. I have to pay a ton of tariffs on the brand of product I'm required to sell by Costco. This lawsuit isn't targeting those tariffs at all. Just the stuff Costco sells of the shelf. The vendors never get any support from Costco.
You expect Costco to sue on behalf of your company for tariffs paid by your company?
No I don't. I'm just pointing out that Costco's only concern is Costco.
Any company's main concern is the company itself, why wouldn't it be?
Yes.
Why should they get support? Isn't that literally their job, as vendors? That's what they do, vend. They can not sell at Costco if they don't want to. They can get a other job if they aren't up for it.
Middlemen in retail literally will anything to avoid work.
Costco is the middleman in this situation so I agree completely.
Well said.
Costco's contracts and policies are written to protect Costco first, the customer second, and to screw the vendor if any problems arise. They require we sell a specific brand of problem that has many quality issues and expect me to go fix all the problems for free because that's how the contract is written. They make a lot of promises to the customer on my behalf. I absolutely expect them to provide support when there are product quality issues and an unhappy customer because of it. That is literally Costco's only contribution to this system and they consistently fail at it by choice. They ignore all problems, expecting the vendor to deal with it out of fear of losing their Costco contract. I hate working for minimal profit margin for this company, but the ownership here has fallen into the trap of letting Costco become their big lead generator. As long as I keep get paid to go fix things instead of actually making money, it's not my problem. It's just frustrating watching the big corps screw the little guy and then watching the little guy take it like that's normal.
I'm not expounding too much on how, but I know you're correct. Costco is mildly better than other retailers to their warehouse staff, and even that is just done for the image/reputation which is where the real value in Costco exists.
What?