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Comment by neogodless | Hacker News Reader

Your cynicism is misplaced. CostCo may be a large money-making company, but they really seem to be "one of the good guys." They take care of their employees and are a well-liked consumer brand.

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Costco has the highest employee satisfaction according to Glassdoor of any major US retailer. From what I've been able to find they have really good benefits and pay as well.

I personally have bought a bit of Costco stock just because I like supporting businesses that treat their employees well. Everyone I know who worked at or works at Costco can attest to that.

I think your lack of cynicism is misguided. CostCo doesn't "care" about anything but its bottom line, like any other corporation.

Individuals also don't care anything but their bottom line, so this whole line of reasoning is void of meaning.

That's just not true.

It's not true for companies either.

According to the currently most widely accepted theory of business, public companies have no responsibility to anyone other than their shareholders. In practice this means the bottom line trumps all other considerations.

So you think Costco's master plan is to sell people hot dogs and soda at or below cost, just ordinary hot dogs, and as a result of eating one hot dog and drinking one soda when they do their monthly Costco trip, they will develop chronic illness and need to pick up prescription drugs there? Even if you're that much of a sociopath, there are much better business models.

Yes. The messaging from Costco is that it's OK to eat this way. It feeds the overall mentality of unhealthy members that this lifestyle goes inline with their over consumption of oversized foods at Costco generally.

That there is nothing wrong with grabbing a hotdog, pizza, and soda on your way to pick up your blood pressure "medication" at the pharmacy once you're done stuffing yourself with the food causing your high blood pressure.

I suspect going around grumpy at the world thinking a hot dog is "borderline child abuse" gives you more stress-induced health issues than the occasional hot dog would.

The way some parents feed their kids straight into obesity and other diseases is indeed legalized child abuse.

Cool, I'd love to hear about the education programs you've started to help inform these parents of the harm they're doing.

You're right in that companies don't really care about you, only your money. Though they don't have a negative agenda to you either. They don't care about you at all.

There is nothing sinister about it.

With misguided expectations so low, you give up any motivation to hold companies to a higher standard.

In fact, companies usually prioritize earning above almost anything else, but there are exceptions. CostCo is one of them. They spent a long time paying their employees much, much higher than stockholders wanted them to. CVS is another, giving up tobacco sales at great cost to focus on health care.

It's possible to be cynical about these or any other things, but it is clearly untrue that every corporation cares only about its own bottom line.

Taking care of employees has nothing to do with what I said. Tobacco companies also take care of their people.

Panda Express and Five Guys are also well-liked by the customers who get sick consuming their products.

The real problem with what you said is probably the visit frequency of your average Costco customer. It's not likely to be the place you go often enough to get unhealthy off the hot dogs - the whole point is stocking up on items in bulk. A hotdog a month isn't going to make you need blood pressure or cholesterol meds.

That is a huge misconception. Many people use Costco as a frequent take out food place. Pizza and hotdogs. In my kids class alone I know of several parents who often pass by Costco on the way from school to feed kids dinner there. It's done far more often than you think.

If CostCo didn't exist do you think their eating habits would improve?

>>Panda Express and Five Guys are also well-liked by the customers who get sick consuming their products.

Free will. You may become e vegan, but I want to eat meat products and drink beer. I will bear any consequences, if any, just like that person that doesn't exercise.

How do you get sick eating Panda Express?

You can get veggies and noodles in addition to meat there...

food is scary and dangerous and it'll make you sick in subtle, imperceptible ways that'll eventually kill you. i just don't even bother with the stuff anymore tbh.

I haven't been to one in quite a while but my impression is that there is lots of added sugar in all the sauces they use, in addition to a lot of fried food.

Many of the sauces are sweet, and the recipes tend to incorporate every major food allergen you can think of. I still visit regularly because you can opt out one portion at a time: You can go half-and-half veggies and chow mein, broccoli beef, mushroom chicken and have something a bit plain, but far more balanced than most fast food. And while the service model is extremely scripted and doesn't accommodate larger orders gracefully, my average time from getting in line to finished service is faster than Mcdonald's and more consistent since the order is put together right in front of you.

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