好市多 (COST) 2003 Q4 法說會逐字稿

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Costco Wholesale Corporation's fiscal year-end earnings conference call. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS)

此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加好市多批發公司的財政年度終收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Richard Galanti, Chief Financial Officer.

我現在想將電話轉給財務長理查德·加蘭蒂先生。

Mr. Galanti, you may begin your conference.

加蘭蒂先生，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you and good morning to everyone.

謝謝大家，大家早安。

This morning I would like to review with you several items, of course.

當然，今天早上我想和大家一起回顧幾個項目。

To begin with our 16-week fourth quarter and 52-week fiscal year '03 year-end results.

首先是我們為期 16 週的第四季和為期 52 週的 03 財年年終業績。

Briefly, our reported fourth quarter earnings came in, as you know, at 51 cents, down a penny a share from last year's 52 cents a share earnings in the fourth quarter.

簡而言之，如您所知，我們報告的第四季度收益為 51 美分，比去年第四季每股 52 美分下降了 1 美分。

In both fiscal fourth quarters we benefited from a lower tax rate versus the first three quarters of each of those respective years.

在第四財季，我們受惠於與各自年份前三個季度相比較低的稅率。

I will talk more about that later.

稍後我會詳細討論這一點。

As I'm sure many of you are aware, we lowered our guidance for the fourth quarter via a press release and conference call this past August 5th.

我相信你們很多人都知道，我們在 8 月 5 日透過新聞稿和電話會議降低了第四季的指導。

At that time we guided Q4 earnings down to a range of 46 to 48 cents a share.

當時我們將第四季獲利指引下調至每股 46 至 48 美分。

Essentially, using that guidance midpoint of -- that previous guidance midpoint of 47 cents, the difference between that figure and the 51 cent figure we reported, 2 cents was a lower effective tax rate for the quarter versus the 38.5 percent tax rate we have recorded year-to-date this year through the third quarter and about 2 cents a share was finishing -- represented finishing the last month of the fiscal quarter (indiscernible) due to both stronger than planned sales and margins during the last four weeks of the year.

本質上，使用先前的指導中點 47 美分，該數字與我們報告的 51 美分數字之間的差異，與我們記錄的 38.5% 的稅率相比，該季度的有效稅率為 2 美分。今年迄今為止，截至第三季度，每股收益約為2 美分- 表示本財政季度的最後一個月（難以辨認）結束，因為今年最後四個星期的銷售和利潤均強於計劃。

For the fiscal year we came in at $1.53, up 5 cents, or 3.4 percent, versus last year's earnings of $1.48.

本財政年度我們的收入為 1.53 美元，比去年的 1.48 美元增加了 5 美分，即 3.4%。

Again, within the $1.53 cents 2 cents a related to a lower effective tax rate for the year, the year coming in at 37 3/4 percent tax rate versus a previously anticipated 38.5 percent tax rate.

同樣，在 1.53 美分 2 美分的範圍內，今年的有效稅率較低，今年的稅率為 37 3/4%，而先前預期的稅率為 38.5%。

I will also review with you today our five weeks September sales results, which we are also reported this morning.

今天我還將與您一起回顧我們的九月五週銷售結果，我們今天早上也報告了這一結果。

While that's one day in advance of the usual Thursday reporting period, since we're doing earnings we felt that appropriate.

雖然這比通常的周四報告期提前一天，但由於我們正在公佈收益，因此我們認為這是合適的。

Comp sales came in a fairly strong 10 percent.

比較銷售額相當強勁地成長了 10%。

We estimate 7 percent if you take out the benefits of gas pricing inflation, which was about a half a point.

如果扣除天然氣價格通膨的好處（大約是半個百分點），我們估計為 7%。

By the way, I've separated out the gallonage comps -- which was much stronger than that, but that is a true benefit to comps -- and FX, which given the weak dollar recently represented 222 basis points in the quarter.

順便說一句，我已經將加侖比較（比這強得多，但這對比較而言是真正的好處）和外匯（考慮到美元最近疲軟，在本季度上漲了 222 個基點）分開。

But even taking those two things out, normalized the comp for the month we estimate to be at 7.

但即使去掉這兩件事，我們估計這個月的薪酬也將標準化為 7。

Other topics of interest I will review this morning, our opening plans; we've opened a total of 23 net new locations during fiscal 2003, which ended this past August 31st.

今天早上我將回顧其他有興趣的主題，我們的開業計劃；截至今年 8 月 31 日的 2003 財年，我們總共開設了 23 個淨新營業點。

To review the year, we opened 13 in Q1 of this past year -- actually we opened 14, but 1 of them was a relo, so net of 13.

回顧這一年，我們在去年第一季度開設了 13 家——實際上我們開了 14 家，但其中 1 家是 relo，所以扣除 13 家。

We opened 5 -- a net increase of 4 in Q2, 5 -- that, by the way, 5 minus 1 relo and the net of 4 included Costco Home.

我們開了 5 家店，第二季淨增加了 4 家店，5 家店，順便說一句，5 家店減去 1 家 relo，淨 4 家店包括 Costco Home。

We opened 2 in Q3.

我們在第三季開設了 2 家。

We actually opened 6 -- the 3 relocations.

我們實際上開設了 6 個——3 個搬遷地點。

We also closed 4 demolition and reconstruction of our Inglewood, California location in the Los Angeles market.

我們還完成了洛杉磯市場加州英格爾伍德工廠的 4 處拆除和重建工作。

So that was a net closing but that will be opened this fall.

所以這是一次淨關閉，但將於今年秋天開放。

In addition, in 4 we had no relos but we had four net new openings.

此外，在第四年，我們沒有重新開放，但我們有四個淨新空缺。

So all total we had 23 openings -- net new openings -- 29 total openings, less the 6 relos.

因此，我們總共有 23 個空缺職位——淨新空缺職位——總共 29 個空缺職位，減去 6 個重新開放職位。

With nearly two-thirds of these, by the way, in existing markets.

順便說一下，其中近三分之二是在現有市場。

Our ancillary business I will also go through with you, as well as any new initiatives, mostly notably Costco Home.

我也會與您一起了解我們的輔助業務，以及任何新舉措，尤其是 Costco Home。

We will discuss Costco Online, Executive membership and of course (indiscernible) balance sheet information.

我們將討論 Costco Online、執行會員資格，當然還有（難以辨認的）資產負債表資訊。

Lastly, of course, I will walk all of you through our current guidance and expectations for our fiscal year '04, which just started, particularly in light of the many expense and margin initiatives we have underway, accounting rule changes, which I have mentioned as it relates to vendor monies, also known as EITF-0216 and the current competitive landscape.

最後，當然，我將向大家介紹我們對剛開始的 04 財年的當前指導和預期，特別是考慮到我們正在進行的許多費用和利潤計劃以及我已經提到的會計規則變化因為它與供應商資金（也稱為EITF-0216）和當前的競爭格局有關。

As with every conference call let me start by stating that the discussions we're having will include statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and that these statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results, and/or performance to differ from those indicated by such statements.

就像每次電話會議一樣，首先我要聲明，我們正在進行的討論將包括1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的聲明，並且這些聲明涉及可能導致實際事件、結果和/的風險和不確定性。或性能與此類聲明所表明的不同。

The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in today's call, as well as other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the SEC.

風險和不確定性包括但不限於今天電話會議中概述的風險和不確定性，以及公司向 SEC 提交的公開聲明和報告中不時發現的其他風險。

With that said, I'll get into this.

話雖如此，我將開始討論這一點。

Sales for the fourth quarter -- the 16 weeks ended August 31st -- were 13.4 billion, up 11 percent from last year's fourth quarter of 12.1 billion.

第四季（截至 8 月 31 日的 16 週）銷售額為 134 億美元，比去年第四季的 121 億美元成長 11%。

On a 16 week to 16 week comp basis, Q4 comp stores were up 7 percent for the quarter.

以 16 週至 16 週的比較為基礎，第四季的比較商店本季成長了 7%。

The 7 percent figure benefited, again, from both inflationary gasoline prices and strong gallon comps.

7% 的數字再次受益於通貨膨脹的汽油價格和強勁的加侖比較。

But again, the gasoline inflation in the quarter represented a little under 50 basis points; strong FX -- about 184 basis points for the quarter, so resulting in a normalized 5 percent figure for the quarter.

但本季汽油通膨率再次略低於 50 個基點；強勁的外匯—該季度約為 184 個基點，因此該季度的標準化數字為 5%。

Sales for fiscal year -- 41.7 billion, up 9.7 percent from last fiscal '02 results of 38 billion with comp store up a 5 -- almost a 5.5 for all of fiscal '03.

2002 財年的銷售額為 417 億美元，比 02 財年的 380 億美元成長了 9.7%，而 2003 財年的銷售額成長了 5，幾乎為 5.5。

For the quarter, our 7 percent comp sales results continued, I believe, to be at the head of the pack out there.

我相信，本季我們 7% 的銷售業績繼續處於領先地位。

Within the quarter, the average transaction -- if you broke the 7 percent comp into average transaction size and average frequency, it was up 5 percent during the quarter based on average transactions and another 2 percent plus for average frequency, and of course multiplying those numbers together gets you the 7 comp.

在本季度內，平均交易量——如果將7% 的比例分解為平均交易規模和平均頻率，那麼本季平均交易量增長了5%，平均頻率又增長了2%，當然還要將這些相乘數字加起來就是 7 個組合。

On an annual basis, for the 5 percent comp -- reported comp, average transaction was up 3 percent for the year and average frequency up 2 percent.

以年度計算，對於所報告的 5% 的比較，全年平均交易量增加了 3%，平均頻率增加了 2%。

So frequency pretty consistent, both for the year and the quarter; average transaction actually up in the fourth quarter versus the year.

因此，無論是年度還是季度，頻率都非常一致；第四季的平均交易量實際上比去年同期有所上升。

I'll also mention, and again you'll see some of this in our annual report, of course, as you recall in fiscal '02 the average annualized sales of all locations for our company was $103 million.

當然，我也會提到，您會在我們的年度報告中再次看到其中的一些內容，因為您還記得在 02 財年，我們公司所有地點的平均年銷售額為 1.03 億美元。

In '03, given the 5 percent comp and notwithstanding the -- offset a little bit by the fact that we opened a bunch of new units, we had $105 million average for '03.

03 年，考慮到 5% 的補償，儘管我們開設了一系列新單位，這一事實稍微抵消了一點，但我們 03 年的平均收入為 1.05 億美元。

As a note to that, in terms of the annualized volumes for the new units, in '02 the average annualized volume for the 29 new units opened in '02 was 58 million.

需要說明的是，從新開盤年化成交量來看，02年新開盤的29個單元年化成交量平均為5,800萬套。

The average annualized volume for the 23 new warehouses in '03 was 67 million -- 24 new warehouses was 67 million.

03年23個新倉庫的平均年交易量為6700萬個，24個新倉庫為6700萬個。

In fairness, if you take Costco Home out of that, which is really a different modeled unit, it would be 69 million for the 23 warehouse clubs.

公平地說，如果你把 Costco Home 從中剔除（這實際上是一個不同的模型單位），那麼 23 個倉庫俱樂部的價值將是 6900 萬。

Our figure helped, of course, by our shift to more fill in info units (ph) and less new market openings this past fiscal year.

當然，我們的數字有所幫助，因為我們在上一財年轉向更多填充資訊單位（ph）並減少新市場開放。

In terms of our sales results for the 5 weeks of September, sales were 4.07 billion, up 13 percent versus the 3.59 billion last year.

從 9 月前 5 週的銷售業績來看，銷售額為 40.7 億美元，比去年的 35.9 億美元成長了 13%。

Again, that's a reported 10 percent on a comparable basis.

同樣，據報道，在可比較基礎上這一比例為 10%。

Again, splitting the 10 percent comparable sales increase for September into two components -- average transaction size and average frequency -- we saw average transaction up about 6.5 percent and average frequency up 3 to 3.5 percent.

同樣，將 9 月 10% 的可比較銷售額成長分為兩個部分——平均交易規模和平均頻率——我們看到平均交易增長約 6.5%，平均頻率增長 3% 至 3.5%。

Similarly, without the benefits of the gas price inflation, which was about 50 basis points -- a little over 50 basis points -- and a stronger FX -- again, I think it was 222 basis points -- comps would have been 7 on a normalized basis.

同樣，如果沒有汽油價格通膨（大約 50 個基點——略多於 50 個基點——以及匯率走強——的好處，我認為是 222 個基點——對比將會是 7）標準化的基礎。

Let me give you some quick geographic and merchandising break downs for sales for the month of September, as well as the trends that we've seen this year.

讓我向您提供一些 9 月份銷售的地理和商品銷售明細，以及我們今年看到的趨勢。

In the Northwest, we saw for the whole year a 4 percent comp, 4.5 in the fourth quarter, and for the month of September a 5.5.

在西北地區，全年年成長率為 4%，第四季為 4.5%，9 月為 5.5%。

California, we saw a 4 in the fiscal year, a 5 in the fourth quarter, and a pretty strong 8 in September.

加州，本財年的得分為 4，第四季的得分為 5，9 月的得分相當強勁，為 8。

I might add that both for the year, the quarter, and recently, particularly in the Bay Area we felt the impact of opening 6 units this past fiscal year, all infills which we estimated impacted 12 existing units.

我想補充一點，無論是今年、本季還是最近，特別是在灣區，我們都感受到了上一財年開設 6 個單位的影響，我們估計所有填充都會影響 12 個現有單位。

So these numbers are -- take that into account as well.

所以這些數字——也要考慮到這一點。

In terms of the Northeast, both for the year and the quarter there was a 3 percent comp, much stronger in September, up 10 percent.

就東北地區而言，全年和本季的漲幅均為 3%，其中 9 月的漲幅更為強勁，上漲了 10%。

Southeast, a 4 and a 4 for the year and the quarter, in September up 9.

東南地區，全年和季度分別為4和4，9月上漲9。

So good improvement in Northeast and Southeast there.

東北部和東南部的改善非常好。

Midwest, a 12 in the year, 13 for the quarter, and 14 for September.

中西部地區，全年 12 例，本季 13 例，9 月 14 例。

So putting the total year -- 4.5, 5.5, and then for the month of September 9.

因此，將全年總計 - 4.5、5.5，然後輸入 9 月 9 日。

Canada, as expressed in US dollars, was 9 for the year, 15 for the quarter, and 16 for September.

加拿大以美元計算，全年為 9，季為 15，9 月為 16。

As you know, the dollar has weakened versus -- the US dollar has weakened relative to the Canadian dollar, among other weakenings of other currencies as well.

如您所知，美元相對於加幣已經走弱，其他貨幣也走弱。

That 16 in September was essentially flat on a local currency basis.

以當地貨幣計算，9 月的 16 點基本持平。

Other international, outside of Canada, a 14 for the year, a 22 for the quarter, and an 18 for September.

加拿大以外的其他國際航班，全年為 14 個，季度為 22 個，九月為 18 個。

Again, not quite as much relative weaknesses in those other currencies versus the dollar, but still nonetheless week.

同樣，其他貨幣相對於美元的相對疲軟程度沒有那麼嚴重，但仍然很疲軟。

The 18, as expressed in US dollars, would have been a 13 in local currency.

以美元表示的 18，以當地貨幣表示為 13。

So total reported for the year, 5 percent, 7 percent for the quarter, and 10 percent for the month.

因此，全年報告的總數為 5%，季度為 7%，本月為 10%。

In terms of merchandise categories, again using the same three columns for the total year, the fourth fiscal fourth quarter and then the month of September, food and sundries was up 4, 4, and 7 -- 7 in the month of September; hardlines was up 4 in the year, 6 in the quarter, and 4 in September; softlines up 2, 2, and a much stronger 7 in September; fresh foods, 11 for the year, 15 for the quarter, and 15 in September; ancillary, again impacted by gas -- and even more impacted by gas of late -- 15 for all of '03 -- parenthetically 10 without gas -- Q4 19 for the quarter -- again 10 without gas -- and September 35, 15 without gas.

從商品類別來看，同樣使用全年相同的三欄，第四財季和9月份，食品和雜貨在9月份分別上漲了4、4和7-7；強硬派全年成長 4 點，季增 6 點，9 月成長 4 點； 9 月軟線上漲 2、2，甚至更強的 7；生鮮食品，全年11個，季度15個，9月15個；輔助，再次受到天然氣的影響- 甚至最近受到天然氣的影響更大- '03 年全部15 個- 附帶說明10 個沒有天然氣- 第四季度19 個季度- 再次10 個沒有天然氣- 以及2015 年9 月35日沒有氣體。

Again, what I think has been particularly impressive is as we in this last couple months, as prices of gas had increased, what we have seen is not only of course inflationary trends which have helped sales, but also significant increases in gallonage.

再說一次，我認為特別令人印象深刻的是，在過去的幾個月裡，隨著汽油價格的上漲，我們看到的當然不僅是有助於銷售的通貨膨脹趨勢，而且還包括加侖數的大幅增加。

In the month of September we saw 30 plus percent comps in the gallons of gasoline on a comp basis.

9 月份，我們發現每加侖汽油的價格比 30% 以上。

A little color on September's 10 percent comp sales -- within the 7 percent food and sundries comp, tobacco was actually about flat.

9 月 10% 的比較銷售額有一點色彩——在 7% 的食品和雜貨比較中，菸草實際上基本上持平。

That had to do with both a price reduction a little less than a year ago on the major brands by 6.50 a carton, as well as a large increase in Canada -- there's a tobacco price increase in Canada a year ago in the first quarter, which strengthened sales a year ago.

這與不到一年前主要品牌每箱降價 6.50 美元以及加拿大大幅上漲有關——一年前第一季加拿大菸草價格上漲，這增強了一年前的銷售。

This is a department, mind you, that is 8 percent of total company sales and nearly 20 percent of food and sundries sales.

請注意，這個部門占公司總銷售額的 8%，佔食品和雜貨銷售額的近 20%。

So pretty strong throughout the other food and sundries departments -- sub-departments other than tobacco.

在其他食品和雜貨部門——除菸草以外的子部門——中也相當強大。

Within the 4 percent hardlines, hardware, gardens, sporting goods were strong, offset by 2 to 4 percent in office and the combination of office and majors.

