[hermanradtke]

> That's like saying that resteraunts are just credit card swiping businesses.

You are being sarcastic here, but ironically you are not far from the truth. The core financial model of a businesses is not always obvious.

McDonald’s is a real-estate business. Costco is a subscription business.

[charcircuit]

I'm not being sarcastic. I'm providing an example of the reductionist thinking going on. Companies can about multiple things. McDonalds still cares about getting people to eat at their resteraunt.

[tatersolid]

> Costco is a subscription business.

I don’t think that’s accurate. The membership fee is a trivially small percentage for most members, and can’t be a significant margin driver. Especially for those members who have a pack of kids and shop Costco regularly, spending hundreds of dollars per visit.

I personally think the membership fee exists as a gating function to keep less-prolific customers out of overcrowded stores on weekends.

[hermanradtke]

Costco prices are very low. They intentionally make very little margin on what people buy.

Their margin comes from subscriptions.