Teamsters vow to shut down Costco? I fail to see the threat.

Photo above - Fun fact: The Teamsters union was formed 120 years ago in the horse and carriage era for workers who drove "teams" of delivery horses.

Costco employs 200,000 workers. 10% of those are Teamsters. They’re mostly in 3 states: California, New York, and New Jersey. Costco Teamsters are going on strike at midnight, over wages. Costco is already paying new hires $20 an hour, with the potential to reach $30 an hour if workers show up on time, don’t shoplift, and don’t insult customers. Teamsters' union reps complain that nobody can raise a family of four on $30 an hour in Los Angeles or New York City.

Duh . . . !

This what happens when lots kids drop out of high school. In some major cities the rate can be 50%. They missed out on basic courses like math, reading, and history. In their minds (and their union representatives) every job should allow a middle-class lifestyle like their parents or grandparents had. And everyone who played on the varsity basketball team should have received an NBA contract.

50 years ago most people lived below what we think of as middle-class living standards. In my grandma’s town some people had no other option besides living in rented mobile homes and cooking their own meals instead of calling Door Dash. I imagine it was even worse in California and New York. But TV shows like “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, and “Fresh Prince of Bel Air" are responsible for hilarious memories that - in the past - everyone was middle class and had zero money worries. Think - did you ever see anyone on “Friends” struggle to pay a hospital bill?

I refuse to feel threatened by the Teamsters. Whether they do go on strike, or miraculously win more than $30 an hour, or whether large numbers of Costco stores install robots. I do most of my shopping on Amazon. I’m on the verge of cancelling my warehouse club membership. I don’t need both Amazon prime and a club annual fee.

If you don’t think you can live nicely with Amazon prime, here’s how I do it: If it’s not refrigerated, frozen or insanely heavy, Amazon delivers it to my home. My prime delivery day is Friday. Stuff usually shows up after 7pm. I get 6% back on each purchase by having a designated delivery day. I don't schlepp to the store for canned goods, pasta, cereal, detergent, health and beauty products, etc. If I need fresh produce, eggs, milk, bread, or chicken, I pick them up in 15 minutes on my way home from work. It really IS that fast if you don’t have to roam 18 aisles to find a can of Goya black beans.

Supermarkets and Costco understand the clock is ticking on their survival. Their tactic is to flood my mailbox every Thursday with 3rd class adverts trying to bait me into shopping over the weekend. Except these brick-and-mortar stores raise prices on weekends. If you don’t understand this, price a 12 pack of Coke on Saturday, and again on Tuesday.

I don’t have any ill will towards the teamsters. I hope their search for Jimmy Hoffa’s final resting place yields results someday. I hope the several dozen Teamsters officers currently serving federal sentences for fraud and embezzlement are someday released, and are rehabilitated into productive, law-abiding members of society.

And I hope egg prices come down. President Trump – how's the FDA coming on that clucking bird flu vaccine, to stop the henhouse pandemic? We should have had this 2 years ago.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Thousands of Costco workers prepare to strike with midnight contract deadline looming