在 4% 的強硬產品中，硬體、花園、體育用品表現強勁，抵消了辦公室以及辦公室和專業組合的 2% 至 4% 的影響。

Within softlines, the 7 percent, domestics and home furnishings were in the high positive single digits, as were women's apparel and jewelry.

在紡織品中，7% 的家居用品和家居用品以及女裝和珠寶都處於較高的正個位數。

With respect to both hardlines and softlines, the nonfoods departments, they are off to a pretty good holiday seasonal merchandise start, I think as evidenced by our September sales.

對於硬裝和軟裝以及非食品部門來說，他們的假日季節性商品開局相當不錯，我認為我們 9 月的銷售證明了這一點。

Fresh foods continue to be strong at 15 percent for the quarter, with particular strength, as I think was similar to last month, in meats and produce.

本季新鮮食品持續保持強勁成長，達到 15%，尤其是肉類和農產品，我認為與上個月類似。

Moving on down the line items of the income statement, membership fees -- we reported just under $273 million in membership fees in the fourth quarter; in dollars up 11 percent, or 27 million year-over-year in the fourth quarter or 1 basis point down year-over-year -- 2.03 percent versus 2.04 percent as a percent of sales.

接下來是損益表的會員費項目——我們報告第四季的會員費略低於 2.73 億美元；以美元計算，第四季年增 11%，即 2,700 萬美元，年減 1 個基點，佔銷售額的 2.03%，而佔銷售額的百分比為 2.04%。

I feel it is a pretty strong showing, in my view, given the strong sales -- the strong comp sales.

在我看來，考慮到強勁的銷售——強勁的比較銷售，我覺得這是一個相當強勁的表現。

Similarly for the year, in terms of reported dollars, membership fees were up 11 percent and up 2 basis points year-over-year.

同樣，今年，以報告的美元計算，會員費增長了 11%，同比增長了 2 個基點。

On a cash basis, and as you know we do deferred accounting on membership on a cash basis, during the quarter membership fees were up 13 percent and up 3 basis points year-over-year, or up $30 million.

以收付實現制計算，如您所知，我們對會員資格實施遞延會計，本季會員費年增 13%，年增 3 個基點，即增加 3,000 萬美元。

We continue to benefit from strong renewal rates and increasing penetration of the $100 a year Executive membership.

我們繼續受益於強勁的續約率和每年 100 美元行政會員資格不斷增加的滲透率。

In terms of membership renewal rates (indiscernible) at fiscal year end this year Business was 92 percent.

就今年財年末的會員續約率（聽不清楚）而言，業務率為 92%。

By comparison to last year at fiscal end it was 91 percent, so up a little bit.

與去年財政年度末相比，這一比例為 91%，略有上升。

Gold Star consistent at 84 percent.

金星獎穩定在 84%。

So, rounding to 86 percent both at the end of last year at the end of this -- the end of '02 as well as the end of fiscal '03.

因此，去年年底和今年底（02 財年末和 03 財年末）會四捨五入至 86%。

So continued strong renewal rates in membership rates.

因此，會員費續訂率持續強勁。

In terms of number of members at fiscal year end, Gold Star 15 million -- that's compared to 14.6 million a year earlier.

截至財年末，金星會員人數為 1,500 萬，而去年同期為 1,460 萬。

It's actually down 100,000 from Q3 and that has more to do with the anniversarying of some of the freebies, which as I understand right now we aren't doing any more of those right now, as we're focusing more on existing buckets (ph).

實際上比第三季度下降了 100,000，這更多地與一些免費贈品的周年紀念有關，據我所知，我們現在不會再做這些，因為我們更多地關注現有的桶（ph ）。

And even in some of the new markets they're not completely new markets where we feel -- like a Chicago or what have you, that is now somewhat matured and we've gotten away from doing some of those freebies.

即使在一些新市場中，它們也不是我們認為的全新市場——例如芝加哥或其他市場，現在已經有些成熟了，我們已經不再提供一些免費贈品了。

Business, 4.6 million, up 100,000 from a year ago.

業務量460萬，較去年同期增加10萬。

Business add-ons, 3.6 million versus 3.5 million a year ago.

業務附加元件為 360 萬，而一年前為 350 萬。

So total between Gold Star, primary Business and Business add-on is 23.2 million at fiscal year end '03, up about 600,000 from 22.6 million at fiscal year end '02.

因此，截至 03 財年末，金星、主要業務和附加業務的總數為 2,320 萬，比 02 財年末的 2,260 萬增加了約 60 萬。

In terms of paid Executive members, we ended the fiscal year with just under 2.2 million paid Executive members, an increase of 500,000 for the year, or about 10,000 a week -- a little over 10,000 a week increase.

就付費執行會員而言，本財年結束時，我們有近 220 萬名付費執行會員，全年增加了 50 萬人，即每週約 1 萬人，每週增加略多於 1 萬人。

And that represents a 31 percent increase in during the year in terms of paid Executive members.

就付費執行成員而言，這意味著年內增加了 31%。

In terms of Executive member sales penetration, they represented 33 percent of sales in the US in the fourth quarter.

就執行會員銷售滲透率而言，他們佔第四季度美國銷售額的 33%。

We just introduced Executive membership recently in Canada.

我們最近剛在加拿大推出了行政會員資格。

We expect that to grow over the next few years.

我們預計這一數字在未來幾年將會成長。

But in the US, 33 percent versus 26 percent a year ago, so again increasing sales penetration as we're adding new Executive members or a higher percentage of our membership base being Executive members, as well as these members comping -- at a higher overall higher rates in the Company overall.

但在美國，這一比例為33%，而一年前為26%，因此，隨著我們增加新的執行會員或執行會員佔會員基數的比例更高，以及這些會員以更高的價格競爭，銷售滲透率再次提高公司整體利率整體較高。

Regarding Amex, again things are fine -- just over 25 percent sales penetration in the quarter versus 21.5 percent a year ago, and over 2.4 million co-branded Amex accounts.

至於美國運通卡，情況再次良好——本季銷售滲透率略高於 25%，而一年前為 21.5%，美國運通卡聯名帳戶超過 240 萬個。

So we continue to enjoy that relationship.

所以我們繼續享受這種關係。

Now going down to the gross margin line, while gross margins for the quarter were lower year-over-year by 12 points, this is actually a shade better than we had estimated in conjunction with our lowered earnings guidance on August 5th.

現在來看毛利率線，雖然本季的毛利率比去年同期下降了 12 個百分點，但這實際上比我們在 8 月 5 日下調獲利指引時的估計要好一些。

Mind you, I am sure some of you are going to ask when we get to Q&A, where exactly was it?

請注意，我相信當我們進行問答時，你們中的一些人會問，它到底在哪裡？

Keep in mind we're talking about a few basis point here, and in the scheme of things it is -- I think part of it has to do with, as Jim and I mentioned on that conference call, that figuring out ways to be competitive out there and remain competitive, as well as being creative, so that we can figure out ways to offset any competitive margin with improved margins in other areas.

請記住，我們在這裡討論的是一些基點，在事情的計劃中——我認為其中一部分與吉姆和我在電話會議上提到的那樣，找出解決問題的方法具有競爭力並保持競爭力，同時具有創造力，這樣我們就可以找到方法，透過提高其他領域的利潤來抵消任何競爭利潤。

In terms of the components of gross margin, again we've got a few the component categories, as many of you are familiar with.

就毛利率的組成部分而言，正如你們許多人所熟悉的那樣，我們再次提供了一些組成部分類別。

If you do these 6 line items, the core warehouses -- the core warehouse margin, the effect -- the impact of the 2 percent -- the impact of the 2 percent reward on margin, and from line 3 would be ancillary businesses, line 4 international, line 5 LIFO, and then line 6 would be total.

如果你做這6個項目，核心倉庫－核心倉庫利潤，效果－2%的影響－2%獎勵對利潤的影響，從第3行開始是輔助業務，行4 國際，第5 行LIFO ，然後第6 行總計。

To give you kind of a trendline what I will do is give you a Q4 and for the whole year.

為了給你一個趨勢線，我會做的是給你一個第四季和全年的趨勢線。

And in the core, in terms of the core margin it was lower year-over-year by 20 basis points in Q4.

在核心方面，第四季的核心利潤率年減了 20 個基點。

First of all, keep in mind last year's Q4, the core warehouses (indiscernible) was up a very strong 36 basis points from the Q4 '01.

首先，請記住去年第四季度，核心倉庫（難以辨認）比 01 年第四季強勁成長了 36 個基點。

So we're up against a very strong increase for whatever reason that was a year ago.

因此，無論出於一年前的原因，我們都面臨著非常強勁的成長。

Second, as you will recall, as I mentioned in Q2 and 3 when the core component was down about 5 basis points each of those quarters year-over-year, this negative gross margin component was more of a result of shifting sales mix out of the core area into ancillary and things like that than from reduced departmental gross margins.

其次，正如您所記得的，正如我在第二季度和第三季度中提到的那樣，當核心組成部分每個季度同比下降約5 個基點時，毛利率為負的部分更多是由於銷售組合從把核心領域變成輔助之類的東西，比部門毛利率降低要好。

The same thing happened here, but even more exaggerated with the tremendous increase in penetration of gasoline sales.

同樣的事情也發生在這裡，但隨著汽油銷售滲透率的大幅增加，情況變得更加誇張。

In fact, in the fourth quarter, with regard to the core being down 20 basis points year-over-year, is virtually all a change in mix.

事實上，第四季核心指數年減20個基點，實際上完全是組合的變化。

The strengthened -- if you note -- what I will share with you in a minute, the strength in ancillary was up 11 for the quarter and the strength in international was up 8.

如果你注意到的話，我將在一分鐘內與你分享的是，輔助力量的強度在本季度上升了 11，而國際力量的強度上升了 8。

Again, the had to do more with increasing sales penetration in those areas.

同樣，他們必須採取更多措施來提高這些地區的銷售滲透率。

That reduced the relative amount of gross margin contribution from the US-Canadian core.

這減少了美國-加拿大核心業務對毛利率貢獻的相對金額。

Year-over-year on a department by department basis in the US and Canada, Q4 margins were actually up a very few single digit basis points; up a little bit more than that in food and sundries and hardlines and down a little bit in softlines and fresh foods.

在美國和加拿大，以部門計算，第四季的利潤率實際上只上漲了幾個個位數基點；食品、雜貨和硬製品的漲幅略高，而軟製品和生鮮食品的漲幅略低。

But a few basis points up overall on a department by department basis.

但在各部門的基礎上，整體上有幾個基點有所上升。

Getting back to the chart, again for Q4 overall, so again, just to start again, in the core -20 for the quarter and -3 for the entire year.

回到圖表，再次查看第四季度的整體情況，再次開始，該季度的核心為 -20，全年的核心為 -3。

The 2 percent reward was -4 basis points and -7 for the year.

當年的 2% 獎勵為 -4 個基點和 -7 個基點。

And again, that's a result of the declining relative increase in the number of Executive members.

這也是執行成員數量相對成長下降的結果。

And as we have talked about for a couple years, as that diminishes a little that will be less and less of an issue here.

正如我們幾年來所討論的那樣，隨著這種情況的減少，這將不再是一個問題。

Ancillary businesses was plus 11 for the quarter and plus 15 for the year.

輔助業務季度成長 11，全年成長 15。

International plus eight and plus 8 basis points.

國際加8個基點。

LIFO, -7 for the quarter.

LIFO，本季為-7。

If you recall, in Q3 it was plus 8 and then plus 1 for the year, meaning that we had a bigger LIFO credit relative to sales this year than we did last year.

如果您還記得，在第三季度，該數字為+8，然後為全年+1，這意味著我們今年的後進先出信用相對於銷售額比去年更大。

And the total would be 12 basis points, -12 for the fourth quarter and plus 14 basis points gross margin year-over-year increase.

總計為 12 個基點，第四季為 -12 個基點，加上毛利率年增 14 個基點。

So again in the quarter, core was -20, 2 percent reward minus 4; ancillary plus 11; international plus 8; and again if you look the -20 and the sum of the 11 and the 8, that again I think explains where some of that is.

因此，在本季度，核心為 -20，2% 的獎勵減 4；輔助加11；國際+8；如果你再次查看 -20 以及 11 和 8 的總和，我認為這再次解釋了其中的一些內容。

And LIFO, -7 to be at 12 basis points.

LIFO，-7 為 12 個基點。

Again, getting back to the 2 percent reward.

再次回到 2% 的獎勵。

If you looked at the quarterly trend, and really the yearly trend over the last three years, as you know we implemented the two percent reward in the very end of the third quarter of fiscal '00.

如果您查看季度趨勢，以及過去三年的年度趨勢，您就會知道我們在 2000 財年第三季末實施了 2% 的獎勵。

So nominal effect in '00, year-over-year to this gross margin component line.

因此，00 年對這條毛利率構成線的名目影響是同比的。

Nearly 20 basis points of detriment to gross margin in '01, recognizing the offset to that is improved membership fees and hopefully improved sales and profitability.

01 年毛利率下降了近 20 個基點，會員費的提高以及預計將提高的銷售額和獲利能力可以抵消這一影響。

In '02, an incremental 12 and 13 basis points negative.

02 年，增量為 12 個基點和 13 個負基點。

Finally we're seeing some diminishing of that, an incremental negative 9 in Q1, negative 9 in Q2, negative 6 in Q3, and negative 4 in Q4.

最後，我們看到這種情況有所減少，第一季增量為負 9，第二季增量為 9，第三季增量為 6，第四季增量為負 4。

So again, what we're seeing is since its inception, it's nearly 50 basis points of margin detriment from the two percent reward, offset of course by strong new membership fees and stronger sales and profitability of those incremental sales.

因此，我們再次看到，自成立以來，2% 的獎勵使利潤率下降了近 50 個基點，當然，強勁的新會員費以及這些增量銷售的強勁銷售和盈利能力抵消了這一影響。

With regard to ancillary businesses, while these gross margins were generally slightly down as a percent of sales year-over-year, the stronger comps in these areas allowed us to recognize a net 8 basis point improvement to the total gross margin for the Company.

至於輔助業務，雖然這些毛利率佔銷售額的百分比總體上同比略有下降，但這些領域的強勁對比使我們認識到公司的總毛利率淨提高了 8 個基點。

Again, international 8 basis points better for the year and the quarter, no big changes there.

同樣，國際貨幣基金組織今年和本季都優於 8 個基點，沒有太大的變化。

Finally, in terms of LIFO, last year's fourth quarter LIFO credit was big, up $21 million -- a $21 million credit, which represented 17 basis points to the fourth quarter.

最後，就 LIFO 而言，去年第四季的 LIFO 信貸規模很大，增加了 2,100 萬美元——2,100 萬美元的信貸，相當於第四季度的 17 個基點。

If you recall, last year in each of Q's one, two and three, we had LIFO charges of 2.5 million.

如果你還記得，去年在 Q 的一、二和三中，我們的 LIFO 費用為 250 萬。

So we entered in fiscal '02 third quarter year-to-date having a net LIFO credit -- net LIFO charge of 7.5 million, offset by the $21 million LIFO credit in Q4.

因此，我們在 02 財年第三季迄今擁有淨 LIFO 信用——淨 LIFO 費用為 750 萬美元，被第四季 2,100 萬美元的 LIFO 信用所抵銷。

Representing for the year then, $13.5 million LIFO charge -- LIFO credit in fiscal '02.

代表當年 1,350 萬美元的 LIFO 費用——02 財年的 LIFO 信貸。

In '03, we actually again -- continuing the inflationary trends, we took no charge in Q1 and 2.

在 03 年，我們實際上再次 - 繼續通膨趨勢，我們在第一季和第二季沒有採取任何行動。

We actually took a $5 million credit in Q3, which again benefited the Q3 year-over-year versus the charge we took in '02 in Q3.

實際上，我們在第三季度獲得了 500 萬美元的信貸，與我們在 02 年第三季度獲得的費用相比，這再次使第三季度同比受益。

That left a little less on the table for Q4 when we did our final true-up calculations, bringing in 14.65 million in the fourth quarter.

當我們進行最終的真實計算時，第四季度的收入略有減少，第四季度的收入為 1,465 萬。

So, that represented 11 basis points of credit to Q4's margin this year.

因此，這意味著今年第四季的利潤率提高了 11 個基點。

So again, including rounding LIFO positively impacted this year's fourth quarter gross margin, but on a year-over-year comparable basis represented a 7 basis point lowering of gross margin year-over-year in the quarter.

同樣，採用後進先出法對今年第四季的毛利率產生了積極影響，但與去年同期相比，該季度的毛利率同比下降了 7 個基點。

In terms of our gross margin outlook for the upcoming fiscal year, we expect for it show a small overall increase for the year.

就我們下一財年的毛利率前景而言，我們預計今年整體將小幅成長。

But that, of course, will be subject to what is going on competitively and fighting (ph) in that direction.

但這當然會受到競爭情況以及朝這個方向的戰鬥（ph）的影響。

On top of the competition in terms of gross margin, as I mentioned a couple of times, there's new accounting treatment requirements for vendor incentive monies that will wreak a little havoc as it relates to the timing of certain margin dollars this upcoming fiscal year.

除了毛利率方面的競爭之外，正如我多次提到的，對供應商獎勵資金有新的會計處理要求，這將造成一點破壞，因為它與即將到來的財政年度的某些保證金美元的時間有關。

I touched on this back in our May 28th third quarter conference call, again on our August 5th earnings guidance revision conference call, and also in early September when Jim and I were at the Goldman conference in New York, stating that the impact was more quarterly timing net fiscal year timing.

我在5 月28 日的第三季電話會議、8 月5 日的盈利指引修訂電話會議以及9 月初吉姆和我在紐約參加高盛會議時都談到了這一點，並指出影響更多是季度性的。計時 淨會計年度計時。

In fact, for fiscal '04 the total year impact to Costco is estimated to be in the 4 to 5 million pre-tax range, or a little more than a half a cent a share.

事實上，04 財年對 Costco 的全年影響預計在稅前 400 至 500 萬美元範圍內，即每股略多於半美分。

This, by the way, is already built into our previous earnings guidance that we gave on August 5th, that top-line sales and bottom-line sales (indiscernible) 8 to 10 percent for the year.

順便說一句，這已經納入我們先前 8 月 5 日給出的盈利指引中，即今年的頂線銷售額和底線銷售額（難以辨認）為 8％ 至 10％。

And, of course, I will talk a little about guidance for the year at the end of this call.

