好市多 (COST) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the fourth quarter earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加第四季財報電話會議。（操作人員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。（操作說明）

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker for today, Mr. Richard Galanti, CFO. Thank you. Please go ahead.

現在我謹將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，財務長理查‧加蘭蒂先生。謝謝。請繼續。

Thank you, Ann, and good afternoon to everyone. I'll start by stating that these discussions will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results and/or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. 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.

謝謝你，安，大家下午好。首先我要說明的是，這些討論將包含1995年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所界定的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際事件、結果和/或績效與此類聲明所指出的內容有重大差異。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，以及公司不時在公開聲明和提交給美國證券交易委員會的報告中確定的其他風險和不確定性。

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.

前瞻性聲明僅代表其發布之日的情況，除法律要求外，本公司不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。

In today's press release, we reported operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, the 16 weeks ended August 29.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們公佈了 2021 財年第四季（截至 8 月 29 日的 16 週）的營運業績。

Reported net income for the quarter came in at $1.67 billion or $3.76 per share. Last year's fourth quarter net income came in at $1.389 billion or $3.13 per diluted share. This year's fourth quarter included an $84 million pretax or $0.14 a share charge for the write-off of certain IT assets. Last year's fourth quarter included $281 million pretax charge or $0.47 a share of COVID-related costs, as well included a $36 million or $0.06 a share pretax charge related to the prepayment of $1.5 billion of debt, partially offset by an $84 million or $0.15 per share benefit for the partial reversal of a reserve related to a product tax assessment taken in the fiscal year 2019.

報告顯示，該季度淨利潤為 16.7 億美元，即每股 3.76 美元。去年第四季淨利為 13.89 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 3.13 美元。今年第四季包括8,400萬美元的稅前費用，即每股0.14美元，用於註銷某些IT資產。去年第四季包括 2.81 億美元的稅前費用（即每股 0.47 美元）與新冠疫情相關的成本，以及 3600 萬美元（即每股 0.06 美元）的稅前費用（與提前償還 15 億美元的債務有關），部分被 8400 萬美元（即每股 0.15 美元）的收益的債務有關），部分被 8400 萬美元（即每股 0.15 美元）的收益財年產品稅評估相關的準備金。

Net sales for the quarter increased 17.5% to $61.44 billion, up from $52.28 billion a year earlier in the fourth quarter. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter, as reported an hour ago, for the 16 weeks on a reported basis, U.S. was 14.9%. Excluding gas inflation and FX, the 14.9% would be 10.3% positive. Canada reported 19.5% plus; ex gas inflation and FX, 6.7%. Other international reported 15%. Without gas inflation and FX, 7.3%; total company, 15.5% reported, 9.4% ex gas inflation and FX. E-commerce, by the way, reported was 11.2% positive; ex gas inflation and FX, 8.9%.

本季淨銷售額成長 17.5%，達到 614.4 億美元，高於去年同期第四季的 522.8 億美元。一小時前公佈的第四季同店銷售額（以報告的 16 週計算）為 14.9%。剔除天然氣通膨和匯率因素，14.9% 的漲幅將達到 10.3%。加拿大報告成長19.5%以上；剔除汽油通膨和匯率因素後，成長6.7%。其他國際報告的佔比為15%。不考慮天然氣通膨和匯率因素，為 7.3%；公司整體報告為 15.5%，不考慮天然氣通膨和匯率因素為 9.4%。順便一提，電子商務報告成長11.2%；剔除天然氣通膨和匯率因素後，成長8.9%。

In terms of Q4 comp sales metrics, traffic or shopping frequency increased 9.2% worldwide and 8.8% in the U.S. Our average transaction or basket was up 5.8% worldwide and 5.6% in the U.S. during the fourth quarter. Those numbers including the positive impact from gas inflation and FX.

就第四季同店銷售指標而言，全球客流量或購物頻率成長了 9.2%，美國成長了 8.8%。第四季度，全球平均交易額或購物籃金額成長了 5.8%，美國成長了 5.6%。這些數字包含了天然氣價格上漲和匯率波動帶來的正面影響。

Foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar positively impact sales by approximately 230 basis points, whereas gasoline price inflation positively impacted sales by approximately 385 basis points.

