Quotes from James Sinegal

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

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

Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

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.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company.

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