當然，我將在本次電話會議結束時談談今年的指導。

In terms of this new accounting treatment, it's known as EITF-0216, technically known as "accounting by a customer for certain consideration for vendors" AKA "how do retailers account for rebates, advertising revenues, slotting allowances, etc."

就這種新的會計處理而言，它被稱為EITF-0216，技術上稱為“客戶對供應商的某些考慮因素進行的會計處理”，又名“零售商如何對回扣、廣告收入、進場津貼等進行會計處理」。

In our case, the timing, in fact, relates mostly to revenue dollars we receive from vendors when we do certain things for them.

就我們而言，時間安排實際上主要與我們為供應商做某些事情時從供應商那裡獲得的收入有關。

We publish our monthly Costco Connection Magazine, we publish a cookbook, we have other vendor related items.

我們每月出版 Costco Connection 雜誌，出版一本食譜，我們還有其他供應商相關的物品。

While there's some timing impact related to these vendor dollars, including things like end caps and slotting allowances, given our fast turns the input they get (ph) in the quarter is minimal to some of those items.

雖然這些供應商資金會產生一些時間影響，包括結束上限和進場津貼等，但考慮到我們的快速轉變，他們在本季度獲得的投入對於其中一些項目來說是最小的。

But with regard to many of these items, I believe the easiest way for you to account for this in your financial models would be for me to simply provide you with the timing adjustments by quarter.

但對於其中許多項目，我相信您在財務模型中考慮這一點的最簡單方法是我簡單地為您提供按季度進行的時間調整。

So in order to account for the estimated impact to Costco regarding EITF-0216, I would ask you to take your model -- whatever it might be -- and reduce or increase your gross margin dollars by the following estimated amounts in each of the fiscal year -- fiscal 2004's four fiscal quarters.

因此，為了考慮 EITF-0216 對 Costco 的估計影響，我要求您採用您的模型（無論它是什麼），並根據每個財政年度的以下估計金額減少或增加您的毛利率美元年度——2004 財年的四個財季。

In Q1, we're going to have a big negative impact, offset by positive impacts in Qs 2, 3 and 4.

在第一季度，我們將產生巨大的負面影響，並被第二季、第三季和第四季的正面影響所抵消。

In Q1 we estimate, based on the timing of certain things we do, that we will have about a $30 million -- 30 to $32 million pre-tax negative impact, offset by an anticipated $10 million positive impact in Q2, a $6 million positive pre-tax impact in Q3, and 10 to 11 positive pre-tax impact in Q4.

根據我們所做的某些事情的時間安排，我們估計第一季我們將產生約3000 萬美元的稅前負面影響，即3000 至3200 萬美元的負面影響，被第二季度預期的1000 萬美元的正面影響所抵消，即600 萬美元的正面影響第三季度的稅前影響，以及第四季度 10 至 11 的積極稅前影響。

That should round up to somewhere between 4 and $5 million negative for the year.

今年的負值應該在 400 至 500 萬美元之間。

Again, remember when you look at these, don't -- I am sure some of you are saying, "wait a minute, it gets better as the year to as the year goes by is this just wishful thinking?"

再說一次，記住當你看到這些的時候，不要——我相信你們中的一些人會說，“等一下，隨著時間的推移，情況會變得更好，這只是一廂情願嗎？”

Of course the answer is no.

答案當然是否定的。

This is simple math and the timing of what we already have in our budgets of really various program monies that we, like many other retailers, receive.

這是簡單的數學計算，以及我們像許多其他零售商一樣收到的各種計劃資金預算中已有的時間安排。

But given a lot of the emphasis we place on the holiday season from September to Christmas, which is principally our fiscal first quarter, we see the big negative impact of this timing in Q1 offset by the positive impacts in Qs 2, 3 and 4.

但鑑於我們非常重視從9 月到聖誕節的假期，這主要是我們的第一財季，我們認為第一季這一時間點的巨大負面影響被第二季度、第三季度和第四季度的正面影響所抵消。

Before going to SG&A, I will briefly talk about our ancillary businesses.

在講SG&A之前，我先簡單講一下我們的輔助業務。

The pharmacy we had 11 pharmacies in Q4 to be at 337.

藥局第四季我們有 11 家藥房，達到 337 家。

We added 3 foodservice to be at 393, 3 photolabs to be at 389, 3 -- 6 optical shops to be at 377.

我們增加了 3 家餐飲服務店，數量為 393 家；增加了 3 家照相店，數量為 389 家；增加了 3 - 6 家眼鏡店，數量為 377 家。

We remained at 11 print centers.

我們留在了 11 個印刷中心。

We added 12 hearing aid centers to be at 132 and the 5 additional gas stations we now have -- at fiscal year end we had 190 gas stations.

我們增加了 12 個助聽器中心，總數達到 132 個，並增加了 5 個加油站——截至本財年末，我們有 190 個加油站。

Overall these businesses are doing fine.

總體而言，這些企業表現良好。

They are profitable.

他們是有利可圖的。

Even the gasoline business is presently profitable, both for last year and beginning this year.

就連汽油業務目前也能獲利，無論是去年還是今年年初。

Although, as we have known in the past, that can be volatile.

不過，正如我們過去所知，這可能會不穩定。

These businesses have generally been better than average company comps.

這些業務總體上優於平均公司的業績。

Even one-hour photo this past year had comps both for the year and the quarter slightly positive in the year of digital photography.

即使是去年的一小時照片，在數位攝影的年度和季度中的表現都略有積極。

And while we, like others, are starting to do a little bit more digital, we think that that beats the industry averages out there.

雖然我們和其他人一樣開始更加數位化，但我們認為這超出了行業平均水平。

In total for Q4 ancillary business sales comps were up 19 percent and up 10 without gasoline.

第四季輔助業務銷售年增 19%，不含汽油則成長 10%。

Moving on to SG&A, the trend continues to be a little encouraging here.

繼續來看SG&A，這裡的趨勢還是有點令人鼓舞。

In Q4, as you will see, our SG&A year-over-year was higher or worse by 35 basis points, coming in at a 9.83 versus a 9.48% a year ago.

正如您將看到的，第四季度我們的 SG&A 年比上升或下降了 35 個基點，達到 9.83%，而一年前為 9.48%。

In terms of the core business, I will ask you again to write down several line items in three columns.

就核心業務而言，我會再次要求您分三欄寫下幾個項目。

The line items will be core business.

這些項目將成為核心業務。

The second line item will be central, the third line item ancillary, the fourth line item international.

第二行項目是中央項目，第三行項目是輔助項目，第四行項目是國際項目。

The fifth line item, which is stock options which we've added since that -- as you know, we expense stock options, and so that will be something ongoing for a few years.

第五行項目是我們從那時起添加的股票選擇權——如您所知，我們支出股票選擇權，因此這將持續幾年。

And then a subtotal, and then I will add workers comp in there as a separate line item to give you a total.

然後是小計，然後我將在其中添加工人補償作為單獨的行項目，以便為您提供總計。

Actually eight lines in total.

實際上總共八行。

The three columns will be third quarter year-to-date, the second column fourth quarter, and the third column the total fiscal year.

這三列將是今年迄今的第三季度，第二列是第四季度，第三列是整個財政年度。

In the third quarter year-to-date, our core -- the component of SG&A that related to core warehouses was -22 basis points, and in this case minus means higher -- was -22 basis points.

今年迄今為止的第三季度，我們的核心——與核心倉庫相關的SG&A組成部分為-22個基點，在這種情況下負意味著更高——為-22個基點。

Parenthetically 13 of that -- approximately 13 of that was new warehouse related.

順便說一句，其中 13 個——大約 13 個與新倉庫相關。

And again as we change the focus to more in-fill markets rather than new markets, we will see that number -- that detriment to that number diminish.

當我們再次將重點轉向更多填充市場而不是新市場時，我們將看到這個數字 - 對這個數字的損害會減少。

In Q4, it was -12 basis points, 8 of which was new market warehouses and for the year, -19.

第四季為-12個基點，其中8個是新市場倉庫，全年為-19個基點。

Central was -1 or higher year-over-year and the first three quarters year-to-date was plus 3 basis points, or lower by 3 basis points in Q4, again helped by strong sales, and a 0 for the year.

環比同比為-1或更高，年初至今的前三個季度增加了3個基點，或在第四季度減少了3個基點，這再次得益於強勁的銷售，全年為0。

So year-over-year central grew in line with top-line sales.

因此，中部地區的年成長與營收成長一致。

Ancillary businesses -3 in the third quarter year-to-date, -7 of in the Q4, again increasing sales penetration of those areas, and -4 for the year.

輔助業務今年迄今第三季為-3，第四季為-7，再次提高了這些領域的銷售滲透率，全年為-4。

International -8, -5 and -7.

國際-8、-5 和-7。

Stock options -2 third quarter year-to-date and -6 in the fourth quarter.

股票選擇權今年第三季為-2，第四季為-6。

That charge in the fourth quarter, I believe, was 7.6 million pre-tax.

我認為第四季的稅前費用為 760 萬美元。

And again, we tend to do most option grants right around midyear, some time usually in the March-April timeframe.

同樣，我們傾向於在年中左右進行大多數期權授予，通常是在三月至四月的某個時間。

And so that typically impacts incrementally the second half of the year.

因此，這通常會逐漸影響下半年。

For the year it is -3 basis points or 3 basis point higher.

今年為-3個基點或更高3個基點。

So the subtotal third quarter year-to-date we had 36 basis points higher SG&A in those areas, 27 in the fourth quarter -- so again a decreasing trend, an improving trend -- and 33 for the year.

因此，從今年第三季小計來看，這些領域的 SG&A 提高了 36 個基點，第四季提高了 27 個基點——同樣是下降趨勢，改善趨勢——全年是 33 個基點。

Workers comp, as you know, and I will talk a minute about workers comp in general, but workers comp was 9 basis points of detriment third quarter year-to-date.

如你所知，工人補償，我將大致談談工人補償，但工人補償今年迄今第三季的損失為 9 個基點。

Recall in the second quarter we took a $26 million additional charge.

回想一下，第二季我們額外收取了 2,600 萬美元的費用。

In the fourth quarter, as we mentioned on the call in August, we took an additional charge that was -8 basis points, so -9 for the year.

正如我們在 8 月的電話會議上提到的，在第四季度，我們收取了 -8 個基點的額外費用，因此全年為 -9 個基點。

Again, on a reported basis SG&A was higher year-over-year by 45 basis points in the first three quarters year-to-date, higher by 35 in Q4, and higher by 42 year-over-year.

同樣，根據報告，年初至今的前三個季度 SG&A 同比增長 45 個基點，第四季度增長 35 個基點，同比增長 42 個基點。

Again, as we go through this you will see the trends I'm talking about.

再次強調，當我們回顧這一點時，您會看到我正在談論的趨勢。

Of the 12 basis points, as I mentioned in Q4 for the core being higher year-over-year, about 8 basis points was related to first-year new market warehouses; another 14 basis points related to employee health care, benefits and workers comp costs at existing warehouses.

正如我在第四季度提到的，核心同比較高，這 12 個基點中，大約 8 個基點與第一年的新市場倉庫有關；另外 14 個基點與現有倉庫的員工醫療保健、福利和工人補償成本有關。

This is similar to what happened in Q2 and Q3.

這與第二季和第三季發生的情況類似。

And hopefully over the next few years we will see that come down.

希望在接下來的幾年裡我們會看到這種情況下降。

Again, I will talk about some of these initiatives in a moment.

我稍後將再次討論其中一些舉措。

Our central, as I mentioned, was higher in -- was lower in the third quarter, or better by 3 basis points, again partly a result of strong comps.

正如我所提到的，我們的中心利率在第三季較低，或好於 3 個基點，這在一定程度上也是強勁的比較的結果。

Ancillary, international as expected; the same with stock options, as expected.

輔助性、國際化正如預期的；正如預期的那樣，股票選擇權也是如此。

And again, we will talk about workers comp in a minute.

再次，我們稍後將討論工人薪酬。

In terms of SG&A expense initiatives, we spoke about four specific items on the August 5th conference call -- one, increased expense due to increasing customer service at the front end; two, reduced labor costs through efficiencies at the receiving end of the warehouse; three, health care costs; and four, workers compensation expense.

在 SG&A 費用計劃方面，我們在 8 月 5 日的電話會議上談到了四個具體事項：一是由於前端客戶服務的增加而增加了費用；二、透過倉庫收貨端的效率降低勞動成本；三、醫療費用；四是職工補償費用。

Let me address each of these four items.

讓我逐一闡述這四項內容。

On the August 5th call I spoke about the then recent initiative to increase our front end labor commitment to speed up the lines at high-volume buildings, which, of course, represents most of our buildings.

在 8 月 5 日的電話會議上，我談到了最近採取的一項舉措，即增加我們的前端勞動力承諾，以加快大容量建築的生產線速度，當然，這代表了我們的大部分建築。

I mentioned that in the first instance, the hit, if you will, to our SG&A was an estimated 10 or so basis points and that we would expect as front end efficiencies grew, the net cost of the additional labor commitment could probably go down to about 5 basis points, maybe a basis point lower.

我提到，首先，如果您願意的話，我們的 SG&A 受到的影響估計為 10 個基點左右，我們預計隨著前端效率的提高，額外勞動力投入的淨成本可能會下降到大約5個基點，也許還低一個基點。

In reviewing the fourth quarter with the operators, they estimated that the fourth quarter impact was in the high single digit basis points, as we stated we expect that it would be on August 5th, and is starting to come down slightly from that.

在與營運商一起回顧第四季度時，他們估計第四季度的影響處於高個位數基點，正如我們所說，我們預計會在 8 月 5 日發生，並且開始略有下降。

So again, the impact, by the way, is we definitely see it in the warehouse.

順便說一句，影響是我們肯定在倉庫中看到的。

We're hearing lots of positive comments from members that they're seeing more help at the front end.

我們聽到許多成員的正面評論，他們在前端看到了更多幫助。

We also would expect to see a little improvement from reduced shrinkage; not a lot, but from having the additional help out there, if you will, reducing bottom-of-basket shrinkage when you've got additional employees that are helping to unload the basket.

我們也預期收縮率會有所改善；不是很多，但是如果你願意的話，可以透過提供額外的幫助來減少籃子底部的收縮，當你有額外的員工來幫助卸載籃子時。

Also the August 5th call, we mentioned additional payroll initiatives regarding the testing of labor efficiencies in terms of how we receive merchandise into the warehouse.

此外，在 8 月 5 日的電話會議上，我們還提到了關於測試我們如何將商品送入倉庫的勞動效率的額外薪資計劃。

The test, which occurred (technical difficulty) months of '03 was determined to be successful.

03 年（技術難度）幾個月進行的測試被確定為成功。

And again, one of the things we wanted to make sure, that it didn't negatively impact anything we see in shrinkage.

再說一遍，我們想要確保的一件事是，它不會對我們在收縮中看到的任何事情產生負面影響。

It did not.

它沒。

And so we rolled that out effective the beginning of this year to our whole company.

因此，我們從今年年初開始向整個公司推廣這項舉措。

As I mentioned on the August 5th call, we expect that such efficiencies would save us at least $20 million pre-tax annually, some of which, of course, is in our guidance for '04 already -- the majority of that, not all that, but a majority of it.

正如我在8 月5 日的電話會議上提到的，我們預計這種效率每年將為我們節省至少2000 萬美元的稅前費用，其中一些當然已經包含在我們04 年的指導中——其中大部分，不是全部那個，但大部分。

The next expense initiative is healthcare costs.

下一個支出舉措是醫療保健費用。

As I have discussed in the past, we've always prided ourselves in providing our employees great -- fantastic health care benefits -- medical, dental, vision, at a low cost to our employees.

正如我過去所討論的，我們一直以低廉的成本為員工提供出色的醫療保健福利（醫療、牙科、視力）而感到自豪。

Some of you out there would argue that we've perhaps been overgenerous and a little stubborn in the sense that we have not raised the rate that we charge our employees for healthcare for at least eight years.

你們中的一些人可能會說，我們可能過於慷慨，而且有點固執，因為我們至少八年沒有提高向員工收取的醫療費用。

Some of you may be right, but frankly we're very proud of the fact that our employees are, in light of the negative press many retailers, as well as other companies in other industries have gotten recently on the subject.

你們中的一些人可能是對的，但坦白說，鑑於許多零售商以及其他行業的其他公司最近在這個問題上受到的負面報道，我們為我們的員工感到非常自豪。

That being said, we had been working for about a year on recognizing that we can't let this line item on our expense statement grow at twice the rate of sales growth.

話雖這麼說，我們花了大約一年的時間才意識到我們不能讓費用報表上的這一行項目以銷售成長率兩倍的速度成長。

And we recently have made some changes to our employee healthcare benefits.

我們最近對員工醫療保健福利做出了一些改變。

These benefits and cost changes are being discussed with each and every employee as we speak over about a three-week period.

我們將在大約三週的時間內與每位員工討論這些福利和成本變化。

And aspects of these initiatives will be implemented beginning this month and continuing over the next few years.

這些措施的各個方面將從本月開始實施，並在未來幾年內持續實施。

The savings from these changes, of course, will benefit SG&A incrementally over the next four years.

當然，這些變化帶來的節省將在未來四年內逐步使銷售、管理和行政費用 (SG&A) 受益。

I say incrementally over four years because, as you know, first of all, some changes will impact employees effective January 1st, given that all of us what are on typically a calendar annual basis for co-pays and deductibles.

我之所以說在四年內逐步增加，是因為如您所知，首先，考慮到我們所有人通常按日曆年支付共付額和免賠額，一些變化將從 1 月 1 日起影響員工。

Some will impact new employees starting later this month, if you're a new employee.

如果您是新員工，有些將從本月稍後開始影響新員工。

And some will be impacts to part-time employees -- still very good benefits to them.

有些會對兼職員工產生影響——對他們來說仍然是很好的福利。

But we will allow existing employees up to three years grandfathered in at the land, or at the new full-time plan, giving them a chance that if they want to continue at the higher rate of benefits they will be able to do so by going full-time and giving them a chance to do that over the next two to three years.