外幣兌美元匯率對銷售額產生約 230 個基點的正面影響，而汽油價格通膨對銷售額產生約 385 個基點的正面影響。

Moving down the income statement to the membership line. Membership fee income for the fourth quarter came in at $1.234 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021. That's up $128 million from the prior year's fourth quarter membership fee income of $1.106 billion. The $128 million represents an 11.7% increase year-over-year. Excluding the benefit from positive FX, the $128 million positive number would have been $107 million positive or a 9.7% effective increase.

接下來，我們來看看損益表中的會員費項目。2021年第四季會員費收入為12.34億美元。這比上年同期會員費收入 11.06 億美元增加了 1.28 億美元。1.28億美元比上年同期成長11.7%。如果排除匯率上漲的好處，1.28 億美元的正收益將變為 1.07 億美元，實際增幅為 9.7%。

In terms of renewal rates, at the fourth quarter end, our U.S. and Canada renewal rate was 91.3%, up 0.3 percentage point from 16-week earlier number at Q3 end. And worldwide rate came in -- renewal rate came in at 88.7%, also up 0.3 percentage point from Q3 and 16 weeks earlier. Renewal rates are benefiting, we believe, for more members auto renewing as well as increased penetration of executive members who, on average, renew at a higher rate than nonexecutive members. Our first year renewal rates have also improved as well during this time.

就續約率而言，截至第四季末，我們在美國和加拿大的續約率為 91.3%，比 16 週前第三季末的數據高出 0.3 個百分點。全球續約率也出爐了——續約率為 88.7%，比第三季和 16 週前成長了 0.3 個百分點。我們認為，續費率的提高得益於更多會員自動續費，以及高級會員滲透率的提高，而高級會員的平均續費率高於非高級會員。在此期間，我們的首年續約率也有所提高。

In terms of number of members at Q4 end, member households and total cardholders, at Q4 -- fiscal year-end a few weeks ago, total paid households were 61.7 million. That's up 1.1 million from the 60.6 million figure we shared with you 16 weeks earlier. Total cardholders came in at 111.6 million or 1.8 million higher than the 109.8 million we had as of Q3 end. At Q4 end, paid executive members were -- came in at 25.6 million, an increase of a little over 1 million new executive members, and that's during the 16-week period as well.

截至第四季末，會員人數、會員家庭數和持卡人總數為 6,170 萬戶（即第四季末—幾週前的財政年度末）。這比我們 16 週前與您分享的 6,060 萬數字增加了 110 萬。截至第三季末，持卡人總數達到 1.116 億，比 1.098 億增加了 180 萬。截至第四季末，付費高階主管會員人數達到 2,560 萬，比上一季增加了 100 多萬名新高階主管會員，而且這還是在 16 週的時間裡。

Moving down to the gross margin line. Our reported gross margin in the fourth quarter was lower year-over-year by 32 basis points. And actually, excluding gas inflation, it was higher by 5 basis points. As I usually do, I ask you jot down 2 columns of numbers, a little gross margin matrix, if you will. The line items will be core merchandise, ancillary -- second line item would be ancillary and other businesses. Third line item would be 2% Reward. Fourth line item would be LIFO. And last line item would be other. And then the -- finally, the last line item would be total.

向下看毛利率線。我們第四季公佈的毛利率年減了 32 個基點。事實上，如果排除天然氣通膨因素，這一數字還高出 5 個基點。像往常一樣，我請你記下兩列數字，可以稱之為簡單的毛利率矩陣。明細項目將包括核心商品、輔助商品－第二項將是輔助商品和其他業務。第三項是 2% 的獎勵。第四項採用後進先出法（LIFO）。最後一項是「其他」。最後，最後一行是總計。

Two columns. The first one being reported year-over-year in the fourth quarter, and the second column, excluding gas inflation. So core merchandise on a reported basis was lower year-over-year by 90 basis points. Ex gas inflation, it was lower, minus 57 basis points. Ancillary and other businesses, plus 44 on a reported basis and plus 53 ex gas inflation. 2% Reward, plus 1 basis point and minus 3 year-over-year on ex gas inflation. LIFO, minus 5 and minus 5 basis points. And other, plus 18 and plus 17. If you add up the 2 columns, you get the total for reported, the 32 basis points that I just mentioned. And again, ex gas inflation, plus 5 basis points.

