Costco Called Me Back and Reads This Blog

Submitted by Mercury Hayes on March 24th, 2020 at 9:57 AM

The other day a poster shared that employees at the Madison Heights, Michigan Costco was not protecting employees or customers by allowing people with COVID-19 to return to work after 7 days (among other things). I contacted Costco PR and they called me back and left a voicemail referencing this blog. I didn't mention the blog in my message to them which means they either have great social listening, or many others contacted them. I have not yet spoken to anyone at Costco because I missed the message and the call back number was unclear in the voicemail. I will respond once I am able to talk to them.

 

In related news, we should continue to privately and publicly shame businesses that are still open. Maybe we can use this thread to share businesses that are open and call and flood their social pages until they close. For instance today I took my daughter to my parents so they could watch her while we work (both families have been social distancing and I read the executive order and this is allowed). Anyway, I saw office buildings that were open as well as Sportsman's Warehouse, MicroCenter (just off 75). Other places were packed (like Home Depot). I'm sure Home Depot is considered essential but this is not working yet if everyone is still interacting with their neighbors.

reshp1

March 24th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^

"In related news, we should continue to privately and publicly shame businesses that are still open"

Dude, we need grocery stores to stay open, which is why they're explicitly exempt from the stay at home order. Same with Home Depot.

I get the sentiment, but don't be a Karen either. 

Mercury Hayes

March 24th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^

I did not say that grocery stores or gas stations should be closed. I mentioned that some were packed. Apologies if I gave off the wrong impressions. Obviously they are necessary. Home Depot was packed. I'm not going to debate whether they need to be open or not. But the parking lot shouldn't look like a normal Saturday morning. People are clearly not practicing social distancing. What else is out there that falls outside of what should be open? We are all in this together.

maizenbluenc

March 24th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^

Yeah:

Sportmans Warehouse: people need guns and ammo to ward off toilet paper thieves and kill food because the Kroger is wipes out

Microcenter: People need laptops, tablets and WiFi and help getting those things to work right

Home Depot: People need door bolts and home security systems to defend against people with guns and ammo coming for their toilet paper and food

 

See: all essential

ldevon1

March 24th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^

Uh.... What did they say? As far as I know they are still open. If they called to tell you, you were misinformed nothing really got resolved. You realize they sell food and other important supplies, right?

WindyCityBlue

March 24th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^

I missed the original Costco thread, so I don’t know if this was covered there. But your second paragraph is so wrong. Publicly and privately shame a business???!!! WtF is wrong with you?!

I get that you need to follow certain pandemic guidelines, but there is a middle ground here. 

Id like yo see you publicly shame the mom and pop shop that is about to go bankrupt and needs the business just to keep from being evicted or foreclose on their house. 

Wolverine Devotee

March 24th, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^

Don’t take it personal, this whole site has been a shitshow for years. I attribute that to the exit of quite a few longtime posters. Many on here have their sphincter so tight lately that it has made me yearn for football season. At least people were miserable to each other about a game and not life. 

When times are tough, you can always count on mgoboard to make things feel a lot worse than they actually are. 

Hotel Putingrad

March 24th, 2020 at 10:35 AM ^

The site is doing something right, if everybody is still here to commiserate without any sports to debate.

Yes, our entertainment options are limited right now, but I like the fact that the mGoCommunity is still thriving. Even those with whom I disagree politically or who are willfully playing down the current crisis offer me at least other perspectives to consider.

As a wise man once said, "I think this will be our finest hour!"

outsidethebox

March 24th, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^

The "middle ground" of which you speak does not exist at the present time-not from a medical perspective. For those of us on the front lines of this thing, our choices have been reduced to lowest common denominator options. And unless and until we acquire definitive data we are stuck with where we are-this is the simple, harsh reality. Provide the epidemiologists with some real data to evaluate and we will have a fighting chance at finding a "middle ground"...I have heard of no such efforts-even at this late date. If folks believe and act as though the rules do not apply to them the acuity and prevalence may rear an ugly head that will stun even the most ignorant. 

HarboSchembaugh

March 24th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^

Shaming shady business practices being done by large corporations (and small businesses, like ones forcing sick employees to come in), is the middle middle ground.  It forces them to fix the problem or die.  The opposite of doing nothing in this case would not be shaming, it would be everyone cutting off all purchases forever, regardless if the business eventually rights its wrong.

The shame is to get them to do the right thing. Once they do, you return to doing business with them.

When did society get so pussified that shaming a business for bad decision making became too outrageous??

M_Born M_Believer

March 24th, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^

My son works at HD (He is a Soph at CMU, but is here due to the shut down).  They gave him a "Permission slip" to come to work. HD is considered an essential business as it is classified as 'disaster relief' store and he is one of the few people that are certified to drive a fork lift.  They are considering going to on line orders only to minimize social contacts

FlexUM

March 24th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^

The reality is you are only going to get so much compliance without an end date. A perpetual "shelter in place" order isn't going to work. I work in the medical field with essential employees in hospitals all over the country involved with clinical patient care (including evergreen hospital in WA that was at the center of dealing with so many deaths from Covid 19) so I fully understand the clinical/medical side of this...probably more than most. 

But, again, a perpetual "social distancing" or "stay in" message won't work, and can't. Maybe it's our culture. The reasons don't matter because it's simply the reality. While you can't know the end date I believe this would have gone much better if you told people "lock it down" for a finite amount of time. 

Let me also say from a personal perspective my wife and daughter have been 100% locked down in the house. I have gone to the grocery store once a week and twice to a hospital (for work) so we are following orders strictly in our household. 

I do believe we should hold business accountable if they are not being responsible by not shopping/visiting them but beyond that, this is what it was going to always be.