Jim Sinegal

Jim Sinegal receives a buyer's recommendation to mark up designer jeans by 50% when Costco secures them at $22, far below the normal $32 selling price. Sinegal refuses, explaining that breaking the everyday low price commitment once would lead to repeated violations and undermine the entire customer contract.

Lesson: Protecting core principles and customer relationships requires constant vigilance and discipline, especially when short-term profit is tempting. The integrity of a core commitment compounds over decades into massive competitive advantage.

“I've always had the opinion that we have shamelessly stolen any good ideas.”

Expressing the importance of learning from other founders and adapting their ideas

“I've been waiting 50 fucking years for this letter.”

Jim's reaction after receiving a rare compliment from Sol Price, decades after working with him at FedMart. Shows how stingy Sol was with praise and how meaningful that rare recognition was.

“I didn't learn a lot. I learned everything. Everything I know, Saul had taught me.”

Jim Sinegal's response when a reporter suggested he had learned a lot from Sol. Emphasizes the totality of Sol's influence on him and later on Costco.

“I've always had the opinion that we have shamelessly stolen any good ideas.”

Explaining why he taught Bezos his business model. This attitude of generous knowledge-sharing appears throughout the history of entrepreneurship.

“If I let you do it this one time, you'll do it again. The contract with the customer, which is very low prices, must not be broken.”

Refusing a buyer's recommendation to mark up designer jeans above the standard EDLP margin, illustrating how core principles require constant protection

“If you're not spending 90% of your time teaching, you're not doing your job.”

David Senra references this Costco founder quote when discussing Jensen's teaching approach and the importance of founders as educators.