兩列。第一列是第四季同比數據，第二列不包括汽油價格上漲。因此，以報告資料計算，核心商品銷售額年減了90個基點。剔除天然氣通膨因素，該指數下降了 57 個基點。輔助業務和其他業務，加上報告基準的 44，加上扣除天然氣通膨後的 53。2% 的獎勵，加上 1 個基點，年減 3 個基點（不含天然氣通膨）。後進先出法，減去 5 個基點，再減 5 個基點。還有其他加 18 和加 17。如果將這兩列加起來，就能得到報告的總數，也就是我剛才提到的 32 個基點。再次強調，不計天然氣通膨，再加上 5 個基點。

Now the core merchandise component you see here are lower by 90 year-over-year and lower by 57 ex gas inflation. Similar to last quarter, this is primarily a function of sales shifting from core to ancillary versus the last year as we begin to revert back to more historical sales penetrations. Recall last year, we saw a significant shift of sales out of ancillary and other businesses and into the core.

現在，您在這裡看到的核心商品部分年減了 90%，剔除汽油通膨因素後下降了 57%。與上個季度類似，這主要是由於銷售額從核心產品轉向輔助產品，而去年同期則相反，因為我們開始恢復到更接近歷史水準的銷售滲透率。回想去年，我們看到銷售額從輔助業務和其他業務大幅轉移到核心業務。

In terms of the core margin on their own sales, in the fourth quarter, the core-on-core margins were lower by 40 basis points with nonfood slightly up, food and sundries slightly lower year-over-year. Fresh foods was down and was the fundamental driver of the core on core being lower in the quarter. Now fresh foods is lapping exceptional labor productivity and low product spoilage that occurred from the outsized sales a year ago in Q4. We retained some of that productivity gains -- some of those productivity gains as volumes have remained high. However, we've also elected to hold, delay and/or mitigate some of the price increases in this increasingly inflationary environment over the last few months.

就其自身銷售的核心利潤率而言，第四季度核心利潤率同比下降 40 個基點，其中非食品略有上升，食品和雜貨略有下降。生鮮食品價格下跌，是本季核心食品價格走低的根本原因。現在，新鮮食品產業正努力彌補去年第四季超額銷售帶來的卓越勞動生產力和低產品損耗。我們保留了部分生產力提升成果──部分生產力提升成果來自於高產量。然而，在過去幾個月裡，鑑於通貨膨脹日益加劇，我們也選擇暫停、延遲和/或緩解部分價格上漲。

Ancillary and other business gross margin, as you see in the chart in the matrix, was higher by 44 basis points and higher by 53 ex gas inflation in the quarter. Gasoline had a good quarter as we are lapping year-over-year a softer quarter due to the pandemic. We also showed improvement in food court, optical, travel, all of which were benefited by easy compares versus last year, also due to the impacts of COVID on those businesses.

如矩陣圖表所示，本季輔助業務和其他業務的毛利率提高了 44 個基點，若不計天然氣通膨，則提高了 53 個基點。由於疫情影響，去年同期汽油銷售下滑，今年汽油銷售本季表現良好。美食廣場、眼鏡店、旅遊店等業務也出現了改善，這些業務都受益於與去年相比的簡單比較，同時也得益於新冠疫情對這些企業的影響。

Now LIFO, this is a gross margin charge that we haven't seen in this matrix for about 7 years. LIFO was lower by 5 basis points, both with and without gas inflation. We had a $30 million LIFO charge in the quarter, the first such charge since 2014. This is a result of the continued inflationary cost pressures, which I'll discuss more in a few minutes.

