The most classic ** of Costco, an American store, is priced at 1The $5 hot dog burger and soda combo has never increased in price since it went public in 1985, and Richard Galant, who has served as Costco's chief financial officer for nearly 40 years, is the biggest promoter of the freeze rise, and he has threatened that the price of hot dogs will never rise, but Galanti announced his retirement a few days ago, and the outside world is worried about whether the price of hot dogs will increase because of this, on the other hand, Costco's annual membership fee has not risen for several years, and the outside world is also worried about whether the new chief financial officer will raise the annual fee after taking office.
Galanti is regarded as the soul of Costco and has held the position of treasurer since 1985. Chuck Grom, an analyst at Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, a research consultancy that has been covering Costco for more than 20 years, said Gallanti is like Costco to many.
Galanti basically gives an update on the company to analysts at its quarterly earnings conference, and that's Costco's only comment on things like members, special dividends and how to deal with inflation or retail theft, and Gallanti's talk is often scrutinized by the outside world because Costco's top brass rarely speaks to the outside world.
Galanti's retirement will be taken over by Gary Millerchip, the chief financial officer of the American supermarket chain Kroger, who will take office on March 15, which has come as a shock to the outside world, because Costco is usually promoted from within and rarely recruits from outside, such as Ron Vachris, the chief executive who took office in January, has been promoted from the forklift employee.
Galanti's retirement has caused unease among Costco's loyal customers, who are worried that Costco will raise prices after the management change, and many people warned Millerchip that it is better not to touch the hot dog, and some people even bluntly said that the hot dog will be the canary of the price increase.
In addition, the annual membership fee, Costco increases the price about every 5 years, given that the last time the annual membership fee was raised was in June 2017, so the price increase is considered imperative, and Galanti revealed in 2023 that the annual membership fee is not a question of whether to increase it, but a question of when it will be raised.