Despite the recent attention Amazon has been enjoying in the past few days, Costco remains unconcerned over the potential of losing its own employees to the e-commerce giant and its offer of higher minimum wage. As per Costco's big boss, the retailer still pays the highest in average as compared to other competitions in the country.
According to Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer, the pay and benefits offered by the red and blue company to its workers trump that of other competitions, including Amazon, even with its recently approved pay hike policy, Fox Business News reported, citing the interview made by the CFO with Wall Street Journal.
As furthered revealed in by the publication, Costco was one of those retail companies who first heed on the call by US President Donald Trump to increase the wages of American workers.
In the late 2017, the firm started raising its minimum pay from USD$13 to USD$14 after a tax-cut bill was signed by the Trump administration last year. The retailer has since implemented raises every year.
With the US House panel already giving its go-signal for the so-called Tax Reform 2.0 which made the tax-exempt policy permanent from here on out, Costco will likely to maintain this upward trend for the years to come.
On Amazon's case, its hourly workers now get USD$15 per hour although as what Galanti explained, Costco's slightly lower rate is just but a starting rate.
As what the CFO explained, an employee of the wholesaler who gets to stick with the company for a number of years can reap as much as USD$40 to USD$50 an hour. On top of this, they will get to enjoy great health benefits.
Galanti added that on average, Costco's hourly wage is around USD$22.50 - a rate which, according to him, eclipses that of any other retail entities, a Business Insider report said.
Tuesday last week, Amazon laid out its plans to raise the company's minimum wage while expressing its intention to work with the US Congress to increase that of what federal employees make on average.
Amazon's great news, however, is coupled with a rather somber one. As previously reported here in Business Times, the trillion-dollar valuated company will get rid of incentives to its employees like their monthly bonuses and stock grants.
As revealed over at Bloomberg, Amazon warehouse workers were once eligible to receive a total of hundreds of dollars per month for their monthly bonuses. This is not to mention one Amazon share given at the end of every year. Based on the company's current valuation, 1 share is now worth USD$1,959. Another share is rewarded to employees every five years.
