Hi Reader
Costco sells a hot dog and a soda for $1.50. It has since 1985. In that time, a Padres ticket, a gallon of gas, and a movie stub have all roughly tripled. The hot dog hasn't moved a penny.
That's on purpose. It might be the most disciplined marketing decision in American retail.
Here's the story. A few years back, the combo was losing money. Costco's CEO, Craig Jelinek, floated raising the price to founder Jim Sinegal. Sinegal's reply, roughly: "If you raise the price of the hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out." So they did. Costco built its own hot dog plant and took over the supply chain to protect the $1.50 instead of the margin.
Why fight that hard over a hot dog? Because the hot dog isn't the product. It's the proof. Every member who walks past that food court gets a small, repeated signal: this place will not nickel-and-dime me. One unwavering price builds more trust than any ad Costco could buy. It's a promise you can taste.
The tactic to steal: pick one thing you will never compromise on, and make it loud. Just one signature move that says everything about how you work. Something that earns you nothing directly but makes you the agent people can't forget.
Most agents spread "value" thin across fifty small things nobody remembers. Costco does the opposite: one fixed, no-exceptions promise that people bring up at dinner parties. That's the whole play.