Jeffrey H. Brotman
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.
Director
Susan Decker
Director
Daniel J. Evans
Director
Richard A. Galanti
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Director
William H. Gates, Sr.
Director
Hamilton E. James
Lead Independent Director
W. Craig Jelinek
President, CEO and Director
Richard M. Libenson
Director
John W. Meisenbach
Director
Charles T. Munger
Director
Jeff Raikes
Director
Jill S. Ruckelshaus
Director
James D. Sinegal
Co-Founder and Director
I would ask them if pulling a top seller is a good business decision?
I would ask them if pulling a popular book just as the moviee tie-in is causing sales to explode is a good business decision?
I would ask them if pulling a book just as it cracks the NYT best sellers top 20 is a good business decision?
I would ask them if so obviously censoring a political view is a good public relations decision?
I would ask if they plan the traditional public book burning of the copies they have pulled from their shelves, of if it will be a private ceremony, given the poor optics?
Then I would ask if whoever made or approved the decision to remove a winning product from their inventory decision is actually smart enough to be their public face?
Then I would let them know that I'm going to start comparison shopping at Sam's Club...
I have been a loyal Costco member and shopper for years. I just found out that one of the co-founders is a big Obama supporter, and the company has ordered Dinesh D'Souza's "America" pulled from shelves, a slap in the face to conservatives everywhere. I bet Hillary Clinton's book is displayed prominently.
As free Americans, your founders and/or Board of Directors can support the causes they choose and spend their money as they see fit. I find it ironic that they hate the very country that provides such freedoms. They should realize, however, that censoring conservative views has consequences for business. I too am a free American with many options. I will not spend money at any establishment supporting the current White House occupant, who seems determined to destroy the country with his Marxist beliefs and policies.
Although my membership runs through next May, it is unlikely that I'll be shopping at Costco again. Your top competitor, a fine American company, is right down the street.
You can save the canned reply because I'm not interested.
(My name and member number)
More of the tolerance from the Liberals. If his beliefs were correct then he wouldn’t have a problem with an opposing view would he? More slime to consider.
Looks like Michelle needs to have a talk with those two guys about ‘eating healthy’.
Obama butlicking Sinegal has lost sight of the big picture. D’Souza’s book is above the radar. He wont stop access and knowledge of it. People who want it will get it, and he looks like a censorer against a political view he doesn’t like, and will lose business. Fewer people will get excited about the removal of the book to come to Costco, than will stay away because of it’s removal.
wrote email today and they appear to be listening.
Here’s their reply:
Thank you for your e-mail to Costco Wholesale.
Costco is not influenced by political considerations in selecting product for sale in our warehouses or on Costco.com. This includes our selection of books. Our book buyers are solely interested in book sales, and do not favor any political persuasion over another. Recently, after deciding to sell the book “ America : Imagine the World Without Her”, beginning on June 1, a decision was made to pull the book from sale on July 1. This decision was based solely on the number of copies sold during that month, and had nothing to do with the content of the book.
Costco is not a book store. Our book shelf space is very limited. We exercise discipline in the best utilization of that limited space based solely on what our members are buying. We can’t carry every title that our members are interested in reading. We are constantly monitoring book sales, and make decisions to pull books off the shelves frequently based on sales volume to make room for other titles. Politics or controversy over content do not influence our decisions.
After we made the return, a documentary was released about the book. Since then there has been heightened interest by our membership base and brisk sales at locations still in stock.Therefore, we have made the decision to reorder the book