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what's the minimum wage at costco which
roles at the company earn the most money
and why do employees get given turkeys
as perks keep watching for the answers
to these questions and more
you might assume that most costco
cashiers aren't in it for the long haul
that's because while it's obviously not
bad work a costco job would usually be
seen as more of a stop gap job than a
full-blown career this is a challenge
for retailers like costco because
employee retention is an incredibly
important aspect of a successful
business model and the cost of employee
turnover can be incredibly high after
all it's expensive in both dollars and
time to search for hire and train a
competent employee we think we're a good
place to work we play benefits
we've got great people we want people to
stay for the long term one of the
strategies costco uses to retain good
employees is to pay frontline workers
well above the national minimum wage for
example costco raised its minimum wages
from 16 to 17 in october 2021 while
simultaneously providing bumps in pay
for supervisors what's remarkable about
this decision is that this bump in
minimum wage came less than a year after
the company's previous one buck bump in
the minimum wage which occurred in
february 2021
moves like this make it clear that the
company is watching listening and
responding to the needs of the industry
and its employees costco evidently
understands that in order to keep good
employees they have to reward them for
their service a solid minimum wage is
certainly an excellent start
determining the average hourly wage for
any given company can be difficult and
this goes doubly for one as large as
costco things get even trickier when the
company is continually assessing and
adjusting its minimum wages for all
employees making older self-reported
employee wages essentially moot for
example if an employee self-reported a
minimum wage of 13 an hour in 2018 but
subsequently received four one dollar
raises bumping his or her hourly wage up
to 17 dollars per hour the earlier
information would greatly underestimate
the actual average
nevertheless pay scale a third-party
aggregator of self-reported employee
wages notes that the average hourly wage
for costco employees is just over 18
dollars per hour this number obviously
isn't something to scoff at but it's
important to note that much of pay
scales data comes from information
sourced before the minimum wage pay
increases of 2018 2019 and 2021. it can
be reasoned then that the average hourly
wage is even higher in fact in february
2021 costco's ceo craig jelenic claimed
that the average hourly wage for
employees was 24 per hour and this was
before the two one dollar increases
logged in 2021
in the world of skyrocketing healthcare
costs and wavering government support of
universal health insurance the concept
of health benefits for all employees is
practically unheard of in the united
states yet former costco employee megan
de maria revealed in an article for
yahoo life that all full and part-time
employees at costco are eligible for
benefits including health insurance
part-time employees also qualify if they
work for an average of 23 hours per week
or more the dollar value of this
employee benefit is incredibly
significant and shouldn't be downplayed
when it comes to an employee's total
salary package
according to forbes employee benefits
account for approximately 32 percent of
employee compensation with employee
salaries accounting for 68
in other words if an employer is funding
health insurance and other benefits
those are dollars that the employee
doesn't have to spend out of pocket
essentially increasing his or her total
wage by potentially thousands even if
this wage isn't felt in take-home pay
a starting hourly wage of 17 per hour
looks a lot more appealing than the
federal minimum wage of 7.25
per hour and while take-home pay is
obviously an important part of an
employee benefits package you don't want
to ignore other benefits either the cost
of employer provided health insurance is
an obvious example but retirement funds
matched by the employer is another way
smart companies can recruit and retain
good employees costco auto enrolls all
of its workers in a company 401k plan
offering 50 cents on the dollar match to
employee contributions up to 500 total
costco employees who reviewed this
benefit on glassdoor seem to like the
system and some noted that employees can
contribute up to 10 of their total
salary to their 401k each pay period
although this appears to vary based on
tenure with the company this benefit can
certainly add up to a nice retirement
though so it's not a shabby bonus by any
measure
in addition to the bonuses you might
find in a typical benefits package
costco also extends a number of smaller
perks to its employees these may not
come with big price tags but they help
give the company just a few more selling
points for potential employees for
instance all employees are given free
turkeys for thanksgiving they also
receive a free executive membership to
the store which clocks in at a value of
120
the real value to this executive
membership can be much greater though
holders of the gold star executive
membership receive a 2 reward up to 1
000 on all qualified costco purchases
discounts on costco services and free
roadside assistance for vehicles covered
through costco's auto insurance program
it's hard to put an exact dollar amount
on the overall savings employees receive
with these perks but they certainly
offer another way that costco can help
reduce its employees overall cost of
living
depending on the company you work for
you may be accustomed to receiving
holidays off work such as thanksgiving
christmas or new year's day or if you do
have to work you may receive holiday or
overtime pay for working days that
others spend celebrating with their
families however in the united states
holiday pay isn't a guarantee unless you
have a contract that stipulates as much
and yet costco makes special pay a
regular thing no matter the job no
matter the total number of hours worked
per week costco offers all of its
employees time and a half pay every
single sunday that they're scheduled to
work this means that if a part-time
costco employee normally receives 17 per
hour they'll automatically receive 25.50
