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Costco Nation's leading chain of wholesale club stores. Headquarters: 999 Lake Drive Issaquah, WA 98027 Employees: 137,000 CEO: James Sinegal Stock Symbol: COST Website: http://www.costco.com Career Site Costco operates an international chain of membership warehouses, primarily under the "Costco Wholesale" name, that carry quality, brand name merchandise at substantially lower prices than are typically found at conventional wholesale or retail sources. The warehouses are designed to help individuals and small-to-medium-sized businesses reduce costs in purchasing for resale and for everyday business use. Costco operates 536 warehouses with 392 locations in 40 U.S. States & Puerto Rico; 75 locations in nine Canadian provinces; 19 locations in the United Kingdom; 5 locations in Taiwan; 6 locations in Korea; 8 locations in Japan; and 31 locations in 18 Mexican states. Stores range in size from 70,000 to 205,000 square feet with the average size of 141,000 square feet. The company has over 47 million membership cardholders. Costco is open only to members and offers three types of membership: Business, Gold Star (individual) and the Executive membership. Business members qualify by owning or operating a business, and pay an annual fee ($50 in the U.S.) to shop for resale, business and personal use. This fee includes a spouse card. Business members may purchase up to six additional membership cards ($40 each) for partners or associates in the business. Gold Star members pay a $50 annual fee (in the U.S.), and is available to those individuals that do not own a business. This fee includes a free spouse membership. The Company also has a third membership level, called the Executive Membership. In addition to offering all of the usual benefits, it allows members to purchase a variety of discounted consumer services (auto and homeowner insurance, real estate, home equity and mortgage services, auto buying, auto loans and refinancing, event tickets, personal check printing, online investing, money market accounts, defensive driving, credit reports, scores and monitoring and/or business services (business phone services, merchant credit card processing, health and dental insurance, business lending, payroll processing, check and forms printing, prepaid express shipping, small-business 401(k) plans, small-business web sites ) at substantially reduced rates. Executive Members also receive a 2% annual reward (up to $500) on most of their warehouse purchases. Executive Members pay an annual fee of $100. Costco sells products in a variety of categories that include groceries, candy, appliances, television and media, automotive supplies, tires, toys, hardware, sporting goods, jewelry, watches, cameras, books, housewares, apparel, health and beauty aids, tobacco, furniture, office supplies and office equipment. Costco says it has 137,000 full- and part-time employees with 100,000 in the U.S. For fiscal 2007, Costco reported sales of $64.4 billion and net income of $1.08 billion. History Costco was founded in 1982 by Jeff Brotman and James Sinegal. They opened the first Costco Wholesale Club in Seattle in 1983. The company would merge with rival wholesale club Price Company in 1993. The company changed its name from PriceCostco to Costco in 1997. Benefits Costco is known for providing excellent benefits to employees. Salaried employees are eligible for benefits after the first month of hire. Full-time hourly employees can receive benefits after 90 days, 180 days for part-timers. Medical, dental, vision and pharmacy plans are offered. Healthcare reimbursement accounts are available and life and disability insurance are provided to employees. A 401(k) plans is available and Costco matches employee contributions 50 cents on the dollar for the first $1,000 each year to a maximum company match of $500 a year. In addition, once an employee meets the eligibility requirements, the company adds an additional amount to each employee's account every year, which is based on the employee's years of service and eligible earnings. According to The NY Times, the average pay of Costco workers is $17 an hour. Updated May 9, 2008