I've had many mentors in my life. One, a Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia told me about how he was a member of Costco, but he never went inside. He did the math. He joined Costco for the cheap gas. The membership fee for Costco was a fraction of the cost of the net savings that he would enjoy over the course of the year. So, it really become just 'math' and nothing emotional.

Now many (most?) people might enjoy the savings on 'gas' and also enjoy the savings on everything in the store. But there will also be those folks who own a calculator and make decisions based on simple math. 

Costco's rotisserie chicken is cheap because it's a "loss-leader" strategy to attract customers, who then buy other, more profitable items, and a result of the company's vertical integration through Lincoln Premium Poultry, a subsidiary that controls the entire supply chain from feed to sale. By owning the entire process and operating on a membership model, Costco can drastically reduce costs and sell the chickens at a sustained loss to drive overall sales and membership renewals.

No, Costco does not make a profit on their rotisserie chicken; in fact, they likely lose money on it. The $4.99 price point is a deliberate strategy to attract customers, making it a loss leader. While the company doesn't disclose exact figures, former CFO Richard Galanti mentioned that they were losing around $30 to $40 million annually on the rotisserie chicken due to its low price. This strategy is designed to draw shoppers into the store, where they are likely to purchase other, more profitable items.
 

The local Kings Supermarket (owned by Albertsons Companies) has a $6.99 chicken on Tuesdays. Every other day it is $9.99.  Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with over 2,200 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Their well-known banners include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets, and Balducci's Food Lovers Market. They have 22 distribution centers and 19 manufacturing plants.

20 years experience as business executive before joining academia. Author of 15 books, over 160 articles for practitioners and 60 Darden Cases. His work has appeared in over 450 media outlets globally. He spent 19 years full-time in academia. Research has focused on high organizational and high human performance with a focus on leadership development, high-performance cultures, and learning and innovation systems designed to enable high human behavioral performance. He is currently a Professor Emeritus consulting and coaching leaders, managers and teams focusing on: high behavioral, cognitive, and emotional performance; optimizing Collective Intelligence by optimizing the quality of the conversations taking place in the workplace; and organizational and human adaptation at the speed of change.

My mentor can afford to buy gas anywhere, but he owns a calculator. And he uses it. I myself do not shop at Costco. But I go to my local Kings in Boonton Township, NJ every Tuesday. That day of the week has become 'Cheap Chicken Day' in our home. It has become routine. I normally buy two, but sometimes three. The third one usually is for my dog, Konta. We add it to his kibble. So I save $3 or $6 or $9 on the Kings Chickens. And while I am inside Kings I buy other things.

Now I love my local Kings. I go to Kings a few times a week, for this and that. But one does not shop at Kings to save money. Just down the road is Acme, another Albertsons brand. Chicken (and everything else) is cheaper at Acme than Kings. I never go to Acme (my wife does). But I go to Kings. Often. And defintely on Tuesdays.  

Membership in the NYDLA.org | NADLA.org is $25. That's Twenty Five Bucks for the folks in the back. And that $25 covers your entire team (up to 10 people). If one has hundreds of people, we customize the membership fee. But that $25 is like the Costco membership fee. That $25 is the key that unlocks the value, the ROI, the savings, the benefit of millions of members. That $25 gives members access to our $1B+ buying power that we have amassed since 1983. The savings is dramatic for our members. And yet, not everyone will join. Not everyone will pay $25 to access the benefits.

Costco has approximately 133 to 137 million members worldwide as of 2024 and 2025, with the most recent reports from BusinessDasher and Statista placing the figure around 136.8 million or 137 million people who hold a paid membership.

Membership numbers by year:
2021: 111.6 million members
2022: 118.9 million members
2023: 127.9 million members
2024: 136.8 million members

Costco has a membership-based model that requires a yearly fee to shop there. In 2024, Costco reported 77.4 million paid memberships, an increase of 7.6% from the previous fiscal year, with nearly half of those being the more expensive executive memberships.

I am not one of the 136.8 million paid members of Costco. Ah, buy my mentor is. I don't shop at Acme, my wife does. And she never goes to Kings. I go to Kings. A lot. This is why Albertsons Companies owns so many brands. And why they have a Kings and an Acme and a Balducci's all within a mile of each other.

Costco does not need everyone in the USA to join Costco. Just as I do not need everyone to JoinNYDLA.org for $25. And that's just fine. You will never get them all. You don't need them all. But you DO need to know why they joined.

Cheap Chicken? Cheap Gas? Or it is something else..... maybe it has nothing to do with price. Maybe we should ask. Curious minds want to know. Oh, and by the way.......

JoinNYDLA.org for $25. And when you tell a friend, I'll give them $25 to both of you. No gas. No chicken. Just knowledge, technology and talent. And our $1B+ buying power. Since 1983.

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