Susan and David Schwartz want everyone to know two things: They love Costco, but don’t work for the warehouse retail giant.
The couple, authors of the self-published book “The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z,” appeared at a Nov. 7 session of the Book Festival of the MJCCA, detailing four years of international visits to the giant warehouses – from Alaska to France to Japan to Iceland.
After receiving reluctant approval from Costco executives James Sinegal and Craig Jelinik, the New York-based couple traveled more than 280,000 miles, visiting 250 warehouses around the world while noting the differences in the 3,800 or so offerings at each location.
The Alaska location was so small that upon entering the facility, they asked themselves, “Where is the Costco?” In Australia, they were amazed to see an array of for-sale coffins, caskets, and urns on display and similarly impressed by the giant tubs of vegemite, a thick, dark brown leftover brewers’ yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives that is immensely popular down under.
In Lancaster, PA they noted that the parking lot includes horse-and-wagon parking, and in locations in Asia, scooter parking galore. Other highlights of their travels included observing an impressive kimchi refrigerator in South Korea, the wall of rice in the Taiwan Costco, and, according to David, tasting the “best mango smoothie we’ve ever had” at the United Kingdom facility.
They also noted that a location in Mexico has a soccer field, park, and contemplative garden on the roof of the facility.
The Schwartz’ love of the $1.50 all-beef Costco hot dog is evident in the name of their publishing company, Hot Dog Press. The two included hot dog trivia, including the fact that Costco sells 130 million hot dogs annually – more than every major league baseball team combined.
The couple even stopped by Costco’s hot dog factory in Chicago on their journey around the world, and noted how, like many of the behind-the-scenes facilities visits, it was extremely clean.
“You could do surgery on those floors” was an oft-repeated phrase about the factory and distribution centers.
Throughout their presentation, Susan and David emphatically reminded the audience that they have no affiliation with Costco, other than being their biggest fans. They were very knowledgeable about the company’s policy on selling whole roasted chickens and hot pizza at each store (they never stay available for purchase for more than two hours), and details about the stellar manner the company treats its employees.
“There is only a 7%-to-9% turnover rate after people are employed there for a year,” Susan said. “And during Covid, they never laid off any employees and the people who came in got time-and-a-half.”
She also recounted a story of a person who bought a grand piano from a Costco location with the intention of learning to play it. Fifteen years later, the purchaser brought the piano back, which forced a call to company headquarters.
“Jim [Sinegal] told the person, ‘take the g*damned thing back,’” Susan said.
The Schwartz presentation is one of many during the MJCCA’s book festival this year. It opened Nov. 2 with New York Times’ best-author Emily Giffin (“The Summer Pact”), and will conclude on Nov. 19 with former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, author of “The Art of Power.”
The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z” is available on Amazon for $27.99.