但我們將允許現有員工在土地上享受最長三年的祖父待遇，或者按照新的全職計劃，給他們一個機會，如果他們想繼續享受更高的福利，他們將能夠通過全職工作，並讓他們有機會在未來兩到三年內做到這一點。

So these savings -- and many of you have asked, "so how much is going to be?"

所以這些節省——你們中的許多人都問過，“那麼會節省多少錢？”

Keep in mind, the numbers I am going to give here is what these initiatives we expect the financial impact to our company to be, which will be a positive benefit.

請記住，我在這裡給出的數字是我們預期這些措施對我們公司的財務影響，這將是正面的效益。

But this is versus a do nothing scenario.

但這是針對什麼都不做的情況。

In other words, if we continued on as we were.

換句話說，如果我們繼續這樣下去。

We estimate that versus a do nothing scenario that the financial impact to Costco in fiscal year '04 will the a reduction in the growth of healthcare costs that seem to have been growing the last couple of years at the 18 to 20 percent range, again nearly twice top-line sales growth.

我們估計，與不採取任何措施的情況相比，Costco 在04 財年的財務影響將減少醫療保健成本的增長，而過去幾年醫療保健成本似乎一直在18％ 至20％ 的範圍內增長，再次接近銷售額成長兩倍。

And that in fiscal 04, the net reduction versus do nothing will be to reduce these costs, or the impact of these total costs, by about $50 million in fiscal '04.

在 04 財年，與不採取任何措施相比，淨減少額將是在 04 財年將這些成本或這些總成本的影響減少約 5,000 萬美元。

That will tend to be skewed toward the second half of the year.

這往往會偏向今年下半年。

As I mentioned, some of it has to do with deductibles and co-pays, some of it has to do with new employees, and some will be grandfathered in.

正如我所提到的，其中一些與免賠額和共付額有關，一些與新員工有關，還有一些將被保留。

Again, that is the estimated impact -- a little over 50 million pretax in fiscal '04.

同樣，這也是預期的影響——04 財年稅前影響略高於 5,000 萬美元。

Additional incremental savings in each of the subsequent three fiscal years will also occur, but not as much as in year one.

隨後的三個財政年度中的每個財政年度也會出現額外的增量節省，但不會像第一年那麼多。

We expect the total impact to be a little over twice that $50 million amount.

我們預計總影響將略高於 5,000 萬美元金額的兩倍。

Keep in mind -- again, I want to emphasize -- keep in mind that these savings, at least for fiscal '04, much of this is already included in earnings guidance, which I will go over in this call.

請記住——我想再次強調——請記住，這些節省，至少在 04 財年，其中大部分已經包含在盈利指導中，我將在本次電話會議中討論這一點。

And second, these savings are versus a do nothing scenario and that such expenses are still inflationary and not completely predictable.

其次，這些節省是相對於不採取任何措施的情況而言的，並且此類費用仍然會通貨膨脹並且不完全可預測。

That is why I want to enter this year being a little cautious about what we expect to happen.

這就是為什麼我想在進入今年時對我們預期發生的事情持謹慎態度。

We know what we can say, but we still we will wait to see what the underlying costs go up and underlying activity.

我們知道我們能說什麼，但我們仍然會等待看看潛在成本的上升和潛在的活動。

We feel good about incident rates on workers comp, and I will get to that in a minute.

我們對工人補償的事故率感到滿意，我稍後會談到這一點。

Finally, even with these, and with regard to healthcare changes, even with these changes, we feel very comfortable that our healthcare benefits are the best in the business, and importantly cover not only our eligible full-time employees, but our eligible part-time employees as well.

最後，即使有這些變化，即使有這些變化，我們仍然感到非常放心，我們的醫療保健福利是業內最好的，重要的是不僅涵蓋我們符合資格的全職員工，還涵蓋我們符合資格的兼職員工。時間員工也是如此。

For example, as many retailers and other large corporations state that employees pay anywhere from 20 to as high as 30 percent of their healthcare costs, at Costco we estimate that even with these changes that we are currently implementing, the employees' share of health care costs will simply rise from the current low number of 4.5 percent of total healthcare costs in '03, to an estimated 8 percent by '07, still way below everybody else and we want to keep it there.

例如，許多零售商和其他大公司聲稱員工支付 20% 到 30% 的醫療費用，在 Costco，我們估計，即使我們目前正在實施這些變革，員工所承擔的醫療費用份額成本將從目前03 年佔醫療保健總成本4.5% 的低水準上升到07 年估計的8%，仍然遠低於其他所有人，我們希望維持這一水準。

Again, we think that -- we do recognize that some of these costs have to be shared and we're doing so.

我們再次認為，我們確實認識到其中一些成本必須分擔，而我們正在這樣做。

Our employees know that these are great benefits.

我們的員工知道這些都是巨大的福利。

We've had a very good response from the meetings we've had out there.

我們從我們在那裡舉行的會議中得到了非常好的反響。

And we believe the employees of our competitors know that Costco's benefits are the best out there among retail.

我們相信我們競爭對手的員工知道 Costco 的福利是零售業中最好的。

Finally, with regard to workers comp expense, as you know, we took an additional $26 million pre-tax charge in the second quarter.

最後，關於工人補償費用，如您所知，我們在第二季度額外收取了 2,600 萬美元的稅前費用。

We then, beginning in Q3, upped our monthly accrual by an additional 8,000 a month.

然後，從第三季開始，我們每月額外增加 8,000 個應計費用。

And then, as we stated in our August 5th call, despite our best efforts to be conservative in estimating these accruals, and appropriate, we planned to book an additional 11.5 million towards workers comp accrual at fiscal year end, which we did.

然後，正如我們在8 月5 日的電話會議中所說，儘管我們盡最大努力在估計這些應計費用時保持保守和適當，但我們計劃在財政年度末為工人應計費用額外預訂1,150 萬美元，我們做到了。

So these charges -- the 26, the nearly 6 million additional in the second half just through normal monthly accrual increase, and the 11.5 million at year-end -- these charges totaled 43 million pre-tax or 6 cents a share after-tax for fiscal '03.

因此，這些費用——26項，下半年透過正常的每月應計增長增加的近600萬美元，以及年底的1150萬美元——這些費用總計稅前4300萬美元或稅後每股6美分03 財年。

Recognizing not all of that relates to fiscal '03.

認識到並非所有這些都與 03 財年有關。

We estimate about 19 million of that 43 million relates to '03 increases, recognizing that we've seen continued huge inflation in that.

我們估計這 4,300 萬中約有 1,900 萬人與 03 年的成長有關，因為我們已經看到了持續的巨大通貨膨脹。

There is, we believe, a light at the end of the tunnel.

我們相信，隧道盡頭有一盞燈。

I will talk about it in a minute.

我稍後會談到它。

Again, we were impacted by 6 cents a share on this total $43 million of extra charges this year versus what we had budgeted from the beginning of the year.

與年初的預算相比，今年總計 4,300 萬美元的額外費用再次影響了我們每股 6 美分。

As I mentioned on the August 5th call, many of us at Costco, along with senior executives of other companies with both large and small employers, have taken a very aggressive stance in pushing for legislative change to what we consider an abusive workers comp system in California.

正如我在8 月5 日的電話會議上提到的，Costco 的許多人以及其他擁有大小雇主的公司的高級管理人員都採取了非常積極的立場，推動立法改變我們認為存在虐待行為的工人補償制度。加州。

In fact, in just several days in California we generated -- we raised more than 500 -- we had more than 500,000 of our California members sign petitions which we sent into the various people in the California political system and Insurance Commission Office, which I'm pleased to say we worked very well with.

事實上，在加州的短短幾天內，我們籌集了超過 500 份捐款，超過 50 萬名加州會員簽署了請願書，我們將這些請願書發送給加州政治系統和保險委員會辦公室的各個人員，我很高興地說我們合作得很好。

I'm happy to report that about two weeks ago legislative changes were approved and I believe signed by the governor, that we believe begin to address the workers comp abuses inherent in the California system.

我很高興地向大家報告，大約兩週前，立法變更獲得批准，我相信已由州長簽署，我們相信這開始解決加州系統中固有的工人賠償濫用問題。

I know many of you will ask about what would be the impact to Costco's P&L from these changes.

我知道你們很多人會問這些變化會對 Costco 的損益產生什麼影響。

The answer is that we will take several months to figure out and see what actually happens to actual paids as we go forward and what the actual financial impact will ultimately be.

答案是，我們將花費幾個月的時間來弄清楚並了解未來實際支付的實際情況以及最終的實際財務影響。

I would also add that inherent in the guidance that we previously provided, we have upped further our accrual assumptions for workers comp in '04.

我還要補充一點，我們先前提供的指導中固有的內容是，我們進一步提高了 04 年工人薪酬的應計假設。

So I think that's the good news.

所以我認為這是個好消息。

Personally I believe that this will have a positive financial impact once we can calculate the impact of these changes.

我個人認為，一旦我們能夠計算出這些變化的影響，這將產生正面的財務影響。

But at this point I cannot confirm any of that until we know more.

但在我們了解更多之前，我目前無法證實這一點。

So it looks that we have hopefully covered it, but, as you know, we've been wrong before.

所以看起來我們已經被期望覆蓋它，但是，如你所知，我們之前就錯了。

But we feel pretty good going into '04.

但進入 04 年我們感覺很好。

One more, finally here as it relates to SG&A, I've often been asked and recently been asked, would we ever consider changing our hourly wage structure since it's the highest among all of our competitors.

最後，因為它與 SG&A 有關，我經常被問到，最近也被問到，我們是否會考慮改變我們的小時工資結構，因為它是我們所有競爭對手中最高的。

As you know, our lowest starting wage anywhere in the US is $10 an hour, based on 40 hours full-time employment, or if you're a part-time incremental hours to get to the same level -- the same number of hours.

如您所知，我們在美國任何地方的最低起薪為每小時 10 美元，基於 40 小時的全職工作，或者如果您是兼職人員，則增加工作時間以達到相同的水平（相同的小時數） 。

Basically a full-time cashier, as an example, who starts today at 10 or $10.50 an hour, but no less than $10 an hour, in his or her fifth year will be making nearly 40,000 a year annually based on a 40 hour work week.

基本上，以一名全職收銀員為例，他今天的起薪為每小時10 美元或10.50 美元，但不少於每小時10 美元，在他或她的第五年，基於每週工作40 小時，每年將賺取近40,000 美元。

The answer is, we have no plans to change our hourly wage structure.

答案是，我們沒有計劃改變我們的小時工資結構。

We are very proud of the fact that we have always been able to pay very good wages, fair wages that people can live on.

我們感到非常自豪的是，我們一直能夠支付非常好的工資，人們可以賴以生存的公平工資。

We know our wages are good.

我們知道我們的薪水不錯。

We believe that employees at other companies know that these are the best wages out there.

我們相信其他公司的員工知道這是最好的薪水。

And it doesn't take a lifetime to get to top of scale; it takes just a few years.

達到頂峰並不需要花費一輩子的時間；只需要幾年的時間。

We believe this is a long-term competitive advantage to our company and we will continue to do so.

我們相信這對我們公司來說是一個長期的競爭優勢，我們將繼續這樣做。

Next on the income statement is the preopening expense.

損益表的下一個是開業前費用。

I know many of your hands are tired writing all that text.

我知道你們很多人都厭倦了寫這些文字。

In terms of preopening expense, 5.5 million in this year's fourth quarter, or 4 basis points.

就開業前費用而言，今年第四季為550萬，即4個基點。

That's nearly $9 million lower than a year ago when it was 14.4 million.

這比一年前的 1,440 萬美元減少了近 900 萬美元。

Quite a bit lower year-over-year, but again a lot of that has to do with just timing of openings.

年比下降了不少，但這很大程度上與開業時間有關。

Last year in the fourth quarter, we opened eight units -- five new units plus three relos, and in the fourth quarter this year, we simply opened four units.

去年第四季度，我們開設了八個單位——五個新單位加三個舊單位，而今年第四季度，我們只開設了四個單位。

So no big surprises here.

所以這裡沒有什麼大驚喜。

In terms of the next income statement line item, provision for impaired assets and closing costs line -- for Q4 '03, these costs total 4 million pretax.

就損益表的下一個項目而言，減損資產準備金和結帳成本行 - 2003 年第 4 季度，這些成本總計稅前 400 萬美元。

In Q4 '02, closing costs totaled 5 million for the quarter pretax.

2002 年第 4 季度，該季度的稅前結帳成本總計 500 萬美元。

Given the -- again, nothing unusual there.

再次考慮到，那裡沒有什麼不尋常的。

All told, operating income in the fourth quarter was lower by 6.5 million versus last year's fourth quarter figure, or down 1.7 percent to 374 million this year, versus 380.7 million last year.

總而言之，第四季的營業收入比去年第四季的數字減少了650萬美元，即下降1.7%，今年為3.74億美元，而去年為3.807億美元。

Given the competitive landscape, our decision to increase labor to better serve the customer at the front end, the additional 11.5 million of workers comp in Q4, the $7.6 million year-over-year higher stock option expense charge, we feel overall a pretty good showing here, but we can, and we believe we will, be better in the future.

考慮到競爭格局，我們決定增加勞動力以更好地為前端客戶服務，第四季度額外增加 1150 萬名工人，股票期權費用同比增加 760 萬美元，我們感覺總體來說相當不錯在這裡展示，但我們可以，而且我們相信我們將來會做得更好。

Below the operating income line, reported interest expense was higher year-over-year by 3.7 million.

在營業收入線以下，報告的利息支出較去年同期增加了 370 萬美元。

This entire difference is due to reduction in the offset to interest expense -- capitalized interest as capital expenditure projects underway this year in the fourth quarter were less than the same amount of capital projects underway in last year's fourth quarter.

這整個差異是由於利息支出抵銷額的減少——資本化利息，因為今年第四季正在進行的資本支出項目少於去年第四季正在進行的資本項目的相同金額。

As anticipated, interest income in other was better or higher year-over-year, up $1.5 million to 12.7 million in the quarter, versus 11.2 million a year ago.

正如預期的那樣，其他利息收入同比更好或更高，本季增加 150 萬美元，達到 1,270 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,120 萬美元。

So overall, pretax income was down about 2 percent to 383.9 million last year, down to $375.2 million this year in the quarter.

因此，總體而言，去年該季度稅前收入下降了約 2%，至 3.839 億美元，今年則下降至 3.752 億美元。

Now, let me comment on our effective tax rate both for fiscal '03 and expected for fiscal 04.

現在，讓我評論一下我們 03 財年的有效稅率和 04 財年的預期稅率。

In fiscal '03, our Q4 tax rate was 36.2 percent, which brought the first three quarters' year-to-date tax accrual of 38.5 percent down to a total-year tax rate estimate of 37.75 percent.

2003 財年，我們第四季的稅率為 36.2%，這使得前三季年初至今的應計稅額從 38.5% 降至全年稅率預估的 37.75%。

Regarding fiscal '03, we benefited from lower foreign tax rate on income that's considered permanently invested and even this is a little way over my head, but basically it's all -- most notably it relates to Mexico, as well as our Korean operation, which recently turned profitable, thereby benefiting from a loss carryforwards of prior years.

關於03 財年，我們受益於被視為永久投資的收入的較低外國稅率，即使這有點超出我的能力範圍，但基本上就是全部- 最值得注意的是它與墨西哥以及我們的韓國業務有關，最近扭虧為盈，因而受益於往年虧損結轉。

Historically that country's losses were not used to offset the effective company overall tax rate, so now that we're turning the corner there we are able to use those to basically zero the near-term taxability of those profits in terms of our reported income statement.

從歷史上看，該國的損失並沒有被用來抵消公司的有效總體稅率，因此現在我們正在扭轉局面，我們能夠利用這些損失將我們報告的損益表中這些利潤的近期應納稅額基本為零。

Regarding fiscal '04, we expected our tax rate drop further.

關於 04 財年，我們預計稅率將進一步下降。

We are currently using an estimate for this year.

我們目前使用的是今年的估計值。

Again, if you recall it was 40 percent back in '01 for the year, 38.5 percent in '02, 37.75 for the year just ended, and we expect it to be 37.25 for the year coming forward.

同樣，如果您還記得 01 年為 40%，02 年為 38.5%，剛結束的一年為 37.75，我們預計未來一年為 37.25。

So a little improvement there, which will certainly help us a little bit.

所以稍微改進一下，這肯定會對我們有一點幫助。

Most of this relates to the fact that our Canadian tax rates over the next year are expected to continue to decline from their current levels.

這大部分與加拿大明年的稅率預計將繼續從目前的水平下降有關。

That has more to do with federal tax rates in Canada than anything that we're doing.

這與加拿大的聯邦稅率有關，而不是我們正在做的任何事情。

For a quick rundown of our other items, our balance sheet as of August 31st, we had cash and equivalents of 1 billion 545 million.

快速瀏覽我們的其他項目，截至 8 月 31 日的資產負債表，我們擁有 10 億 5.45 億美元的現金和等價物。

Keep in mind that about 400 million of that is really float the other way; it's debit and credit card receivables from weekend business that we don't get until Monday.

請記住，其中大約 4 億實際上是反向流動的；這是週末業務的金融卡和信用卡應收帳款，我們直到週一才收到。

Inventories were 3 billion 339, other current assets 828, total current assets 5 billion 712.

存貨 30 億 339，其他流動資產 828，總流動資產 50 億 712。

Net PP&E 6 billion 960.

淨資產及設備 60 億 960。

Other assets 620.

其他資產 620.

Total assets 13 billion 192.

總資產130億 192.

On the right hand side, short-term debt 47, accounts payable 3 billion 131, other current liabilities 1 billion 833, total current liabilities 5 billion 11.

右側，短期債務 47，應付帳款 30 億 131，其他流動負債 10 億 833，流動負債合計 50 億 11。

So long-term debt 1 billion 290, deferred and other 210m, for total liabilities of 6 billion 511.

因此，長期債務 10 億 290，遞延等 2.1 億，總負債為 60 億 511。

Minority interests 126m and that will come down a little bit shortly.

少數股東權益為 1.26 億，很快就會下降一點。

I will talk about that in a second.

我稍後會討論這個問題。

And stockholders' equity 6 billion 555.

股東權益60億555。

So total on the right hand side, of course, 13.192b as well.

當然，右手邊的總數也是 13.192b。

Let me point out a couple of things, if we can go to our balance sheet.