現在，根據後進先出法（LIFO），這是我們在這個矩陣中大約 7 年沒有見過的毛利費用。無論是否考慮天然氣通膨，LIFO 都下降了 5 個基點。本季我們提列了 3,000 萬美元的後進先出法費用，這是自 2014 年以來首次提列此類費用。這是持續的通膨成本壓力造成的，我稍後會詳細討論這一點。

2% Reward, higher by 1 basis point on a reported basis, but more importantly, lower by 3 basis points ex gas inflation, again, implying a slightly higher penetration of sales going to the executive member and the associated rewards that come with it. And other is up 18 basis points and then up 17 ex gas inflation. This is primarily related to COVID-related costs from a year ago.

2% 的獎勵，按報告計算高出 1 個基點，但更重要的是，扣除天然氣通膨後低了 3 個基點，這再次表明，銷售額中分配給執行會員的比例略高，以及隨之而來的相關獎勵。其他因素上漲 18 個基點，剔除天然氣通膨因素後上漲 17 個基點。這主要與一年前的新冠疫情相關費用有關。

Moving to SG&A. Our reported SG&A in the fourth quarter was lower or better year-over-year by 45 basis points and lower or better by 13 basis points, excluding gas inflation.

移至銷售、一般及行政管理部門。我們報告的第四季銷售、一般及行政費用年減或下降 45 個基點，若不計入天然氣通膨，則下降或下降 13 個基點。

Second matrix of the day, the 2 columns reported and ex gas inflation and 5 line items: operations; second line item, central; third line item, stock compensation; fourth line item, other; and then total. On a reported basis, core operations was lower or better by plus 19 basis points and ex gas inflation higher by 8 basis points or minus 8 basis points. Central, plus 12 and plus 8. Stock compensation, plus 2 and plus 2. And other, plus 12 and plus 11. Adding up the columns again, SG&A on a reported basis was better or lower by 45 basis points and lower ex gas inflation by 13.

當天的第二個矩陣，2 列報告和扣除天然氣通膨，以及 5 個項目：營運；第二項，中心；第三項，股票補償；第四項，其他；然後是總計。根據報告數據，核心營運績效下降或改善了 19 個基點，而剔除天然氣通膨因素後，通膨率上升或下降了 8 個基點。中央，加 12 和加 8。股票補償，加 2 和加 2。以及其他，加 12 和加 11。再次將各列數據相加，按報告基準計算，銷售、一般及行政費用降低了 45 個基點，扣除天然氣通膨後降低了 13 個基點。

As you can see in the matrix, the core operations component again was better by 19 and higher by -- lower by 19 and then -- or higher by 8, excluding the impact from gas inflation. Keep in mind, this result includes the permanent $1 an hour wage increase that we implemented in March of this year. This higher by 8 basis point year-over-year expense result includes the 14 basis point cost of the $1 an hour wage increase. Central, again, improved by 8 basis points ex gas inflation. And stock compensation, also with strong sales, helped by 2 basis points.

從矩陣中可以看出，核心營運部分再次提高了 19 個百分點，降低了 19 個百分點，然後提高了 8 個百分點，不包括天然氣通膨的影響。請注意，這一結果包含了我們今年 3 月實施的永久性每小時 1 美元的工資增長。年比上漲 8 個基點的費用結果包含了每小時 1 美元工資增長帶來的 14 個基點的成本。剔除天然氣通膨因素後，中央銀行利率再次上漲 8 個基點。股票選擇權激勵也得益於強勁的銷售業績，成長了 2 個基點。

Now the other of plus 12 or plus 11 without gas inflation, so lower -- that was [another] basis points. Included in other last year was the COVID expense of $217 million or 42 basis points and the reversal of a product tax assessment reserve of $84 million or 16 basis points. This year includes the write-off of the IT assets totaling $84 million or 14 basis points. So you add all those up, that's where you get the 11.

