James Sinegal

“At Costco, we have a very simple and unsophisticated rule of thumb: we don't mark up any item more than 14 percent.”

“You need to be a merchant. You need to be able to understand what it is that your customer wants.”

“If you want to be a world-class company, you've got to have a world-class health-care and benefits plan for your employees.”

“The business model is to have a very limited selection of high-quality items and to turn that inventory very rapidly.”

“We're in the business of selling merchandise, not membership.”

“We only have one gimmick. That is, we sell merchandise at a very, very low price.”

“We pay the highest wages in retail.”

“If you don't have the best people, you're not going to be the best company.”

“We're not in the business of making our quarterly numbers look good. We're in the business of building a company that's going to be here 50 years from now.”

“Paying good wages and keeping your people working for you is good business.”

“You can't build a great company on unhappy people.”

“Reputation is everything. You can't buy it. You have to earn it.”

“Culture is not the most important thing. It's the only thing.”

“Technology is a tool, not a strategy.”