如果我們可以查看我們的資產負債表，讓我指出一些事情。

Again, strong financially, debt to cap rate of 17 percent, plenty of cash.

同樣，財務狀況強勁，債務上限率為 17%，現金充足。

The other thing that I want to point out is accounts payable, what we call the accounts payable ratio, which we think, again, is an indication of continuing with our terms.

我想指出的另一件事是應付帳款，我們稱之為應付帳款比率，我們再次認為，這表明我們繼續履行我們的條款。

By the way, as I was sitting here, Bob Nelson mentioned to me that in the balance sheet I gave you I said other assets 620.

順便說一句，當我坐在這裡時，鮑勃·納爾遜向我提到，在我給你的資產負債表中，我說的是其他資產 620。

It should be other assets 520.

應該是其他資產520。

That was a typo on my part.

這是我的錯字。

Getting back to the AP ratio, our reported AP ratio at last year's fourth quarter end, at fiscal '02 end, was 92 percent.

回到 AP 比率，我們報告的去年第四季末（即 02 財年末）的 AP 比率為 92%。

This year reported as 94 percent.

今年報告為 94%。

We also historically have given you what the AP ratio would be if you adjusted for the merchandise AP, not other AP, which would include like construction for a building new buildings, that accounts payable.

我們也曾向您提供過，如果您針對商品應付款項而不是其他應付款項進行調整，則應付款比率將會是多少，其中包括新建築的建設、應付帳款。

A year ago at year-end, merchandise AP to inventories was 80 percent.

一年前的年底，商品應付庫存率為 80%。

This year it's improved to 83 percent.

今年這一比例提高到了 83%。

So again, I think it's a reflection of strong sales, as well as continued negotiations with our buyers to our vendors.

再說一次，我認為這反映了強勁的銷售，以及與我們的買家和供應商的持續談判。

The other thing of note is good inventory management.

另一件值得注意的事情是良好的庫存管理。

Not only did we have record low shrink results in the second half of fiscal '03, we also had improved inventory per warehouse levels.

我們不僅在 03 財年下半年取得了創紀錄的低收縮結果，而且每個倉庫的庫存水準也得到了改善。

A year ago improved inventory per warehouse was 8 million 362.

一年前，每個倉庫的庫存改善為 800 萬件 362。

At the end of this year it was actually up a little, up 50,000 to 8 million 412 a warehouse.

今年年底其實還漲了一點，漲了5萬到800萬412一個倉庫。

Mind you though the strong currency.

請注意，儘管貨幣堅挺。

If the community (ph) exchange rate had been flat, last year's number with year -- last year's number of 8 million 362 would have been comparable to this year's ending average warehouse using a flat Canadian exchange rate of 8 million 295, so actually down about 70,000 on a normalized basis.

如果社群（ph）匯率持平，那麼去年的數量與去年的數量（去年的數量 800 萬 362）將與使用加拿大統一匯率的今年期末平均倉庫數量 800 萬 295 相當，所以實際上下降了按標準化計算，約7萬人。

So again, I think despite the fact that we've had strong sales, we feel we have good inventory management.

所以，我再次認為，儘管我們的銷售強勁，但我們認為我們有良好的庫存管理。

In terms of CapEx, in fiscal '02, as you know, we spent a shade over $1 billion.

就資本支出而言，如您所知，2002 財年我們花了超過 10 億美元。

Our original budget for this year was also a little over $1 billion.

我們今年最初的預算也略高於 10 億美元。

That assumes, of course, 30 planned new openings and 5 relos.

當然，這是假設計劃開設 30 家新店和 5 家重新營業店。

As I have already mentioned, the 30 openings was actually 24 and we did in fact do 5 relocations.

正如我已經提到的，30 個職缺實際上是 24 個，而且我們實際上進行了 5 次搬遷。

So with a slight reduction in openings and a few timing differences with various land acquisitions, our CapEx for fiscal '03 came in around 800 -- a little over 800 million.

因此，由於職缺略有減少以及各種土地收購的一些時間差異，我們 03 財年的資本支出約為 800 美元，略高於 8 億美元。

Then we had about 15 million of proceeds from the sale of assets, so a little under $800 million, if you will, net CapEx.

然後，我們從資產出售中獲得了大約 1500 萬美元的收益，如果你願意的話，淨資本支出略低於 8 億美元。

(indiscernible) we had budgeted fiscal '03 net cash flow, and I'm defining the free cash flow as simply net income plus depreciation minus capital expenditures, recognizing we have working capital improvements also.

（聽不清楚）我們對 03 財年的淨現金流量進行了預算，我將自由現金流量定義為淨收入加折舊減去資本支出，同時認識到我們也有營運資本的改善。

But as I define that free cash flow, we had originally budgeted that free cash flow to be up 100, 150 million.

但當我定義自由現金流時，我們最初將自由現金流預算增加了 100、1.5 億。

We actually meant free positive by a little over 400 million.

實際上，我們的意思是免費正數略多於 4 億。

That again has to do principally with a lower CapEx.

這又主要與較低的資本支出有關。

Additionally, improved working capital made the number even higher.

此外，營運資金的改善使這一數字更高。

We had working capital improvements of a little over $200 million in the year.

這一年我們的營運資金改善了 2 億多美元。

Our budget for '04 is to be net free cash flow positive by about 250 million and hopefully we can see some working capital improvements as well with that.

我們 04 年的預算是淨自由現金流為正約 2.5 億，希望能看到營運資本也隨之改善。

I did forget, I mentioned that we -- I talked about minority interests on the balance sheet.

我確實忘記了，我提到過我們——我談到了資產負債表上的少數股東權益。

Effective just a week ago, we acquired the remaining 20 percent interest in Costco UK that we did not own from Carrefour, our long-term partner.

就在一週前，我們從我們的長期合作夥伴家樂福手中收購了 Costco UK 剩餘 20% 的股權，而這些股權並非我們所擁有。

They had been, of course, an early shareholder of Costco and more recently the 20 percent owner of that entity.

當然，他們是 Costco 的早期股東，最近又是該實體 20% 的所有者。

We believe that's good news for us.

我們相信這對我們來說是個好消息。

It is a profitable and growing operation, and we are pleased to have 100 percent of that operation.

這是一項獲利且不斷成長的業務，我們很高興能 100% 擁有這項業務。

Next on the discussion list -- and I'm almost done, you guys -- again, in terms of expansion for the year just ended, we had 24 new units -- net new units, 5 relos for a total construction this past year of 29.

接下來是討論清單 - 我幾乎已經完成了，你們 - 再次，就剛結束的一年的擴張而言，我們有 24 個新單元 - 淨新單元，去年總建築量為 5 個 relos共 29 個。

In the first fiscal quarter, which would be the 12 weeks ending November 23rd, we expect to open 9 new units and have no relos.

在第一財季，截至 11 月 23 日的 12 週內，我們預計將開設 9 個新單位，並且不會重新開放。

In Q2, we currently have plans for 1 unit and no relos.

在第二季度，我們目前計劃購買 1 台，並且沒有重新安裝。

In Q3, we expect probably 3 units and no relos.

在第三季度，我們預計可能會有 3 台，並且沒有重新發售。

In Q4, as many as 11 units and 2 relos, for a total of 12 in the quarter.

第四季度，多達 11 個單位和 2 個 relos，本季總數為 12 個。

If you add these numbers up, there will 24 new units, 2 relos, and therefore a total of 26.

如果將這些數字加起來，將會有 24 個新單位、2 個 relos，因此總共 26 個。

Now this is -- we've talked about in the past, we look to try to get to 30.

我們過去曾討論過，我們希望努力達到 30 個。

We've done that in each of the last two or three years as well, but we seem to be coming --- a few always fall out of bed near the end of the year.

在過去的兩三年裡，我們每年都這樣做過，但我們似乎即將到來——有些人總是在年底時從床上掉下來。

So this is really I think what we feel is the best guess estimate at this time and a realistic estimate.

所以我認為這確實是我們目前認為最好的猜測估計，也是現實的估計。

If you assume the 24 on a base of 397, that would be 6 percent unit growth and 7 percent square footage growth.

如果在 397 的基礎上假設為 24，則單位成長 6%，平方英尺成長 7%。

And a lot of that has to do with the fact that many of these infill markets we are not having to take, if you will, rifle shots rather than shotgun shots at the whole market -- the geographic market.

這在很大程度上與這樣一個事實有關：如果你願意的話，我們不必在整個市場（地理市場）上對許多填充市場進行步槍射擊，而不是霰彈槍射擊。

And some of these do take a little longer.

其中一些確實需要更長的時間。

These are the ones that we feel pretty comfortable at this point.

這些是我們目前感覺非常舒服的。

Hopefully we get a couple or 3 more open, but we will have to wait and see.

希望我們能再開放一到三個，但我們必須拭目以待。

Now before I turn it back to the conference call operator for Q&A, let me make two final comments.

現在，在我將其轉回給電話會議接線員進行問答之前，讓我先做兩個最後的評論。

One -- a couple of final comments.

一——一些最後的評論。

First, some direction for Q1 and fiscal '03 overall.

首先，第一季和 03 財年的整體方向。

Looking at a current First Call estimates out there for us, they have an estimate of 32 for Q1, 43 for Q2, 35 for Q3 and 53 for Q4, which would be $1.63 cents.

看看我們目前的 First Call 預估，他們對第一季的預估為 32，第二季為 43，第三季為 35，第四季為 53，即 1.63 美分。

As you know, on August 5th we mentioned that we expected for fiscal '04 our guidance was is that earnings would grow in line with top-line sales of "8 to 10 percent," recognizing then in Q4 we beat the number, if you will, the midpoint of 47 by 4 cents.

如您所知，我們在8 月5 日提到，我們預計04 財年的指導是盈利將與“8% 到10%”的營收增長一致，並認識到第四季度我們會超過這個數字，如果您將會，47的中點乘4美分。

Again, the tax rate will continue to be lower, so that should help us.

同樣，稅率將繼續降低，這應該對我們有幫助。

And we did a little better, and hopefully we will continue that trend as well.

我們做得更好一些，希望自己也能延續這個趨勢。

Offsetting that, of course, is the timing issue that I mentioned on EITF-0216.

當然，抵銷這一點的是我在 EITF-0216 中提到的時間問題。

Our guidance, again using the same 8 to 10 percent rate, but off $1.53 instead of the previous First Call estimates for last year of $1.49, would imply midpoint estimate of about $1.67, which we feel comfortable with.

我們的指導再次使用相同的 8％ 至 10％ 的利率，但比去年的第一次電話預測 1.49 美元低 1.53 美元，這意味著中點估計約為 1.67 美元，我們對此感到滿意。

We wouldn't necessarily -- again, taking the cents per share impact of EITF, which was roughly -4 in Q1 and then plus 1 cent -- a little over 1 cent in Qs 2 and 4 and a little under 1 cent in Q3, to be about a half a penny for the year, we would probably guide you to around 30 cents in Q1, and then add a penny to the First Call estimates for each of Qs 2, 3 and 4.

我們不一定會再次考慮EITF 對每股美分的影響，第一季約為-4，然後增加1 美分，第二季和第四季略高於1 美分，第三季略低於1美分，為了全年大約半美分，我們可能會在第一季度指導您大約 30 美分，然後在第 2、3 和 4 季的每個季度的首次通話估算中添加一美分。

Again, that would get you to (indiscernible) percent expected growth of $1.67 for the year.

同樣，這將使您今年的預期成長率達到（難以辨別的）1.67 美元。

These are expectations.

這些都是期望。

I'm sorry -- add a little more than a penny in the fourth quarter.

抱歉——第四季增加一分錢多一點。

Actually our budgets would imply that the fourth quarter will probably be 57 cents.

實際上我們的預算意味著第四季度可能是 57 美分。

These are current expectations and guidance.

這些是當前的期望和指導。

As we know, and we don't have -- we perhaps a little bit better crystal ball that you guys have, but it's still nonetheless a crystal ball and this is our best guess at this point.

據我們所知，我們沒有——我們可能比你們擁有的水晶球更好一點，但它仍然是一個水晶球，這是我們目前最好的猜測。

We started off on a good foot and we will see where we go.

我們起步良好，我們會看看我們會走向何方。

The other last point I will mention before I turn it over to the moderator here is many of you ask about -- and we had mentioned actually in early September that we would plan to put together an analyst call.

在將其交給主持人之前，我要提到的最後一點是你們很多人都會問到的——我們實際上在 9 月初就提到過，我們計劃召開一次分析師電話會議。

Many of you have wanted to come and visit us.

你們中的許多人都想來拜訪我們。

We felt the best way to come out and meet us and also hopefully get to know more than just Jim and I, and Bob Nelson, and Jeff Elliott on the phone is to come and meet some of our other senior executives.

我們認為，最好的方式是出來見見我們，並希望透過電話了解吉姆和我、鮑勃·尼爾森和傑夫·埃利奧特以外的更多人，那就是來見見我們的其他一些高級管理人員。

We tried a couple of dates, and every time we floated out there a date, one of you guys called and said, "my God, that's when we have our retail field trip or somebody else is doing something on that day, or it is retail sales reporting day."

我們嘗試了幾次約會，每次我們在那裡提出一個約會時，你們中的一個人就會打電話說：「天哪，那天我們進行零售實地考察，或者其他人在那天做某事，或者是零售銷售報告日。”

We think we found the right day, and we're not going to change.

我們認為我們找到了正確的日子，我們不會改變。

It's going to be Thursday, December 11th.

時間是 12 月 11 日，星期四。

That will be after we report first quarter -- right after we report first quarter.

那將是在我們報告第一季之後——就在我們報告第一季之後。

So we think that will be good and it will give us a good indication of what Christmas is about as well.

所以我們認為這會很好，它也會讓我們很好地了解聖誕節的意義。

More details will follow.

更多細節將隨後公佈。

My guess is the meeting will start in the morning, and we will have some formal sessions and presentations here at our office.

我的猜測是會議將於早上開始，我們將在我們的辦公室舉行一些正式會議和演示。

And then anybody that wants to go visit either the warehouse or the depot or Costco Home will have some alternative areas for you to visit later in that day.

然後，任何想要參觀倉庫、倉庫或 Costco Home 的人都會有一些其他區域供您在當天晚些時候參觀。

Last thing, just in summarizing the last 45 minutes, we felt overall, despite the fact that '03 was a tough year, it turned out to be okay and we would certainly expect '04 to continue to be a tough year ahead of us, but we're starting off on the right foot.

最後一件事，只是在總結最後 45 分鐘時，我們總體感覺，儘管 03 年是艱難的一年，但結果還不錯，我們當然希望 04 年繼續是艱難的一年，但我們的起步是正確的。

We're not going to lose sight of the fact of our strengths, the fact of how we've gotten to be the strongest warehouse club operator.

我們不會忽視我們的優勢，以及我們如何成為最強大的倉庫俱樂部營運商的事實。

We believe we're the best out there, we are the most innovative, we've got the best merchandise, we've got the best employees.

我們相信我們是最好的，我們是最具創新性的，我們擁有最好的商品，我們有最好的員工。

We look forward to fiscal our '04 and beyond and we will now turn it back over to the moderator for Q&A.

我們期待 04 財年及以後的財務狀況，現在我們將把它轉交給主持人進行問答。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) Emme Kozloff, Sanford Bernstein.

（操作員說明）Emme Kozloff、Sanford Bernstein。

You mentioned earlier that you expect some gross margin improvement in '04 despite the aggressive competitive pricing.

您之前提到，儘管定價極具競爭力，但預計 04 年毛利率會有所改善。

Can you talk about the categories where you have the greatest opportunity to achieve this?

您能談談您最有機會實現這一目標的類別嗎？

And can you -- you talk about competitive pricing trends at this point.

現在您可以談談有競爭力的定價趨勢嗎？

Has it gotten more intense or stayed the same?

它變得更加強烈還是保持不變？

First of all, no, we will not at all talk about where we have strengths and weaknesses or abilities to get more margin.

首先，不，我們根本不會談論我們的優勢和劣勢或獲得更多利潤的能力。

What we find is every time we say something our competitors hear it as well and I'm not trying to avoid the subject but we feel good about what we're doing in terms of being very competitive out there and also being able to be creative enough to figure out how to offset some of that extra competitiveness.

我們發現，每次我們說的話，我們的競爭對手也會聽到，我並不是想迴避這個話題，但我們對我們正在做的事情感覺很好，因為我們在市場上非常有競爭力，而且也能夠發揮創意足以弄清楚如何抵消一些額外的競爭力。

I really don't think there's a lot to say on it.

我真的不認為有太多可說的。

(multiple speakers) the level of competitiveness, I don't think it's gotten -- it's been up and down;

（多名發言者）競爭力水平，我認為沒有改善──它一直在上升和下降；

I don't think there's any stronger or weaker.

我不認為有誰強誰弱。

We see different things in different markets, as you might expect.

正如您所料，我們在不同的市場看到不同的東西。

We're doing more than weekly price comps, not only against our direct competitors but against other retailers as well.

我們不僅每週進行價格比較，不僅針對我們的直接競爭對手，也針對其他零售商。

But mostly we do certainly more against our direct competitors.

但大多數情況下，我們肯定會針對直接競爭對手採取更多措施。

And again, it's all over the board.

再說一遍，一切都是如此。

Clearly our competitors are taking a more aggressive stance and we have to be smart enough to figure that out.

顯然，我們的競爭對手正在採取更激進的立場，我們必須足夠聰明才能弄清楚這一點。

I don't think anything has changed dramatically from what we said in August 5th, and from what we tried to clear up on this perception that this is not an all-out price war.

我認為，與我們 8 月 5 日所說的內容以及我們試圖澄清的「這不是一場全面的價格戰」的看法相比，沒有任何重大變化。

It's healthy competition.

這是良性競爭。

I think both companies -- I would assume that our competitors are going to show good comps tomorrow.

我認為兩家公司——我認為我們的競爭對手明天都會表現出良好的表現。

That is at least the direction that we've heard from some of you analysts.

這至少是我們從一些分析師那裡聽到的方向。

That, I think, bodes well for both -- for all three of us in terms of growing our industry.

我認為，這對我們三個人來說都是一個好兆頭，有助於我們產業的發展。

And again, I apologize for not being able to give you more specifics on that, but we're going to keep a lot of that tight to our chest in terms of where -- what areas we think we can get a little margin, while still remaining very competitive out there.

