Costco- still promoting the seal hunt and those who support it.

[LeftyMom]

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_060504_1.html

Makes me real glad I canceled my membership.

For those who missed it, here's my thread about the original issue- Costco's sale of seal oil at Canadian stores and subsequent lies about removal of that product.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=231&topic_id=12390&mesg_id=12390

These are not liberals, nor friends of the enviornment or of the animal population, and they do not deserve our hard-earned progressive dollars.

edit: They're promoting some whackjob right-winger in thier US magazine as well. I say again- not our friends. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5127824#5127884

[laheina]

1. How many companies can grow to the size of Costco

without going to the dark side?

Not condoning their conduct, but asking a speculative question. What I mean is, is this process (which is starting to seem inevitable to me) just a symptom of capitalism or an offshoot of the American worldview?

[LeftyMom]

2. It's nearly impossible not to once you go public

because at that point you have a legal obligation to put shareholder profits above all else. That means if you don't put making as much money as you possibly can over the needs of your employees, your customers and the enviornment, you're failing to meet your obligation to your shareholders and they can actually sue. (Costco has been criticized on these grounds previously for paying thier empolyees reasonably well.)

However in this case I can't imagine that seal oil capsules sold in Canadian stores (seal products can't legally be sold in the US) are a huge profit center, so they're probably losing more in terms of corporate reputation and potential boycott losses than seal product sales bring in and I can't see that the fiduciary duty issue would apply.

Yeah, it does seem like it's hard to become a big company without either doing very evil things or being bought out by a company that will.

[laheina]

3. Corporate obligations to investors are a little bit more

complicated than that. First, it depends on what kind of corp and what kind of investment it is. To actual stock holders, a business isn't even required to pay dividends. While a corp can be sued by its shareholders, those cases are kind of hard to make stick, and the successful ones generally have to do with the controlling officers devaluing the stock price for their own benefit. Then there are the funky accounting issues, which can still be loosely grouped with the former.

But I think that it comes back to business culture. The bonus incentives that are tied directly to net profit leave little room for ethics, because a company cannot truly *maximize* their profits without being unethical and dealing unfairly with society. I can't help but think that the entire Capitalistic experiment is a big failure, and we will either have to remake the whole system into something unrecognizable by the current system, or we are are going to prove Marx to be right.

And regarding Costco: Costco's perceived gain may come into play with government relations and tax issues. (Remember how Michael Moore had to go to Lion's Gate to distribute 9-11, because Disney didn't want to piss off Jeb Bush?) Although, I think that you are right, in that Costco is being short sighted about the bottom line.

[Omaha Steve]

4. You all know how I feel about the seal hunt, but...

I have been to and or organized several seal hunt protests here in Omaha. I have donated to groups fighting the hunt. I haven't been to Red Lobster in over a year since the boycott started. I have stopped going to Olive Garden, even though it isn't on the list because it too is owned by Darden. I do the free click to help the seals every day.

http://babyseals.care2.com/

There is no Costco in Omaha. But I am very pro Costco except over this issue. Costco treats and pays it's employees very well. Benefits are better than their competitors. It doesn't fight tooth and nail to stop unionazation.

I won't justify what they are doing on the hunt issue. But I will say it is a much better company than most of it's type in the country. I stopped shopping at Walmart and Sam's after being enlightened. I would join Costco the moment it comes to town.

Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/business/yourmoney/17costco.html?ex=1279252800&en=8b3103305fea6d68&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss