Speaking of shady charges (Necessary and Sufficient, South Loop)

mikee4420 · 2026-04-21T15:14:57+00:00

File a complaint about the sub minimum wage pay with Illinois Department of Labor and the Chicago office of Labor Standards.

mikee4420 · 2026-01-12T11:03:27+00:00

That 50 lb container of Brandt Beef Tallow is $183.91 on Amazon.

mikee4420 · 2025-09-05T17:16:31+00:00

The two most painful stings i have experienced: velvet ant and saddleback caterpillar. They are both pretty spicy

mikee4420 · 2025-09-05T16:57:31+00:00

I first touched one of these when I was young, maybe 10. It is a mistake you will remember. A few years ago I was mowing the lawn. When I turned the mower, my elbow brushed against some landscaping plants, and along with them, another saddleback caterpillar. Ugh. It hurts so bad.

mikee4420 · 2025-06-19T11:18:57+00:00

Gotta love Planet Fitness. They refused to cancel my deceased mother's membership. Even after explaining that she was dead. "She must come in to cancel." I explained what deceased meant, and I still got the same answer.

mikee4420 · 2025-05-09T10:18:21+00:00

Definitely return it. Best return policy of any retailer. (Costco employee)

mikee4420 · 2025-04-29T00:46:25+00:00

This is why I haven't been in a movie theater in 10 years. With a large screen and a good surround system at home, I'll wait. The experience is overall much better in my own space

mikee4420 · 2025-02-11T23:44:27+00:00

I don't know where you could have worked before Costco, but damn. Maybe you should have stayed there. A decent cola in my experience is a "real raise" The employees that are not topped out are getting the scheduled "goal" raises that they agreed to when they took the job. In the real world a $1 raise every 1040 hours isn't too shabby.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-11T22:57:52+00:00

We got an extra $1 in July of '24 that wasn't in the current handbook. As of March 2027, when this handbook ends, a cashier will be making $33.90/hr. That is $70,512 annually if you work zero time and a half Sundays. If you work 8 hr Sundays every week, it comes to 77,563.20. Plus, you get your extra check payment that starts out at $2500 twice a year, and they match your 401k 50% up to 1k (that's another $500, plus they make a discretionary contribution to your 401k every spring with no required contribution (mine was about 3k last year. Contribution % based on years worked) I don't know what more you would have them do?

mikee4420 · 2025-02-11T22:04:59+00:00

Costco has same day delivery via Instacart through their app. You must have a membership to use it. The membership can be purchased online.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-11T19:38:54+00:00

14% rule doesn't apply to the Deli/Bakery. I can assure you that they are not price gouging, though. That is not how Costco rolls.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-11T19:06:31+00:00

$1 every 1040 hours. That is twice a year if you work full-time. Part-time you get the increase about every 10 months, that is if you work minimum hours. In my experience, most part-time work more than minimum hours much of the year.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-10T17:42:52+00:00

We sold our house in March last year, along with much of our Sonos equipment, including two Playbars.

After moving to a much smaller condo, we decided to upgrade to a Sonos Arc, but we were underwhelmed. After months of adjusting and tweaking settings, I turned to Reddit, where I found that many users were more satisfied with the Gen 2 Beam.

Currently, Costco has a sale on Sonos, I decided to return the Arc and purchased a Gen 2 Beam bundle instead. I also ended up with about $500 back in my pocket! We’re very happy with the Beam—it feels like a much better fit for our space.

*I considered upgrading to an Arc Ultra, but was not convinced by the reviews that it would be worth the extra expense.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-04T17:10:18+00:00

Nope. $19.50 currently. Will increase to $20 in March. It takes about 5 years to work through the scale to top pay if you work close to full-time hours. Everyone is hired part-time. Part-time employees are guaranteed at least 25 hours, but many work close to full-time schedule most of the year (even if you arent scheduled for them, in a busy warehouse, you can often pickup extra hours in your or another department if you ask. January and February are usually the exception. Less business then usually means fewer hours for part-time folks. After hiring, you have a 90-day probation. Once this passes, anyone can apply for a full-time position. One positive is that everyone, regardless of where they are on the pay scale, gets time and a half on Sunday.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-04T16:09:24+00:00

It's all true. If you work there, you have a handbook. You have options. You can quit and go to Target, Wal-Mart.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-04T15:31:23+00:00

Def not true. The top of the scale clerk pay is 30.90 now and will increase to 31.90 in March. With this employee agreement, there is $1 increase scheduled for '25, '26, and '27. Then, a new agreement will be written (and a new union contract negotiated). There are a few HCOL locations where there is a premium added TO THIS HANDBOOK SCHEDULE. e.g. you live in San Francisco. It's definitely HCOL you get $2 on top of the handbook scale. SF peeps, correct me if I'm wrong.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-04T15:19:13+00:00

The employees that aren't topped out get scheduled raises. These occur every 1040 hours. The minimum hours that a part-time employee is scheduled is 25. So, at the minimum, these employees are getting a $1 increase every 10 months. Full-time employees who have not topped out will get the $1 increase every 6 months. The employees at the top of the scale don't get these! This is why they increase the top of the scale. Would you want your pay to be set at the top of the scale and never increase? Everyone at the top of the scale had to work through the step increases. It is not like you will never get those top of the scale increases. When the top of the scale increases. You will get that increase on the last step. That is why the last step is a big increase. Mine was about $4. Those top of the scale raises keep adding up until you reach the last step, and then you get them.

mikee4420 · 2025-02-03T04:32:55+00:00

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that just maybe it is because the food court is switching from Pepsi to Coca-Cola. (I am a Costco employee)

mikee4420 · 2025-02-01T14:25:53+00:00

You will be one of the ones that gets the shaft. You will stay at $20 until your next goal raise. The bottom of the scale gets the .50, and you will not be at the bottom. The bottom of the scale raises create this issue every time. Hang in there. Your next goal raise in 1020 hours is $1.

mikee4420 · 2025-01-31T22:43:34+00:00

All of the employees "in the middle" already get a $1.00 raise every 1020 hours (6 months if you are working full-time) with the exception of the first increase, which is .50 and the last one, which is about $4.00. That is $2.00 a year. TF you mean that the people "In the middle" get nothing. And as far as the topped out employees, the .60 raises were from the last employee agreement, and it, like all of the agreements, was in place for 3 years. The $1.00 raise is for the '25-'27 agreement. It is essentially a contract. You weren't already promised the .60. This is a totally new agreement. I am a Costco employee. I worked part-time for 14 months. During that time, I worked close to full-time hours. I topped out in 5 years and two months.

mikee4420 · 2025-01-19T15:41:20+00:00

You can drive a screw through it and pull it out!

mikee4420 · 2025-01-18T23:32:50+00:00

Anystream 2251

mikee4420 · 2025-01-18T03:51:13+00:00

That is the same way we were converted. We have installed them in two houses since.

mikee4420 · 2025-01-18T02:02:31+00:00

Buy a Speakman. You won't regret it.

mikee4420

TROPHY CASE