再次，我很抱歉無法向您提供更多具體信息，但我們將在哪些領域我們認為我們可以獲得一點餘量，而我們將在哪些方面保密。仍然保持非常有競爭力。

Thanks.

謝謝。

George Strachan, Goldman Sachs.

喬治·斯特拉坎，高盛。

Richard, could you give us a little bit more color on the UK transaction?

理查德，您能給我們更多關於英國交易的資訊嗎？

You bought 20 percent of it in.

你買了其中的20%。

You probably won't tell us how much you paid, but if you could give us a sense of what the profitability levels are beginning to look like in the UK and in some of your other international markets, and whether this is ROI positive.

您可能不會告訴我們您支付了多少錢，但您是否能讓我們了解英國和其他一些國際市場的盈利水平，以及這是否會產生積極的投資回報率。

I think last year you earned about $15 million away from Canada.

我想去年你從加拿大賺了大約 1500 萬美元。

What have the trends been?

趨勢是什麼？

Well, without -- of course, without giving specific dollars, UK is quite positive as an entity.

好吧，當然，如果不提供具體的美元，英國作為一個實體是相當積極的。

It will be ever so slightly accretive -- recognizing it's not a big transaction relative to the size of our company -- but ever so slightly accretive to us.

這將是非常輕微的增值——認識到相對於我們公司的規模來說這並不是一筆大交易——但對我們來說卻是非常輕微的增值。

I think both Canada and -- I mean Korea and Taiwan are profitable.

我認為加拿大以及韓國和台灣都是有獲利的。

Still a lower ROI than Costco Wholesale Corporation overall.

整體投資報酬率仍低於好市多批發公司。

UK is much closer to that.

英國更接近這一點。

Recognizing we've been around in the UK for ten years and are seeing the benefits of some of those early units and some of the more recent units that have been very high volume.

認識到我們在英國已經存在了十年，並且看到了一些早期設備和一些銷售非常大的較新設備的好處。

Japan as we've said, still loses a little money.

正如我們所說，日本仍然損失了一些錢。

Our plan when we went in there 3.5 years ago was to open roughly a unit a year for five years.

3.5 年前我們進入那裡時的計劃是五年內每年大約開設一個單位。

We now have four.

我們現在有四個。

We plan one more over the next year.

我們計劃在明年再做一次。

And we're still losing a little, recognizing we've got a big central expense to hit -- to cover, as well as we have preopening from that new unit each year.

我們仍然有一點損失，因為我們認識到我們有一筆巨大的中央費用需要支付，而且我們每年都會從新部門進行預開業。

What we see, by the way, in all three Asian countries is our biggest success in each of those countries have been in the biggest city -- Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.

順便說一句，我們在所有三個亞洲國家看到的是，我們在每個國家最大的成功都在最大的城市——台北、首爾和東京。

And we're encouraged by that.

我們對此感到鼓舞。

We still have a lot to prove in Japan.

我們在日本還有很多東西要證明。

But we're encouraged by the trends that we're seeing.

但我們看到的趨勢令我們感到鼓舞。

Could you -- are you taking any special measures to prepare for Sam's entry into Canada this month?

您是否可以採取任何特殊措施來為 Sam 本月進入加拿大做準備？

Lots.

很多。

And again, as you might expect, we really can't share with you -- all the things -- all the things that you're supposed to do -- making sure you look good, you look right, you have got the right merchandise, you have got the right prices, you have got the right marketing -- ongoing marketing activities going on, remodel activity, infills -- all the things that you're supposed to do we're doing.

再說一次，正如你所料，我們真的無法與你分享——所有的事情——所有你應該做的事情——確保你看起來不錯，你看起來正確，你擁有正確的商品，你有合適的價格，你有合適的行銷——正在進行的行銷活動，改造活動，填充——所有你應該做的事情我們都在做。

We're going to try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for anybody that wants to take our business -- try to take our business.

我們將盡力讓任何想要搶走我們業務的人感到盡可能不舒服——嘗試搶走我們的業務。

We'll see how it goes.

我們會看看事情進展如何。

We feel good about the loyalty of our members.

我們對會員的忠誠度感到滿意。

As we've said in the past, and I never wanted to believe it but it is true, competition is good for you; it makes you stronger and clearly we're stronger today in that market net we would have been without the possible entry of somebody new.

正如我們過去所說的，我從來不想相信它，但這是事實，競爭對你有好處；它讓你變得更強大，顯然，如果沒有新人的進入，我們今天的市場網絡就會變得更強大。

And I'm sure there will be some short-term competitive issues, but we will go from there.

我確信會出現一些短期競爭問題，但我們將從那裡開始。

Thanks a lot, Richard.

非常感謝，理查德。

Bob Drbul, Lehman Brothers.

鮑勃·德布爾，雷曼兄弟。

Good morning, Richard.

早上好，理查德。

Two questions.

兩個問題。

The first one is can you give us an update in terms of where you guys are on the membership fee, possible increases?

第一個問題是，您能否向我們介紹會員費的最新情況，是否可能增加？

The second question would be we have heard a lot from Wal-Mart about their plans on RFID.

第二個問題是，我們從沃爾瑪那裡聽到了很多有關 RFID 計劃的資訊。

Seems like you guys could benefit greatly from that.

看來你們可以從中受益匪淺。

Is that anywhere on your drawing boards at this point?

此時此刻，您的繪圖板上有這樣的想法嗎？

As it relates to any plans for membership fee increase, again historically we've raised our membership fee $5 four different times over about 13 years now every three to four years.

由於這與任何增加會員費的計劃有關，從歷史上看，我們在大約 13 年的時間裡曾四次提高會員費 5 美元，現在每三到四年一次。

Many of you have asked because the last time we raised it was September of '00, so three years would be around now and four years would be a year from now.

你們很多人都問過，因為我們上次募款是 00 年 9 月，所以現在是三年，一年後是四年。

All we're saying at this point is we're not doing it right now.

我們現在要說的是我們現在不這樣做。

That is certainly not a reflection of any weakness in sales or any weakness in renewal rates.

這當然並不反映銷售疲軟或續約率疲軟。

Both of those have gone in a positive direction.

兩者都朝著正面的方向發展。

It really is just a function of recognizing the economy.

這其實只是認識經濟的一個功能。

Despite our numbers, our sales growth numbers, we all see and read every day what's going on in the economy.

儘管我們有數字，我們的銷售成長數字，但我們每天都看到並閱讀經濟中正在發生的事情。

We do have a competitor out there that has become a little more aggressive.

我們確實有一個競爭對手，它變得更加激進了。

We want to make sure that we wait and take a look at that.

我們希望確保我們等待並看看這一點。

I can't predict when it will be.

我無法預測什麼時候會發生。

I'm not suggesting it won't be next year, and I'm not suggesting it will.

我並不是說明年不會，也不是說明年會。

We will just have to wait and see.

我們只能拭目以待。

What I can tell you is it is not this September that we just -- not this September or October that we're just in just now.

我可以告訴你的是，我們現在所處的不是今年九月或十月。

As it relates to RFID, for those of you that aren't aware, this has to do with these little tags that would put on ultimately on each individual sell unit of merchandise, initially perhaps on case quantities and even pallet load quantities of merchandise.

當它與RFID 相關時，對於那些不知道的人來說，這與這些小標籤有關，這些標籤最終將貼在每個單獨銷售的商品單元上，最初可能貼在商品的箱數甚至托盤裝載量上。

And structurally (ph), of course, a warehouse club within all of retail probably has the most to benefit as it receives much of its merchandise in pallet full, pallet load quantities.

當然，從結構上看，所有零售業中的倉庫俱樂部可能受益最大，因為它收到的大部分商品都是托盤裝滿的。

Wal-Mart certainly is at the forefront of that from retailers -- a great technical company, great technology.

沃爾瑪無疑處於零售商的前沿——一家偉大的技術公司，擁有偉大的技術。

Many large manufacturers and vendors of -- many of us retailers like the likes of Procter & Gamble are very involved in it and even the other major companies from the service side, bit it the register companies, the computer companies, as well as institutions like MIT.

許多大型製造商和供應商——我們中的許多零售商，例如寶潔公司，都非常參與其中，甚至服務方面的其他主要公司，包括註冊公司、電腦公司以及像這樣的機構麻省理工學院。

We're very involved in it.

我們非常投入其中。

We do have a timeline.

我們確實有一個時間表。

I think Wal-Mart -- I know I've read Wal-Mart has been more specific of when they're going to require their top hundred vendors or so to be online -- not online, but have RFID capability by some date certain in a year or so for receiving and then ultimately one day perhaps in other areas.

我認為沃爾瑪——我知道我讀過沃爾瑪已經更具體地說明了他們何時要求其前 100 家供應商在線——不是在線，而是在某個確定的日期擁有 RFID 功能大約一年左右的時間才能收到，最終有一天也許會在其他地區收到。

We think while this is not going to be proprietary stuff, it's going to be available to all retailers.

我們認為，雖然這不會是專有的東西，但所有零售商都可以使用它。

We certainly benefit from that.

我們當然會從中受益。

We do have a lot of people working on it, and we do work with many of our vendors.

我們確實有很多人致力於此工作，並且我們確實與許多供應商合作。

Clearly we're not looking to our competitors on it, but I think we're all seeing -- we all see the same benefit.

顯然，我們並沒有指望競爭對手，但我認為我們都看到了——我們都看到了同樣的好處。

Whether they get it a little earlier, I can't say.

他們是否能早一點得到它，我不能說。

But we will all benefit from their and others' great technology.

但我們都將從他們和其他人的偉大技術中受益。

Thank you.

謝謝。

On that comment -- final comment is recognizing that 70 plus percent of our goods go through the depot, we think that there's additional efficiencies and controls and labor savings of RFID which will again -- and I think even as our great competitor has stated, will first benefit the distribution centers and in our case our cross-dock depot operations.

關於這一評論——最後的評論是認識到我們70% 以上的貨物都會經過倉庫，我們認為RFID 會提高效率、控制和勞動力節省，這將再次——而且我認為即使我們偉大的競爭對手已經說過，首先將有利於配送中心，在我們的案例中，還有我們的跨碼頭倉庫運作。

Todd Slater, Lazard.

托德·斯萊特，拉扎德。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Richard, you mention 70 million or so cost savings in this year, but you didn't take your earnings growth guidance up.

理查德，您提到今年可以節省 7000 萬左右的成本，但您沒有提高盈利增長指導。

I guess you said previously you had imbedded some of that in the guidance.

我想您之前說過您已將其中的一些內容嵌入到指南中。

I just wonder what happened to the rest of it, of the 70 -- if you're getting 70 to 100 million of annualized cost savings, why you wouldn't expect -- let's say your earnings were plus 50 basis points, let's say, of tax savings why you wouldn't expect a little uptick in your earnings growth rate plans.

我只是想知道這 70 個人中的其餘部分發生了什麼 - 如果你獲得了 70 到 1 億的年化成本節省，為什麼你不會期望 - 假設你的收入增加了 50 個基點，假設，節稅為什麼你不會期望你的收入成長率計劃會略有上升。

50 basis points of tax savings is I think less than a penny a share.

我認為節省50個基點的稅還不到每股一分錢。

And let's hold onto that and God willing it will help.

讓我們堅持下去，願上帝保佑它會有所幫助。

As it should.

正如它應該。

And it's still within a range of 8 to 10.

而且還在8到10的範圍內。

I'm hoping we can do a little better than that, but I've learned to be a little bit cautious in guidance.

我希望我們能做得更好一點，但我學會了在指導時要謹慎一點。

What we don't want to do is surprise you negatively.

我們不想讓您感到負面的驚訝。

As it relates to the other things, most of the health-care initiative savings are in there -- the health-care initiative.

由於它與其他事情有關，大部分醫療保健計劃的節省都在那裡——醫療保健計劃。

In terms of -- most, if not all, of that is in there.

就——大部分（如果不是全部）而言，都在那裡。

Most, but not all, of the $20 million of back end savings is in there.

2000 萬美元的後端節省中的大部分（但不是全部）都在其中。

But most is more than 75 percent, less than 100 percent, and we will see.

但大多數都超過 75%，低於 100%，我們拭目以待。

I hope we can do a little better than that.

我希望我們能做得更好一點。

As it relates to workers comp, I'm not going to even address that one until three to six months from now when we see where some of the rates are going on.

由於它與工人補償有關，所以直到三到六個月後我們看到一些費率的變化時，我才會解決這個問題。

Every indication is it should show some improvement, and certainly we include in our budgets our 8 to 10 percent growth, an increase in our accrual rates, not even a consistent accrual rate versus '03 accrual rates.

一切跡像都表明，它應該顯示出一些改進，當然，我們在預算中包括了8％ 到10％ 的增長，我們的應計率的增加，甚至與03 年應計率相比，沒有一致的應計率。

I think if we used -- we calculated this yesterday.

我想如果我們使用——我們昨天計算了這個。

Again, I'm not talking about any surprises to the reserves on our balance sheet, but in terms of what actually hit for incidents in '03 -- if we use the same '03 accrual rate, which included, as I mentioned, 19 million of that 43 million for '03, but if we use the same accrual rate in '03 as a percent of payroll as we did in '04, our numbers would be 8 million -- expenses would be 8 or $9 million lower.

再說一次，我不是說我們資產負債表上的準備金有任何意外，而是就03 年事件的實際影響而言——如果我們使用相同的03 年應計率，其中包括，正如我提到的，19 03年的4300萬中的100萬，但如果我們在03年使用與04年相同的應計率作為工資的百分比，我們的數字將是800萬——費用將減少8或900萬美元。

So again, we assumed the worst-case.

所以我們再次假設了最壞的情況。

I'm hoping we can do better than that, but again you're talking about big numbers with small fluctuations can change to big numbers.

我希望我們能做得更好，但你又在談論小波動的大數字可以變成大數字。

Let's wait and see.

讓我們等著看。

I'll let you guys do what you want to do, and we will stick with our guidance and see how we start the year off.

我會讓你們做你們想做的事，我們將堅持我們的指導，看看我們如何開始新的一年。

So it's safe to say it's kind of more building in a cushion than a concern about competitive pressures?

所以可以肯定地說，這更像是一種緩衝，而不是對競爭壓力的擔憂？

It's not a cushion.

這不是一個墊子。

At this point we're being cautious and we're being realistic knowing that we're dealing with, particularly as it relates to workers comp, a number that has been absolutely out of control.

在這一點上，我們很謹慎，也很現實，因為我們知道我們正在處理的問題，特別是與工人補償有關的問題，這個數字已經完全失控了。

From a GAAP accounting standpoint, you can't make any changes to those things, even though we believe that we will be able to at some point, until we actually see actuarial changes and what's paid out and can actuarially calculate the existing reserves on open claims based on those paid out changes to what we see over the next three to six months.

從GAAP 會計的角度來看，你不能對這些事情做出任何改變，即使我們相信我們在某個時候能夠做到這一點，直到我們真正看到精算變化和支付的金額，並且可以精算計算開放的現有準備金是基於我們在未來三到六個月內看到的已支付變化的索賠。

So I guess reading between the lines, I personally believe we might pick up a little there, but it's too early to tell.

所以我想從字裡行間看，我個人相信我們可能會從中學到一些東西，但現在下結論還為時過早。

And I'm not going to get myself into the comfort zone -- your comfort zone of -- Wall Street's comfort zone of pushing the number up a little bit until we see that we can actually realize it.

我不會讓自己進入舒適圈——你的舒適區——華爾街的舒適區，將數字推高一點，直到我們看到我們能夠真正實現這一目標。

Fair enough.

很公平。

You recently had some labor union contract settlements in the Northeast, and I think you have a contract still pending on the West Coast.

您最近在東北部達成了一些工會合約協議，我認為您在西海岸還有一份合約尚未確定。

Could you remind us what is the percent of the mix of union labor and what is the sort of -- could you discuss the labor cost trends?

您能提醒我們工會勞動力的比例是多少嗎？您能討論一下勞動成本趨勢嗎？

I know you said you're not going to raise the base rates or you're not going to lower the base rates or change them.

我知道你說過你不會提高基本利率，也不會降低基本利率或改變它們。

What is the sort of overall trend in the labor cost situation?

勞動成本狀況的整體趨勢是怎樣的？

We don't see that being a big impact at all.

我們認為這根本不會產生很大的影響。

About 12,000 of our 68,000 US employees are -- a little under 18 percent of our US employees are Teamsters union.

我們 68,000 名美國員工中約有 12,000 名是卡車司機工會會員，略低於 18%。

About 3 of that 12,000 people -- 3,000 of those 12,000 are the East Coast, which was that recently announced settlement, and about 9,000 are in California -- 9,000 out of the 30 plus thousand employees we have in California -- 29,000 employees we have in California.

這12,000 人中約有3 人——這12,000 人中有3,000 人在東海岸，這是最近宣布的定居點，大約9,000 人在加利福尼亞州——我們在加利福尼亞州擁有30 多名員工中的9,000 人——我們有29,000 名員工在加州。

The contract settlement -- we issued a press release on it -- again it was a good negotiation, but this was based on an impasse that we basically had been -- I could be wrong technically here, but I think we had been without a contract since last February -- of last March.

合約和解——我們就此發布了一份新聞稿——這又是一次很好的談判，但這是基於我們基本上已經陷入的僵局——我可能在技術上是錯誤的，但我認為我們一直沒有達成協議。自去年二月至去年三月簽訂的合約。

And basically, we historically have seen relatively similar wage structures and benefits of the program.

基本上，我們在歷史上看到相對相似的工資結構和該計劃的福利。

I think in one of the press releases I read that was issued by the Teamsters, was that the new contract included big increases in wages, and some changes in healthcare that I described here.

我認為在我讀到的由卡車司機協會發布的新聞稿中，新合約包括工資的大幅上漲，以及我在這裡描述的醫療保健方面的一些變化。

The increases in wages were the same increases that were already planned frankly for all our non-union buildings.

工資的增長與我們所有非工會建築已經坦率計劃的增長相同。

And again, since earlier on when we had been -- I don't know technically I'm correct, but we had been at somewhat of an impasse, those were on the table, but weren't going to be out there until formalized for them.

再說一次，從早些時候我們開始——我不知道技術上我是正確的，但我們一直處於某種僵局，這些都在桌面上，但在正式化之前不會出現。對他們來說。

So again we don't see a big financial impact for that whatever.

