After singing the opening song of “Blue Suede Shoes”, the common opinion was that we, as a Club, are 0 for 4 in terms of song selection.  We are begging (apparently) for some old standards i.e. Take Me Out to the Ballgame, America the Beautiful, etc. Please.

              

Roger Martindill, or was it Roger Stark?, invited three guests from the Duvall Rotary Club this morning – we were graced with the presence of (from left, above) Will Ibershof, Mayor of Duvall; Sandy Aitkin from Carnation, a teacher at Cedar Crest High School; and Margie Coy, a fitness instructor in Duvall.  Also present were Janie Stack, a guest of Kathy Kill (who should be fined for not being present) and is a marketing representative from Costco.  Speaking of Costco. . we enjoyed the presentation of John Matthews, Vice President of Human Resources and Risk Management for Costco. 

 

Mr. Matthews opened his remarks by aligning the values of Costco with those of Rotary in that the tenets of the Four Way Test also apply, in principle, to those of Costco’s stated values.   Costco’s five stated values are to Obey the Law, Take Care of the Members, Take Care of the Employees, Respect our Suppliers and Reward the Shareholders.  Mr. Matthews would particularly like us to note that “Reward the Shareholders” naturally follow the other tenets. 

 Some interesting facts about Costco are:

    They are the 3^rd largest company in Washington

   The 9^th largest in the world

   And the 24^th largest of the Fortune 500 companies

 

In case anyone needs or wants it, Mr. Jim Sinegal’s extension is 8163.  He will take your phone calls whether that is to register a compliment or a complaint, or make arrangements to housesit his house in Maui.  You must expect, however, to be behind Bob Rosso in house sitter opportunities as he is first in line for this job.

 

Costco currently has 558 warehouses, 406 in the U.S., 77 in Canada, 31 in Mexico, 21 in the UK, 9 in Japan, 7 in Korea, 6 in Taiwan and, as of yesterday, 1 in Australia.  They plan to double their number of stores in 10 years.  Staff turnover rate is 20%, unless an employee has been with the company for a year or more, at which time the rate drops to 6%.  Typical retail turnover rate is 50% or higher.

 Costco processes 1.4 million transactions per day with $131 million in average sales per warehouse, with the exception of Honolulu which is the highest producer . . .by far!  Probably most of that is in beach towels and Macadamia Nuts.  Each warehouse is an average of 142,000 square feet and average sales are $74.3/square foot.  We could go on and on but suffice it to say that Costco is an incredibly successful company and we are fortunate to have them anchored in the great Pacific Northwest.

 

Pam Johnstone reminded us of the Rotary Picnic coming up on Saturday, August 22, beginning at 4:00 p.m.  Volunteers are needed to come to 21 Acres, beginning at 3:00 p.m. to help set up.  Erv DeSmet has already volunteered and he will need some help.  Also, remember to bring your lawn chairs!!!

 

Prez Al reminded us of a Board Meeting to be held at 5:30 at Banner Bank on 8/18/09.

 

Alex (Go Leos!) Racz celebrated his birthday on August 12^th.  He summed up his year by saying that his business is holding its’ own even though his competitors are disappearing right and left.  Alex is not advertising at all and the vendors are sending him referrals which are great for business.  Alex is happy to have the renovation completed on his house and is especially looking forward to the Fleetwood Mac concert in Berlin.  He says that he appreciates the great people in Rotary and that the exposure to fantastic things keeps him positive!

 

The Sergeant at Harms (Ex Prez Boland) fined Bob Rosso for chopping up the old “fine wheel”.  Bob denied “seeing” the fine wheel, but was challenged as to whether or not his claim met the 4 Way test.  Terry Jarvis felt that Bob’s fine should be doubled for “lying”.

 

John Abbott was given a fine waiver for so generously giving away his kidney stone.

 

Jorge gave John Matthews a thinly veiled bribe in the form of a fine waiver, good for any Rotary Club in the Woodinville area.

To Jorge's "gift", President Al added a Rotary First Harvest donation in the name of Rotary district-governor-elect Matthews

Jay Soloff thanked those Rotarians who supported his son’s Eagle Scout ceremony and reminded us that DeLille Cellars is now open 7 days a week.

 

 Cherry Tinker had Happy Dollars for the fact that Charlie Russell knew all the words to “Blue Suede Shoes” and, in fact, appeared to be rockin’ out.  And, a second Happy Dollar for the Leonard family reunion on her father’s side.

 

Jay Fiske assessed himself a Happy Dollar or a fine (this reporter is confused) because he was at Dick Clark’s house on the beach, performing an auction for “who cares” which organization with Cindy Crawford seated in the front row.

 

And, finally, John Creason had a Happy Twenty Dollars because he is now a Happy Homeowner in Woodinville.

 

After running the raffle, thanking the workers and passing the buck on a joke, President Al adjourned the meeting.

 

 

First of many for Max? Wrong color, tho.