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Check out Costco’s stock performance over the last 10 yrs, compare to Target, Kroger, Walmart, let me know which you would rather have owned. Hard to complain a

Check out Costco’s stock performance over the last 10 yrs, compare to Target, Kroger, Walmart, let me know which you would rather have owned. Hard to complain about dropping a ball while wildly outperforming their competitors. Maybe selling user data to third parties is a short term profits at the expense of long term strategy?

smeej 2y ago
I think they're kind of damned if they do, damned if they don't now, from my perspective. If they had a principled reason not to do it, I'll think less of them for doing it now, and if they don't, I'll think less of them for not doing it as soon as possible, since they can't go back in time and do it sooner. Granted, they probably don't care at all about my opinion, and they shouldn't, given that I'm one random person who doesn't live near a Costco and doesn't have the space to store bulk purchases for one even if I did. I just think making this choice now reflects badly on them either way.
- ethagknight 2y ago
  You missed the point. They’ve been an order of magnitude financial out-performer compared to their main comps without it. Sell your customer data, and you give your suppliers and competitors your insider info and competitive advantage. I would assume whatever they are building is focused on protecting their customer info, not based on principle but simply on… that’s their treasure trove.
  - smeej 2y ago
    This is the "damned if they do" side. I don't care what the principle was that kept them from doing it. "We'll make more money over the longer run if we don't do it" is a totally valid principle in my book. But if that's the case, then I'm looking down on them for throwing that away in favor of short-term gain now. Unless they can point to something specific and say, "Our reason was X. Now Y has happened, which makes X now an inferior strategy to Z, so we're doing Z now," they either should have done it sooner or shouldn't do it now. I don't see anywhere they're pointing at any Y that has happened.

smeej 2y ago

I think they're kind of damned if they do, damned if they don't now, from my perspective. If they had a principled reason not to do it, I'll think less of them for doing it now, and if they don't, I'll think less of them for not doing it as soon as possible, since they can't go back in time and do it sooner. Granted, they probably don't care at all about my opinion, and they shouldn't, given that I'm one random person who doesn't live near a Costco and doesn't have the space to store bulk purchases for one even if I did. I just think making this choice now reflects badly on them either way.

ethagknight 2y ago
You missed the point. They’ve been an order of magnitude financial out-performer compared to their main comps without it. Sell your customer data, and you give your suppliers and competitors your insider info and competitive advantage. I would assume whatever they are building is focused on protecting their customer info, not based on principle but simply on… that’s their treasure trove.
- smeej 2y ago
  This is the "damned if they do" side. I don't care what the principle was that kept them from doing it. "We'll make more money over the longer run if we don't do it" is a totally valid principle in my book. But if that's the case, then I'm looking down on them for throwing that away in favor of short-term gain now. Unless they can point to something specific and say, "Our reason was X. Now Y has happened, which makes X now an inferior strategy to Z, so we're doing Z now," they either should have done it sooner or shouldn't do it now. I don't see anywhere they're pointing at any Y that has happened.