因此，我們再次認為這不會產生重大的財務影響。

Again, we feel we treat all our employees, union or non-union, with the same high standards, and we don't see that as being a big impact.

再次強調，我們認為我們以同樣的高標準對待所有員工，無論是工會還是非工會，我們認為這不會產生很大的影響。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Lastly, a question about the acceleration within the average transaction.

最後，關於平均交易加速的問題。

Could you talk about the key components behind that?

您能談談背後的關鍵組成部分嗎？

Let me touch one other thing on the union.

讓我談談關於工會的另一件事。

The West Coast contract comes up in March.

西海岸合約將於三月到期。

We don't anticipate any issues there.

我們預計那裡不會有任何問題。

We've had good relations with the Teamsters representatives.

我們與卡車司機代表有著良好的關係。

The vote that did occur just a few weeks ago on the East Coast was essentially 9 or 10 to 1, 900 something for, and 100 and something against.

幾週前在東海岸舉行的投票基本上是 9 或 10 比 1，900 票贊成，100 票反對。

So it was 9 to 1, roughly.

所以大概是 9 比 1。

We had no indications otherwise on the West Coast that anything would be different on the West Coast.

我們在西海岸沒有任何跡象表明西海岸會有任何不同。

As it relates to the components of the higher penetration, some of it has to do with seasonal and some of it has to do with the higher gas prices.

由於它與較高滲透率的組成部分有關，其中一些與季節性有關，一些與較高的天然氣價格有關。

I'd like to think some of it -- I'm giving you a little bit of a vague answer.

我想思考一下——我給你一個有點模糊的答案。

This was talked about a little bit in the budget meeting among buyers, I'm just collecting all that together to give you a little bit of an off-the-cuff estimate here.

在買家之間的預算會議上對此進行了一些討論，我只是將所有這些內容收集在一起，以便在這裡給您一些即興的估算。

It has to do with -- notwithstanding the fact that we had seen deflation, it has to do with the fact that we continue to upscale our products.

這與——儘管我們已經看到了通貨緊縮這一事實有關，但這與我們繼續升級我們的產品有關。

We don't mind raising the price of an item, or providing a new item at a little higher price if it's a better quality.

我們不介意提高商品的價格，或者如果品質更好的話以更高的價格提供新商品。

The example I've used over the last year is tuna.

我去年使用的例子是鮪魚。

Something as basic as canned tuna fish, we went out and private labeled and upgraded so that our Kirkland senior (ph) tuna is better then any leading national brand of same white albacore tuna -- as made by one of the major brands.

像金槍魚罐頭這樣基本的東西，我們出去貼上私人標籤併升級，這樣我們的柯克蘭高級（ph）金槍魚就比任何領先的全國品牌的相同白色長鰭金槍魚更好——由主要品牌之一生產。

Supplied by one of the major brands.

由主要品牌之一提供。

But it's even better than their brand and quality.

但這甚至比他們的品牌和品質更好。

And we have no compunction of raising the price because in our view it's still a better value than the branded goods out there.

我們毫不猶豫地提高價格，因為我們認為它仍然比市場上的品牌商品更有價值。

So all those things, whether it's trying to increase pack sizes or upgrading seasonal products -- as I mentioned I think earlier, we've at least started off well with seasonal, so that helps.

因此，所有這些事情，無論是嘗試增加包裝尺寸還是升級季節性產品 - 正如我之前提到的，我認為我們至少在季節性產品方面起步良好，因此這會有所幫助。

All those things, it's a lot of little things rather than one big thing.

所有這些事情，都是很多小事，而不是一件大事。

And your gas is in your average transaction size?

你的gas在你的平均交易規模嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Any increases in the big-ticket items, like TVs, appliances, things like that?

大件商品（例如電視、電器等）是否會增加？

Is the consumer --

消費者是——

Certainly within electronics, I think there's two or three areas.

當然，在電子領域，我認為有兩三個領域。

One is as the price points of plasmas have gone below 3000, in some instances even below 2500, you've seen a big -- first of all, there's a tremendous increase in availability of those items.

一是等離子的價格點已經跌破 3000，在某些情況下甚至低於 2500，你會看到一個巨大的變化——首先，這些物品的可用性大幅增加。

Still not as many as we can sell, but a big increase year-over-year, and more demand for them.

仍然沒有我們能賣的那麼多，但同比大幅增長，對它們的需求也增加了。

The age of digital cameras is -- lots of people buying 100 and $200 cameras for the first time, or the second time, on the digital side.

數位相機的時代已經到來，許多人第一次或第二次購買 100 至 200 美元的數位相機。

All the little gadgets for PCs and cameras.

所有用於電腦和相機的小工具。

Digital cards and storage devices.

數位卡和儲存設備。

All those little items, the 30 and 40 and $50 items add up.

所有這些小物品，30、40 和 50 美元的物品加起來。

Again, seasonally I think we've seen some good starts of stuff.

再說一遍，我認為我們已經看到了一些季節性的好開始。

There was one other thing I was going to mention, I forget.

我還想提一件事，我忘了。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Debra Weinswig, Salomon Smith Barney.

黛博拉‧溫斯維格，所羅門美邦。

To help us think about 2004 on the expense side, can you tell us how far along you are with the labor investment in the front end?

為了幫助我們從費用方面思考 2004 年，您能否告訴我們您在前端的勞動投資方面進展到了什麼程度？

And also, I know on the last call you mentioned that the rapid receiving was still in test mode.

而且，我知道在上次通話中您提到快速接收仍處於測試模式。

How far along we are with that as well?

我們在這方面還有多遠？

Quickly -- I think I mentioned some of that earlier, but quickly in terms of the front end, when it first started we figured it would cost you right out of the box 10 to 11 basis points.

快點——我想我之前提到過一些，但很快就前端而言，當它第一次開始時，我們認為它會花費你開箱即用的 10 到 11 個基點。

We estimated -- the operators estimated it was probably 8 or so basis points in Q4.

我們估計——營運商估計第四季可能會上漲 8 個基點左右。

We think that number will come down to 5, if not a little less than that, as a net increase in labor costs.

我們認為，隨著勞動成本的淨增加，這個數字將降至 5，甚至略低於這個數字。

Maybe one day even a little lower than that.

也許有一天會比這個低一點點。

But we're estimating that over the course of this year, it will impact us by negative 4 or 5 basis points.

但我們估計，今年以來，這將對我們產生 4 或 5 個基點的負面影響。

As it relates to the back end, that was a test in Q4.

由於它與後端相關，這是第四季度的測試。

That has rolled out everywhere now, so that should be more of immediate impact, with not all, but most of that, in the numbers we have given you guidance on.

現在已經在各地推廣，因此應該會產生更直接的影響，在我們為您提供指導的數字中，不是全部，而是大部分。

And the front end you've actually hired and trained all the people that are in the front end currently?

前端方面，您實際上已經僱用並培訓了目前前端的所有人員？

Yes.

是的。

Keep in mind, training is a relative term here and it's a lot of people that are helping take merchandise out of carts, put merchandise back into carts, running back to do a price check, or to get an extra item if something broke, whatever it might be.

請記住，培訓在這裡是一個相對術語，許多人正在幫助從購物車中取出商品，將商品放回購物車，跑回去檢查價格，或者在東西壞了時獲取額外的物品，等等有可能。

Many of these employees, frankly, started at Costco being callers (ph).

坦白說，這些員工中的許多人都是從 Costco 開始打電話的（ph）。

They are in the warehouse.

他們在倉庫裡。

Some of it is redirecting some of the employment in the warehouse, not necessarily adding people.

其中一些是重新調整倉庫中的一些就業崗位，而不一定是增加人員。

One of the good things is we probably have a lower part-time to full-time ratio than other hourly retailers.

好處之一是我們的兼職與全職比例可能比其他小時零售商低。

Again, for the right reasons.

再次，出於正確的理由。

We think that many part-timers want to work more hours and we're not going to use that as a way to control expenses.

我們認為許多兼職者希望工作更多時間，我們不會以此作為控制開支的方法。

But even so, 90 percent of our employees are hourly and roughly half of those are part-time.

但即便如此，我們 90% 的員工都是時薪工，其中約一半是兼職員工。

Many of those part-timers want more hours.

許多兼職者想要更多的工作時間。

So some of this has to do with simply giving a 20 hour work employee 25 or 25, 30.

因此，這與簡單地給工作 20 小時的員工 25 小時或 25 小時、30 小時有關。

So in some instances it is adding hours, but not healthcare costs.

因此，在某些情況下，它會增加工作時間，但不會增加醫療費用。

One last question.

最後一個問題。

On the August call you had broken down kind of, I think it was how things were panning out versus original expectations.

在八月的電話會議上，你有點崩潰了，我認為這就是事情的發展與最初的預期不同。

Could you give us the percentages, if you will, in terms of the healthcare and workers comp hit, the higher payroll and then gross margins because obviously the quarter did turn out better-than-expected?

如果您願意的話，您能否告訴我們醫療保健和工人補償、更高的工資和毛利率方面的百分比，因為顯然該季度的結果確實好於預期？

Again, the last month of Q4 was significantly better.

同樣，第四季最後一個月的情況明顯改善。

Margins were better than planned, recognizing we had experienced a couple months lower than planned.

利潤率比計劃好，我們認識到我們的利潤率比計劃低了幾個月。

I think some of that has to do with, as we said on the call, we're smart enough to figure out how to get some of them back and some initiatives are in place.

我認為其中一些與我們在電話中所說的有關，我們足夠聰明，能夠弄清楚如何讓其中一些人回來，並且一些舉措已經到位。

Not all of it.

不是全部。

None of it had to do with healthcare because that really starts in October and continues to improve incrementally over the next year.

這一切都與醫療保健無關，因為醫療保健實際上從 10 月開始，並在明年繼續逐步改善。

So very little on it would be expense related.

所以很少有與費用相關的。

In fact, I think more of it had to do with strength in margin, strength in sales growth, which has an operating leverage impacted, of course, positive, offset, frankly, by just a few million dollars pre-tax of higher year-over-year, year-end adjustments -- year-end, just going through each line item, and reserve items, and making sure we're appropriately expensed and reserved.

事實上，我認為這更多地與利潤率的強勁、銷售成長的強勁有關，這對營運槓桿產生了積極的影響，坦白說，抵消了較高年份的稅前幾百萬美元——年終調整－年底，只需檢查每個行項目和儲備項目，並確保我們適當地支出和儲備。

So if anything, we picked up a little more than the 2 cents in the month and (indiscernible) couple of million bucks elsewhere to offset it.

因此，如果有什麼不同的話，那就是我們在這個月賺了比 2 美分多一點的錢，並在其他地方賺了幾百萬美元（難以辨認）來抵消它。

David Schick, Legg Mason.

大衛希克，萊格梅森。

Just to clarify on a couple of things, the $1.67 that you talked about as sort of a rough goal, that's 10 basis points of core that you're expecting for gross margin?

只是為了澄清一些事情，您所說的 1.67 美元是一個粗略目標，這就是您期望的毛利率核心的 10 個基點？

I don't think I have said anything about how many basis points of core.

我想我沒有說過核心有多少個基點。

Just in terms of total gross margin we have a budget that is up a little.

就總毛利率而言，我們的預算略有增加。

And again, this is before you take that crazy impact of EITF-0216.

再說一次，這是在您接受 EITF-0216 的瘋狂影響之前。

So needless to say, you're going to have down margins in Q1 because you've got 30 plus million probably as an offset to any small improvement and as an offset to any competitive issues.

因此，不用說，第一季的利潤率將會下降，因為你有 30 多萬美元，可能可以抵消任何小的改進和任何競爭問題。

But for the year, we would expect us to have -- it will be, again, a little bit of a screwy year because of EITF.

但就今年而言，我們預計，由於 EITF，這將再次成為有點棘手的一年。

Each quarter we will try to explain that to you in detail.

每個季度我們都會盡力向您詳細解釋這一點。

But some small amount of basis point improvement is in our budget for this year -- not our budget, our estimate, whatever.

但我們今年的預算中有一些基點的改進——而不是我們的預算、我們的估計等等。

It's in the mid to high single digits.

它處於中高個位數。

And I guess, not to get to specific, but is it fair to say that your one-quarter guidance, your 1Q or whatever you want to call it, mid to high single digits for gross profitability is not taking into account any extrapolation for what sounds like better profitability out of gas right now and a strong start to seasonal?

我想，不要具體說，但可以公平地說，你的一個季度指導，你的第一季或任何你想稱之為的東西，毛盈利能力的中高個位數沒有考慮到任何外推聽起來現在天然氣的獲利能力更好，並且是季節性的強勁開端？

Perhaps.

也許。

I'm not trying to be coy.

我並不是想害羞。

It sounds like that was fairly powerful.

聽起來，這威力還蠻大的。

I don't know if powerful is the right word.

我不知道「強大」這個詞是否正確。

It was measurable in that it was only affecting one month of a four-month quarter.

這是可以衡量的，因為它只影響四個月季度中的一個月。

Keep in mind we also had 10 percent comps.

請記住，我們還有 10% 的補償。

And we had, as I mentioned, good gas profitability.

正如我所提到的，我們擁有良好的天然氣獲利能力。

So all those things we can't predict where they will go in the future.

所以我們無法預測所有這些東西將來會去哪裡。

I'm hoping -- I'd love to sit here in early December and say yes to what you asked.

我希望——我願意在 12 月初坐在這裡，對你的要求說「是」。

But until we get there I can't.

但在我們到達那裡之前我不能。

Fair enough.

很公平。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) Teresa Donahue, Neuberger Berman.

（操作員說明）Teresa Donahue，Neuberger Berman。

I had a very quick question.

我有一個非常簡短的問題。

The gross margin attribute that you outlined, I always get confused on the -- the gross margin delta is relative to that category itself or it's relative to its contribution to the total company business?

您概述的毛利率屬性，我總是感到困惑——毛利率增量是相對於該類別本身還是相對於其對公司總業務的貢獻？

Relative to its contribution to the total company.

相對於其對整個公司的貢獻。

Again, historically has never been a big issue because in the scheme of things that changing penetration wasn't a dramatic.

再說一遍，從歷史上看從來都不是一個大問題，因為從長遠來看，滲透率的變化並不是一個巨大的問題。

Given that ancillary businesses as a whole are now 11 or 12 percent of sales -- 11 percent of sales, 3 percent of sales -- and its growing at a faster rate, those impacts are more dramatic.

鑑於輔助業務整體目前佔銷售額的 11% 或 12%——11% 的銷售額、3% 的銷售額——而且其成長速度更快，這些影響更加顯著。

And so in just the last few quarters we have started to try to let you know that when we said quarter is down a little bit, and even more so in Q4, that was raising an alarm, I think, that really wasn't true.

因此，在過去的幾個季度中，我們開始嘗試讓您知道，當我們說季度略有下降，尤其是第四季度下降時，我認為這確實是不真實的。 。

So we've tried to share with you that the fact that it's the declining penetration of the core, simply because you've got other categories that are now big enough -- ancillary plus 10 percent, fresh foods plus 10 percent of our sales, both growing at plus 10 percent.

因此，我們試圖與您分享這一事實，即核心滲透率正在下降，僅僅是因為您現在有足夠大的其他類別 - 輔助品加 10％，新鮮食品加我們銷售額的 10％，兩者均以10% 以上的速度成長。

Those things help you.

這些東西對你有幫助。

So the gross margin in the core business in and of itself, excluding its lower contribution to the mix?

那麼，排除其對業務組合的較低貢獻，核心業務本身的毛利率是多少？

Tie those to -- in the warehouse of our four major categories -- food and sundries, hardlines, softlines and fresh foods.

將它們與我們的四個主要類別的倉庫中的食品和雜貨、硬品、軟品和新鮮食品聯繫起來。

Okay.

好的。

For the quarter, the sum of those four -- if that was my whole business and I took everything else out -- we would have had core margin in those things -- if that was 100 percent of total sales -- up a few basis points.

對於本季度來說，這四項業務的總和——如果這是我的全部業務，而我把其他所有業務都去掉了——我們將在這些業務上獲得核心利潤——如果那是總銷售額的100%－會上漲幾個基點點。

Thanks.

謝謝。

That's all I needed.

這就是我所需要的。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Christine Augustine, Bear Stearns.

克里斯汀奧古斯丁，貝爾斯登。

Could you give us the depreciation in the fourth quarter?

您能否告訴我們第四季的折舊情況？

And on the workers comp, will it actually be fiscal '05 before the actuarial rates get adjusted for whatever changes the new California bill will bring?

在工人補償方面，精算率實際上會在 05 財政年度根據加州新法案帶來的任何變化進行調整嗎？

No, we're not going to touch it.

不，我們不會碰它。

And again, as I've been told from our outside auditors, according to GAAP it has to be a calculable and while some of it is perhaps estimatable we're a little bat (ph) shy, if you will, and want to approach it conservatively.

再說一次，正如我們的外部審計師告訴我的那樣，根據公認會計原則，它必須是可計算的，雖然其中一些可能是可估計的，但如果你願意的話，我們有點害羞，並且想要接近保守地說。

So we're going to wait until we get -- we see how not only our incidents -- well, incidents aren't an issue -- but how the actual paids are, when I say paids is what are we cutting checks for each month.

因此，我們要等到我們得到 - 我們不僅看到我們的事件 - 好吧，事件不是問題 - 而是實際支付的情況，當我說支付是我們為每個人削減支票時月。

And those checks reflect not only current incidents, but incidents that happened historically.

這些檢查不僅反映了當前的事件，也反映了歷史上發生的事件。

The actuaries are also looking at the impacts on the various legislative changes.

精算師也正在研究各種立法變化的影響。

As an example, historically California had no limitation on visits to the chiropractor or physical therapist.

例如，歷史上加州對脊椎按摩師或物理治療師的就診沒有限制。

I will generically say the word -- just use the word chiropractor.

我會籠統地說這個字──就用脊椎按摩師這個詞。

Now I believe the limit is 30.

現在我認為限制是 30。

Most other states limit it to 12 or 15.

大多數其他州將其限制為 12 或 15。

So 30 is still more than that, but it's a start.

