As it prepares to open two new stores in Australia, US retailer Costco has no plans to employ truck drivers
By Ruza Zivkusic | March 31, 2011
Months away from opening two stores in Australia, United States retailing giant Costco has no plans to employ truck drivers.
The discount retailer, which opened up its first warehouse-style store in Melbourne almost two years ago, is gearing up for two more openings in Sydney and Canberra in July.
With over 100,000 members at its Docklands store in Melbourne and revenue of $165 million since its opening, Costco says it does not need truck drivers because it receives up to 100 delivers from its manufacturers daily.
“Most retailers would have a facility off location where it’s distributed to a whole bunch of others. We don’t do that, we’re a true functioning retail warehouse,” Noone says.
“About 300 small to big vendors deliver to us ranging from Kellogg’s and Cadbury.
“We’ve got a consolidation facility for overseas imports but at this point we don’t have a consolidating freight forwarder
“Going forward in Sydney and Canberra we’re looking to consolidate our shipments across the facility and to reduce the number of trucks coming to site.”
He says he does not believe Costco will be affected by Coles’ recent discount campaign on items such as bread and milk.
“It’s good to see Coles and Woolworths compete against each other, it’s good to see them doing that for the consumers of Australia. Our pricing has been better than all of their promotion so we’re very happy with where we’re at.”