現在，如果沒有天然氣通膨，另一個加 12 或加 11 的匯率會更低——那就是[另一個]個基點。去年其他支出包括 2.17 億美元（42 個基點）的新冠疫情相關支出，以及 8,400 萬美元（16 個基點）的產品稅評估準備金的衝回。今年包括對 IT 資產進行註銷，總額為 8,400 萬美元，相當於 14 個基點。所以把這些加起來，就得到了 11。

Next on the income statement is preopening. Preopening this year was $35 million. Last year, $26 million, so higher by $9 million. Preopening is up year-over-year in part due to the timing of openings and given different amount of preopening on a given location both within the quarter and in the following quarter. All told, reported operating income in the fourth quarter increased by 18%, coming in at $2.275 billion this year compared to $1.929 billion a year earlier.

損益表上的下一個項目是開業前利潤。今年的預售成本為3500萬美元。去年為 2600 萬美元，比去年增加了 900 萬美元。開業前營業額​​較去年同期上升，部分原因是開業時間以及同一地點在當季和下一季開業前營業額​​的差異。總的來說，第四季報告的營業收入成長了 18%，達到 22.75 億美元，而去年同期為 19.29 億美元。

Below the operating income line, interest expense was $52 million this year, essentially the same at $51 million a year ago. Interest income and other for the quarter was higher by $77 million year-over-year. Roughly half of that is due to favorable FX, and the other half is related to last year's fourth quarter charge for the make-whole debt prepayment. Overall, reported pretax earnings in the fourth quarter of 2021 came in up 23%, coming in at $2.291 billion compared to last year's $1.869 billion.

在營業收入項下，今年的利息支出為 5,200 萬美元，與去年同期的 5,100 萬美元基本持平。本季利息收入及其他收入年增7700萬美元。其中約一半是由於匯率有利，另一半則與去年第四季提前償還債務的補償費用有關。總體而言，2021 年第四季報告的稅前利潤成長了 23%，達到 22.91 億美元，而去年同期為 18.69 億美元。

Now our tax rate in the fourth quarter was 26.1%, higher than last year's fourth quarter rate of 24.9%. For fiscal '22, based on our current estimates, which, of course, can always change, we anticipate that our effective normalized total company tax rate to be similar to fiscal '21, somewhere in the 26% to 27% range. Unless, of course, there are changes to the U.S. corporate tax rates, we'll have to see -- wait and see.

今年第四季度，我們的稅率為 26.1%，高於去年同期的 24.9%。根據我們目前的估計（當然，這些估計隨時可能發生變化），我們預計 2022 財年的實際標準化公司總稅率將與 2021 財年類似，在 26% 到 27% 的範圍內。當然，除非美國企業稅率發生變化，否則我們只能拭目以待。

A few other items of note, warehouse expansion. For fiscal '21 which just ended, we opened net openings of 20. We actually had 22 openings, including 2 relocations, but a total increase of 20 net units. This year, we're looking to open at least 25 net new units, including second warehouses in each of China and France and our first location in New Zealand. As well, we plan to relocate 5 locations.

還有一些其他值得注意的事項，例如倉庫擴建。在剛結束的 2021 財年，我們淨開設了 20 個職位。實際上我們有 22 個空缺，包括 2 個搬遷項目，但淨增單位總數為 20 個。今年，我們計劃開設至少 25 個新的淨倉庫，包括在中國和法國各開設第二個倉庫，以及在新西蘭開設第一個倉庫。此外，我們計劃搬遷 5 個地點。

Regarding capital expenditures, our fourth quarter 2021 spend, capital expenditure was approximately $1.09 billion. Our full year CapEx spend was $3.59 billion. As I mentioned in last quarter's call, this included a relatively recent $340 million purchase of a distribution facility on the West Coast to support our big and bulky delivery activities.

關於資本支出，我們 2021 年第四季的資本支出約為 10.9 億美元。我們全年資本支出為35.9億美元。正如我在上個季度電話會議中提到的，這包括最近斥資 3.4 億美元在西海岸收購一家配送中心，以支持我們的大型笨重貨物的配送業務。

For e-commerce, e-commerce sales in the fourth quarter ex FX increased by 8.9% year-over-year. That's on top of last year's Q4 e-commerce sales increase of 91%.