per hour on sundays 8.50
more than usual
i need a vacation
according to a reddit user claiming to
be a costco employee after one year and
2000 hours the company rewards its
employees with 40 hours of paid vacation
or the equivalent of one week but
costco's vacation policy isn't static
often improving with prolonged time at
the company after two years of service
paid vacation is increased to two weeks
per year and after five years of service
it goes up to three weeks per year
there's also good news for employees who
are dedicated to making a career at the
company after 10 years of service costco
grants four weeks of vacation per year
and after 15 years of service that goes
up again to five weeks of vacation per
year if you're a costco employee who has
been with the company for that long not
only do you get five weeks you'd also
enjoy between eight to ten paid holidays
plus any sick days you need to take
based on your ongoing accrual all in all
you could be looking at the equivalent
of around two paid months off work per
year again the dollar equivalent for
this benefit is hard to work out as it
varies based on the employee's status
tenure and whether the vacation or sick
time is actually used that said
third-party aggregator website
comparably estimates that the combined
value of costco's paid time off and
benefits packages averaged between one
thousand dollars and one thousand five
hundred dollars per month per employee
for employees who work their way up to
becoming a stores general manager the
payoff in compensation is significant
pat callins executive vice president of
administration at costco told readers
digest in january 2020 that the average
annual salary for a costco general
manager in the united states was 138
thousand dollars obviously that's enough
to support a comfortable living in most
cities around the country but they can
actually earn even more callans went on
to explain that managers can earn
bonuses and stock stock-based
compensation that far surpassed the
regular take-home pay in fact he claimed
that most gm's earn about triple the
annual salary when these other factors
are taken into account as such a gm
might receive closer to four hundred
thousand dollars per year when all is
said and done of course running a costco
can't be an easy job considering you'd
need to manage employees inventory
quality assurance and customer
satisfaction and you'd have to be able
to effectively manage the stressors that
go along with running a large retailer
costco seems to be aware of these
challenges though and in order to hire
and keep good employees they prioritize
compensating them well
it's obvious that positions requiring
special training or skills can expect to
be hired at a slightly higher hourly
rate or in some cases may be offered a
full-time annual salary examples of
these positions include cake decorators
tire technicians travel agents and photo
lab technicians the higher starting wage
makes sense of course a college student
waltzing in off the street without any
prior training can't just start changing
tires or developing photos
professionally and you probably don't
want a newbie to decorate your grandma's
birthday cake so if you happen to have
the training or skills necessary to be
hired into one of these positions you
can expect your experience to be
rewarded with a slightly higher wage
than the minimum salary
costco is known for offering pretty
great deals in its pharmacy and with a
steady stream of customers heading to
the retail giant specifically for this
purpose the company wants to keep its
pharmacy employees happy of course it's
not just pharmacists that work within
the pharmacy there are also pharmacy
technicians and pharmacy cashiers pay
rates vary according to the role with
pharmacy managers averaging over 130 000
per year technicians making almost 52
000 per year pharmacy interns making
roughly 20 dollars per hour and pharmacy
cashiers making closer to costco's
minimum wage costco's pharmacists earn
roughly 75 per hour which amounts to a
solid six-figure annual salary obviously
not just anyone can be hired into these
roles they require a specific education
and training and as such these employees
receive significantly more compensation
really all of costco's healthcare-based
employees can expect to receive a
significant salary for instance
opticians can expect to make over 20
dollars an hour or even closer to thirty
dollars depending on licensing and
experience
it doesn't matter if you're using a
forklift or driving a truck those who
hold the appropriate certifications for
operating various vehicles can expect to
be compensated well this higher payment
comes in part from the expense of
receiving the appropriate training and
certifications to take on these
positions but it's also a result of
these positions carrying more risk than
that of a standard store clerk it's
obvious that navigating in and around a
giant warehouse with a forklift for
example takes practice and skill
i'm just gonna put this over there
this is not a good idea right here
as such the people who learn how to
safely do this type of driving enjoy a
bump in pay as a result likewise the men
and women who are willing to drive
hundreds of miles each day on america's
highways to make deliveries often while
spending time away from family and
friends are well compensated for their
efforts according to self-reported
salaries listed on glassdoor costco
forklift drivers make an average of 26
dollars per hour and truck drivers
average about 67 000 per year
according to the most current
information provided by costco the
retail giant employs more than 288 000
workers worldwide many of those
positions are in-store roles but they
hire for numerous corporate jobs as well
these include careers in marketing human
resources customer service merchandising
journalism the list goes on and on
the overall pay of any given costco
employee varies based on the position in
question the number of hours and years
worked and the level of education or
training a position requires in general
though costco makes every effort to
compensate its employees well which is
reflected in how its employees review
the company costco has a 4.1 star rating
on glassdoor and an impressive 90
approval rating of costco's ceo craig
jelenic
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