所以 30 仍然比這個多，但這是一個開始。

And clearly we have some historical cases where it involves visits to the physical therapist or chiropractor, and they've already hit 30 and 40 and 50 visits or 100 visits.

顯然，我們有一些歷史案例，其中涉及物理治療師或脊椎按摩師的就診，他們已經達到了 30 次、40 次、50 次或 100 次就診。

I think it was Safeway that in a news article I read indicated that their average employee back strain for a California Safeway employee was 40 visits to the physical therapist; in all other states for them it was 10 visits.

我認為是西夫韋公司在我讀到的一篇新聞文章中指出，加州西夫韋公司員工平均背部拉傷需要去看物理治療師 40 次；在所有其他州，他們的訪問次數為 10 次。

Going to 30 will help, but it's still -- many will fall under that radar screen.

達到 30 歲會有所幫助，但仍然有很多人會落入雷達螢幕之下。

So we have to calculate all that out.

所以我們必須計算出所有這些。

And again, I want to express we're talking about big dollar numbers, irrespective of what the rate of growth is.

我想再次強調，無論成長率如何，我們正在談論的是巨大的美元數字。

Big dollar numbers, any percentage increase in growth, just due to inflation or anything else, forgetting about these, could be some offsets to that.

巨大的美元數字，任何增長百分比的增長，僅僅由於通貨膨脹或其他原因，忘記這些，都可能會抵消這一點。

So that's why we want to be conservative.

這就是為什麼我們要保持保守。

I'm hopeful that we will be able to say, "hey, we're able to take the numbers down a little bit," but we will wait and see.

我希望我們能夠說，“嘿，我們能夠把數字減少一點”，但我們會拭目以待。

And how about the depreciation?

那麼折舊又如何呢？

Do you have that?

你有那個嗎？

Depreciation, for the whole year it is -- hold on a second.

全年都是折舊——等一下。

Normal depreciation and amortization is 391.3 million.

正常折舊和攤提為3.913億。

We also have the accretion of the zero coupons of another 18 million, so I don't know how you do it.

我們還有另外1800萬的零息券增值，所以我不知道你是怎麼做到的。

But that would be for the year-end.

但這是年底的事。

I don't have the third quarter to date in front of me.

我面前還沒有第三季的日期。

I've got it.

我懂了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jeff Colecka (ph), Area Partners.

Jeff Colecka（博士），區域合作夥伴。

Good quarter here.

這裡好季。

A couple of questions.

有幾個問題。

First, talking about workers comp in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, our new governor -- I say that kind of laughing out there, I apologize -- has really talked about being more pro-business.

首先，在談到加州的工人補償時，我們的新州長阿諾德·施瓦辛格（Arnold Schwarzenegger）——我說的是那種笑聲，我道歉——確實談到了更加支持商業。

A lot of businesses have stayed out of California because of the healthcare costs.

由於醫療費用的原因，許多企業都離開了加州。

Do you foresee an added benefit from him now being governor in terms of his push to bring more business to California, number one?

您認為他現在擔任州長會為加州帶來更多商業帶來額外的好處嗎？

And number two, you guys are in a unique position in terms of that your quality of product is so much better than what your competitors offer.

第二，你們處於獨特的地位，你們的產品品質比競爭對手提供的產品好得多。

I would kind of use the comparison of how Publix competes with a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Florida, whereas Publix has such great quality.

我想用 Publix 與佛羅裡達州沃爾瑪超級中心的競爭方式進行比較，而 Publix 的品質非常好。

Do you think that that's -- obviously it is known by your customer because you charge a higher membership fee, but do you think that that message is getting out there of the better quality that you guys possess?

您是否認為這一點——顯然您的客戶知道這一點，因為您收取了更高的會員費，但您是否認為該訊息是透過您們擁有的更好的品質而傳播出去的？

We think it's apparent in the fact that we're doing 100 plus million a warehouse versus our competitors' 40 plus and 60 plus; the fact that our members are willing to pay higher membership fees.

我們認為這一點很明顯，我們每個倉庫的庫存量為 100 多萬，而我們的競爭對手則為 40 多和 60 多；事實上，我們的會員願意支付更高的會員費。

We believe our membership fee is still the best value out there.

我們相信我們的會員費仍然是最超值的。

But I don't want to take anything away from our competitors.

但我不想從我們的競爭對手身上奪走任何東西。

They're showing improvement as well, and they're being aggressive in what they do.

他們也表現出了進步，並且在他們所做的事情上變得積極進取。

And I'm happy to say that we also, when we -- we being all three of us in our business -- tend to increase what we're doing, we tend to take business from other forms of retail and wholesale distribution.

我很高興地說，當我們——我們三個人都從事我們的業務——傾向於增加我們正在做的事情時，我們傾向於從其他形式的零售和批發分銷中獲取業務。

So it's an industry that is growing overall.

所以這是一個整體成長的行業。

As it relates to any changes in California, I want to state that as it relates to workers comp, some of what happened in terms of legislation, I remind you, it happened that at lightning speed, partly because there was a call to arms, if you will.

由於這與加州的任何變化有關，我想聲明，由於與工人補償有關，我提醒你們，立法方面發生的一些事情以閃電般的速度發生，部分原因是有人呼籲武裝起來，如果你願意的話。

Small businesses and large businesses alike were seeing doubling and tripling of some of these costs.

小型企業和大型企業都發現其中一些成本增加了一倍或三倍。

And they spoke out and they spoke out forcefully.

他們大聲疾呼，而且有力地大聲疾呼。

I think perhaps because of the recall election there was perhaps a little bit more pressure to make some of those changes, because they were the right thing to do, more quickly.

我認為，也許是因為罷免選舉，做出這些改變的壓力可能更大一些，因為它們是正確的事情，而且要更快。

Hopefully, the pro-business attitude -- pro-business doesn't mean anti-consumer; it means fair and some of these things we certainly believe have not been fair and can be improved on without hurting anybody.

希望親商的態度－親商不意味著反消費者；而是親商的態度。這意味著公平，我們當然認為其中一些事情並不公平，可以在不傷害任何人的情況下進行改進。

Right, but is it fair to say that you kind of see the trend now becoming more pro-business in California from the standpoint of A, this legislation that passed; two, Mr. Schwarzenegger now being the new governor, having a very pro-business stance?

是的，但可以公平地說，從 A 的角度來看，加州現在的趨勢變得更加有利於商業；這項立法已通過；二、施瓦辛格先生現在是新州長，有非常親商的立場？

In other words, --

換句話說， -

Hopefully he does, but keep in mind you still have a democratic legislature there and things are going to -- things are going to take time.

希望他會這樣做，但請記住，那裡仍然有一個民主立法機構，而且事情將會發生——事情需要時間。

Mind you, there's a couple of other bills that have recently been signed into law in California.

請注意，加州最近還簽署了其他幾項法案。

One is -- I will call it, for lack of a better word, the universal healthcare, which required -- I think it's employers of more than 50 employees to provide healthcare benefits to all employees, including part-timers.

其一是——由於沒有更好的詞，我將其稱為全民醫療保健，這要求——我認為擁有超過 50 名員工的雇主必須向所有員工（包括兼職員工）提供醫療保健福利。

We view this as something that will pressure large retailers that don't provide as good benefits, or benefits as quickly, to part-timers.

我們認為這會給大型零售商帶來壓力，因為它們不能為兼職人員提供良好的福利或快速的福利。

We think the impact relative to those will be a lot less on us because we do already.

我們認為相對於這些對我們的影響將會小得多，因為我們已經這樣做了。

There's also, they recently signed into law down there -- you have hear of the Federal Family Leave Act?

還有，他們最近在那裡簽署了法律——你聽過《聯邦家庭休假法》嗎？

Right, yes.

對，是的。

Well, in California, for lack of a better term, it's the Paid Family Leave Act, which won't go into effect I think until the middle of '05.

嗯，在加州，由於缺乏更好的術語，它是《帶薪家事假法案》，我認為該法案要到 05 年中期才會生效。

But under its current state, what's been signed into law is an employee can take up to six weeks off paid by a state fund where every employee is charged, I believe, 1.5 percent of their wage.

但根據目前的情況，已簽署的法律規定，員工最多可以享受六週的休假，由國家基金支付工資，我相信每個員工都需要支付其工資的 1.5%。

Well, it sure looks like another system set up for abused, in my mind.

嗯，在我看來，這確實像是另一個被濫用的系統。

Hopefully over the next year or two, the powers that be in the state will look at that and say, "this thing is going to get out of control before it starts."

希望在未來一兩年內，該州的權力機構會審視這一點並說：“這件事在開始之前就會失控。”

We will have to wait and see.

我們必須拭目以待。

So I'm hopeful, and it sounds like you're hopeful, so --

所以我充滿希望，聽起來你也充滿希望，所以——

I just want to go back to the quality issue for a second, though, if I can.

不過，如果可以的話，我只想回到品質問題上來。

Since your quality is so superior, and the overlap on the goods is only about 30 percent, do you foresee yourself very easily being able to say, "you know what, I'm just going to leave that 30 percent alone."

既然你們的品質如此優越，而且貨物的重疊率只有 30% 左右，您是否預見到自己很容易就能說：“你知道嗎，我就不去管那 30% 了。”

In other words, I'm not going to try to compete with you on that 30 percent because my goods are so superior to yours, i.e. how -- to kind of use that same analogy -- how Publix does it to a Wal-Mart Supercenter and why Publix is so competitive in Florida.

換句話說，我不會試圖在這 30% 上與你競爭，因為我的商品比你的好得多，也就是說，用同樣的比喻，Publix 如何與沃爾瑪競爭Supercenter 以及為什麼Publix 在佛羅裡達州如此具有競爭力。

Do you see yourself turning to that kind of strategy at some point?

您是否認為自己會在某個時候轉向這種策略？

Let me break that down into answers.

讓我將其分解為答案。

One is the quality issue.

一是品質問題。

Our view has always been the customer figures it out.

我們的觀點始終是客戶自己解決。

You see it, and I see it, and we believe our customers see it.

你看到了，我也看到了，我們相信我們的客戶也看到了。

That's not to -- Jim reminds us of this every month in our budget meeting -- we can't lose sight of the fact that we have to constantly look at that and upgrade.

這並不是說——吉姆每個月都會在預算會議上提醒我們這一點——我們不能忽視這樣一個事實：我們必須不斷地審視這一點並進行升級。

We've been successful because we've been a moving target.

我們之所以成功，是因為我們一直是個不斷改變的目標。

Unfortunately in this business you can't patent stuff.

不幸的是，在這個行業你不能申請專利。

The look of our building, the look of our wine racks, the advent of virtually every single ancillary business was first with us.

我們建築的外觀、酒架的外觀、幾乎每項輔助業務的出現都是我們首先想到的。

We have got to keep coming up with firsts, we've got to keep getting the best merchandise and we've got to keep showing our members the quality.

我們必須不斷創造第一，我們必須不斷獲得最好的商品，我們必須不斷向我們的會員展示品質。

Now, are we going to go out and put a sign out there, saying "our steak is better than your steak" or "our sweater is better than your sweater"?

現在，我們要出去掛個牌子，上面寫著「我們的牛排比你們的牛排好」或「我們的毛衣比你們的毛衣好」嗎？

We're not going to do that.

我們不會那樣做。

But certainly, I would urge you, if you want, and you can get in online, the Costco Connection, the Company magazine that we send out every month, that's a magazine that, needless to say, writes articles about the quality and about the things -- we're not comparing necessarily to other competitors' But it's clear that the quality is there.

但當然，我會敦促您，如果您願意，您可以在線訪問 Costco Connection，這是我們每月發行的公司雜誌，不用說，這本雜誌寫的是有關質量和產品的文章。事情——我們不一定要與其他競爭對手進行比較，但很明顯，品質是存在的。

And the proof is in the pudding.

證據就在布丁中。

We're going to keep focusing on that.

我們將繼續關注這一點。

All right, great.

好吧，太好了。

Thanks guys.

多謝你們。

Ellie Powers (ph), Sam Investment.

艾莉鮑爾斯（博士），山姆投資公司。

Yes, your free cash flow was strong last year and looks strong again next year.

是的，您的自由現金流去年很強勁，明年看起來也會再次強勁。

Does that change your thoughts at all on paying a dividend?

這會改變您對支付股息的想法嗎？

And also, are you still viewing the convertible debt as you prefer to have that redeemed for cash rather than stock?

而且，您是否仍然認為可轉換債務是因為您更願意將其贖回為現金而不是股票？

I think long-term to the extent we have lots cash, ultimately we'd like to reduce dilution.

我認為從長遠來看，只要我們擁有大量現金，最終我們希望減少稀釋。

And in terms of dividends, we've talked briefly about in the past and we haven't formalized any discussion.

在股息方面，我們過去曾簡要討論過，但尚未正式進行任何討論。

So I would say that what's in the 10-K now, as we have currently no plans, is correct.

所以我想說，由於我們目前沒有計劃，10-K 中的內容是正確的。

Whether that will change at the next Board meeting or the next Board meeting or the next Board meeting over the next many months, we will see -- or the next year.

無論這種情況是否會在下一次董事會或下一次董事會會議或未來幾個月的下一次董事會會議上發生變化，我們將拭​​目以待——或者明年。

I don't know.

我不知道。

I really have no comment on dividends.

我對股息確實沒有評論。

As it relates to the convert, it's in the money by 6 or $7, I believe, versus kind of that equilibrium whereby a bondholder would opt -- if we called it, would opt to converted or cash it in.

由於它與轉換有關，我認為它的價值是 6 或 7 美元，而不是債券持有人選擇的均衡——如果我們稱之為，會選擇轉換或兌現。

So right now it's really equity, not debt.

所以現在它實際上是股權，而不是債務。

I think in the past, someone asked a question -- I think when I was asked a question earlier when the stock was a little further down would we ever call it?

我想過去有人問過一個問題——我想當我早些時候被問到一個問題時，當股票進一步下跌時，我們會調用它嗎？

I said, "well, my guess is if the stock went down further, which I don't it want to, and I'm glad it hasn't, but if the stock had gone down further below that equilibrium, we might consider calling it for redemption because we know it would probably redeem.

我說，「好吧，我的猜測是，如果股票進一步下跌，我不希望如此，我很高興它沒有，但如果股票進一步下跌至低於均衡水平，我們可能會考慮稱其為贖回，因為我們知道它可能會贖回。

And it would do two things -- one, we would be buying stock back in the low to mid 20s; and two, we would get out of the equity dilution associated with it".

它會做兩件事——一是我們會在 20 多歲到二十歲左右的時候買入股票；第二，我們將擺脫與之相關的股權稀釋」。

That's not happening now.

現在這種情況不再發生了。

We hope it doesn't happen, as it relates to the stock price movement.

我們希望這種情況不會發生，因為這與股價走勢有關。

And so it's really again a non-issue at this point.

因此，在這一點上，這確實不再是問題。

I'm going to take two more questions as I have got to catch a plane shortly.

我還要回答兩個問題，因為我很快就要趕飛機了。

Bob Nelson and Jeff Elliott will be here, of course, all day to respond to any questions.

當然，鮑勃·尼爾森和傑夫·埃利奧特將全天在這裡回答任何問題。

Sandra Barkra (ph), Montag & Caldwell.

桑德拉·巴克拉（博士）、蒙塔格和考德威爾。

Couple of questions.

有幾個問題。

One, have you seen any change in the mix of your business from business customers versus individuals?

第一，您是否發現企業客戶​​與個人客戶的業務組合發生了任何變化？

And are you undertaking any initiatives to sort of enhance what you offer the small-business customer, as Sam's has talked about doing a lot in that vein?

您是否正在採取任何舉措來增強您為小型企業客戶提供的服務，正如 Sam's 所說的那樣，在這方面做了很多事情？

We're not seen any change in the relative mix of business of Gold Star members.

我們沒有看到金星會員的業務相對組合有任何變化。

Clearly we're doing things, as they are, to enhance that business.

顯然，我們正在做一些事情來增強這項業務。

If anything I think we've seen probably a little uptick in business memberships relative to where they had been the prior year growth, simply because we have a little bit more activity.

如果有什麼不同的話，我認為我們可能看到商業會員數量相對於前一年的增長有所上升，僅僅是因為我們的活動稍微多了一點。

As they canvas out there, we canvass out there.

當他們在那裡拉票時，我們也在那裡拉票。

Again, I don't want to get into a lot of specific details, but certainly our competitors figure it out, as we do each week, as we go into each other's locations.

再說一次，我不想透露太多具體細節，但我們的競爭對手肯定會弄清楚這一點，就像我們每週都會做的那樣，當我們進入彼此的位置時。

But I would say we certainly want to make sure we're sharp on pricing.

但我想說，我們當然希望確保我們在定價方面保持敏銳。

We certainly want differentiate where we can on merchandise.

我們當然希望在商品上盡可能實現差異化。

We are going to sell bigger sizes of sizes and more stuff and in some instances we believe higher quality.

我們將銷售更大尺寸和更多的東西，在某些情況下，我們相信更高的品質。

But I don't want to take anything away from them.

但我不想從他們身上奪走任何東西。

They have certainly upgraded their quality in some instances and are being more aggressive out there.

在某些情況下，他們確實提高了自己的質量，並且更加積極主動。

And again, I'm happy to say that this is not a zero sum game, that it a net positive gain currently for warehouse clubs.

再次，我很高興地說，這不是零和遊戲，目前對倉庫俱樂部來說這是一個淨正收益。

Was that it?

是這樣嗎？

Chris Alion (ph), Glouster Associates (ph).

Chris Alion（博士）、Glouster Associates（博士）。

You touched on the dividend.

您談到了股息。

Will that be a topic in any of your upcoming Board meetings at all, given the new tax laws?

鑑於新稅法，這會成為您即將召開的董事會會議的主題嗎？

It's not a current topic, recognizing there are things discussed at Board meetings that are not on the agenda and are.

這不是當前的話題，因為董事會會議上討論的一些事情雖然沒有列入議程，但已經列入議程。

But I'm sure the conversation will come up in the next year, but there's no current plans.

但我確信這個對話會在明年進行，但目前還沒有計劃。

I'm going to take one last question and then say goodbye.

我要回答最後一個問題，然後說再見。

At this time there are no further questions.

目前沒有進一步的問題。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

This concludes includes today's conference call.

今天的電話會議到此結束。

Thank you for your participation.

感謝您的參與。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連線。