就電子商務而言，第四季電子商務銷售額（不計匯率影響）年增 8.9%。這還不包括去年第四季電子商務銷售額成長91%的情況。

Stronger departments, jewelry. We actually sold a couple of rings in the $100,000 range. Home furnishings was strong. Pharmacy was strong. And sporting goods was strong. A couple of other large departments like majors and electronics, while very good sales, we had really outsized sales a year ago in the fourth quarter during COVID.

珠寶部門實力更強。我們確實賣出了幾枚價值 10 萬美元左右的戒指。家居用品銷售強勁。藥學專業實力雄厚。體育用品市場表現強勁。其他幾個大部門，如服裝和電子產品部門，雖然銷售情況非常好，但我們去年第四季在新冠疫情期間的銷售額確實非常高。

Update on Costco Logistics. Logistics continues to drive big and bulky sales. For the quarter, Costco Logistics sales within -- our delivery was up 130%, and in the quarter, represented 24% of all sales on our U.S. e-commerce site. That compares to -- that 24% compares to 11% of e-commerce sales last year. Mind you, much of that relates to moving things from other third parties to our own internal logistics department. Approximately -- currently, approximately 7,000 to 10,000 daily deliveries via Costco Logistics are occurring and continuing to grow.

Costco物流最新進展。物流持續推動大宗商品銷售。本季度，Costco 物流銷售額（包括我們的配送）成長了 130%，佔本季美國電子商務網站所有銷售額的 24%。相比之下，今年電子商務銷售額佔 11%，而去年這一比例為 24%。請注意，其中許多都與將貨物從其他第三方轉移到我們自己的內部物流部門有關。目前，Costco Logistics 每天大約有 7,000 到 10,000 次配送，並且持續成長。

In terms of our e-comm app, we have over 10 million downloads. It's continually improving, with additional features coming soon. Digital payment using the Costco credit card, it's in pilot in several locations with full rollout by the middle of next month. The ability to view warehouse receipts online, also next month. More detail on online purchases as well. And by October end, we -- an improved mobile site, improved look and feel, a new landing page and expanded information both for dot-com use and for enhanced warehouse information.

我們的電商應用程式下載量已超過1000萬次。它會不斷改進，更多功能即將推出。使用 Costco 信用卡進行數位支付，目前正在多個地點進行試點，將於下個月中旬全面推廣。下個月也將可以在線上查看倉庫收據。此外，還有更多關於網上購物的詳情。到 10 月底，我們將推出——改進的移動網站、改進的外觀和感覺、新的著陸頁以及擴展的信息，既適用於.com網站，也適用於增強的倉庫信息。

From a supply chain perspective -- I want to go back to 2 things, supply chain and inflation. From a supply chain perspective, the factors pressuring supply chains and inflation include port delays, container shortages, COVID disruptions, shortages on various components, raw materials and ingredients, labor cost pressures and trucker and driver shortages -- trucks and driver shortages. Domestically, anecdotally rather, from -- even on the domestic side, various major brands are requesting longer lead times, some cases, difficulty in finding drivers and trucks on short notice. Lead times on ingredients and packaging have been extended in some cases. So planning is crucial, which I feel we -- our people have done a great job with that over the last several months.

從供應鏈的角度來看——我想回到兩件事，供應鏈和通貨膨脹。從供應鏈的角度來看，對供應鏈和通貨膨脹構成壓力的因素包括港口延誤、貨櫃短缺、新冠疫情造成的干擾、各種零件、原材料和配料的短缺、勞動力成本壓力以及卡車司機短缺。就國內而言，更確切地說是從一些軼事來看——即使在國內，各種主要品牌也要求更長的交貨時間，在某些情況下，很難在短時間內找到司機和卡車。在某些情況下，原料和包裝的交貨週期有所延長。因此，計劃制定至關重要，我覺得在過去的幾個月裡，我們的人員在這方面做得非常出色。

Also, we're putting some limitations on key items, like bath tissues, roll towels, Kirkland Signature water, high-demand cleaning-related SKUs related to the uptick in Delta-related demand.

