James Sinegal Quotations

Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity.

You destroy the initiative of the working people if they don't feel they have a fighting chance to be a part of the American Dream.

If you've got to work for the rest of your life, you'd better do something you'll enjoy.

It doesn't do much good to have a quality image, whether it's with the facility or whether it's with the merchandise, if you don't have real quality people taking care of your customers.

We want to turn our inventory faster than our people.

You take an educated gamble. If you don't occasionally make a mistake, you're not doing your job.

If you hire good people, give them good jobs, and pay them good wages, generally something good is going to happen.

You don't have a very motivated working class, it starts to affect the dynamics of the economy. If workers are disenchanted and disenfranchised, productivity losses will go along with that.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company. The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.

In the final analysis, you get what you pay for.

When you hire good people, and you provide good jobs and good wages and a career, good things are going to happen.

When employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.

We've always been in favor of improved wages for workers. When you have a strong middle class, they want to buy more stuff at Costco.

If you're going to say to all the people that you're working with, 'We want you to treat the customers honestly; don't lie and don't cheat,' it is somewhat hypocritical if you're not following the same rules.

We always strive to be the best in the wage package.

One of the strengths of our nation has always been a strong middle class who could afford their own homes and send their children to school.

Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business.

If we take care of the business and keep our eye on the goal line, the stock price will take care of itself.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

I say at our management conferences that the amount Wal-Mart grows in just one year is the equivalent of Costco's size.

I think that most of the people running companies today are motivated and pay is a small portion of the motivation.

Everybody is watching you every minute anyways. If they think the message you're sending out is phony, they're going to say, 'Who does he think he is?' It's again good business. But it is also an obligation.

It doesn't do Costco any good if nobody can afford to buy anything.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company.

The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.

We would rather have our employees running our business.

If somehow a proclamation were made that C.E.O.'s could only make a maximum of $300,000 a year, you would not have any shortage of very qualified men and women seeking the jobs.

We are a company that promotes 100% within the company.

It's even more important to hire good people and give them good jobs and good wages. They are the people who are going to run your business.

It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

Our attitude has always been that if you hire good people and provide good wages and good jobs and more than that - if you provide careers - that good things will happen to your company. I think we can say that that has been proved by the quality of people that we have and how they have built our organization.

Driving stock up from one day to the next is not what we are about. We are about building a good company and performing for the long term. I know everyone says that, that sounds trite when I repeat it that way, but that is and has always been our attitude about our business. If we do the right things, the stock price will take care of itself, and our shareholders will be rewarded.

You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

If somehow a proclamation were made that C.E.O.'s could only make a maximum of $300,000 a year, you would not have any shortage of very qualified men and women seeking the jobs.

Technology helps us become more efficient and productive but our business still has a lot of art as opposed to strictly science.

There was a proposal in California that would keep out Wal-Mart but allow Costco. You opposed it. Are you nuts? That's true: I always oppose these kinds of things. Competition makes us better. Some of our best stores have a Sam's Club next door.

Our attitude is that if you hire good people and pay them a fair wage, then good things will happen for the company.

You could raise the price of, say, a bottle of ketchup to $1.03 instead of $1, and no one would know. Raising prices just 3% per product would add 50% to your pretax income. Why not do it? It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

It is improper for one person to take credit when it takes so many people to build a successful organization. When you try to be top dong, you don't create loyalty. It you can't give credit (and take blame), you will drown in you inability to inspire.

I think the biggest single thing that causes difficulty in the business world is the short-term view. We become obsessed with it. But it forces bad decisions.