You could raise the price of, say, a bottle of ketchup to $1.03 instead of $1, and no one would know. Raising prices just 3% per product would add 50% to your pretax income. Why not do it? It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

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.

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.

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.

It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

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

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