此外，我們也對一些關鍵商品實施了限制，例如衛生紙、捲巾、Kirkland Signature 瓶裝水、與達美航空相關需求上升有關的高需求清潔用品 SKU。

Furniture delays and some shortages have caused traditional rollout times to go from 8 to 12 weeks up to 16 to 18 weeks. In some ways, we think that's an advantage. We're selling out generally merchandise once it's received within 2 weeks on most items. And we've ordered more and earlier. Same thing with toys in season, we're bringing in some of the items early.

家具交付延遲和部分短缺導致傳統的產品上市時間從 8 至 12 週延長至 16 至 18 週。從某種程度上說，我們認為這是一個優勢。大多數商品到貨後，通常會在兩週內售罄。我們已經提前訂購了更多。玩具也是一樣，我們會提前引進一些當季商品。

Chip shortages impacting many items, as I mentioned in the last call. Examples of impacted items: computers, tablets, video games, major appliances. Feeling is from the buyers is this will likely extend into 2022. Again, we're ordering as much as we can and getting it in earlier. And I think as evidenced by the most recent sales results, we're doing okay with this. Despite these issues -- sorry, in terms of transportation costs, they're increasing. We're reading about it every day. Containers, trucks and drivers all are impacting the timing of deliveries and higher freight costs. Despite all these issues, we continue to work to mitigate cost increases in a variety of different ways and hold down and/or mitigate our price increases passed on to the members.

正如我上次通話中提到的，晶片短缺影響了許多商品。受影響的物品範例：電腦、平板電腦、電子遊戲、大型家電。買家普遍認為這種情況可能會持續到 2022 年。我們再次強調，我們會盡可能訂購，並儘早到貨。我認為，從最近的銷售業績來看，我們在這方面做得還不錯。儘管存在這些問題——抱歉，就運輸成本而言，它們正在不斷增加。我們每天都能看到相關報導。貨櫃、卡車和司機都對交貨時間和更高的運費產生了影響。儘管存在上述種種問題，我們仍將繼續透過各種不同的方式努力降低成本上漲，並控制和/或減輕轉嫁給會員的價格上漲。

We've also chartered 3 ocean vessels for the next year to transport containers between Asia and the U.S. and Canada. And we've leased several thousand containers for use on these ships. Every ship can carry 800 to 1,000 containers at a time, and we'll make approximately 10 deliveries during the course of the next year.

我們還租用了 3 艘遠洋船舶，用於在未來一年內在亞洲與美國和加拿大之間運輸貨櫃。我們已經租賃了數千個貨櫃供這些船舶使用。每艘船一次可裝載 800 至 1000 個貨櫃，我們將在明年進行約 10 次交付。

Moving to inflation. Again, there have been many -- there have been a variety of inflationary pressures that we and others are seeing, and more of it. As I discussed on last quarter's call, inflationary factors abound: higher labor costs, higher freight costs, higher transportation demand, along with container shortages and port delays, increased demand in certain product categories, various shortages of everything from computer chips to oils and chemicals, higher commodities prices. It's a lot of fun right now.

轉向通貨膨脹。再次強調，我們和其他人都面臨著各種各樣的通膨壓力，而且這種壓力還在不斷加劇。正如我在上個季度電話會議上所討論的那樣，通膨因素比比皆是：勞動力成本上升、貨運成本上升、運輸需求上升，以及貨櫃短缺和港口延誤、某些產品類別的需求增加、從電腦晶片到石油和化學品等各種商品的短缺、大宗商品價格上漲。現在真的很有趣。

Some inflationary soundbites, if you will. Price increases on items shipped across the oceans, some suppliers or us paying 2 to 6x for containers and shipping. Price increases of pulp and paper goods, some items up 4% to 8%. Again, we're trying to mitigate those where we can, and we think we've done a decent job of mitigating some of it.

以下是一些關於通貨膨脹的簡短評論。跨洋運輸的商品價格上漲，一些供應商或我們支付的貨櫃和運輸費用是原來的 2 到 6 倍。紙漿和紙製品價格上漲，部分商品上漲 4% 至 8%。我們正在盡力減輕這些影響，而且我們認為我們在減輕某些影響方面做得相當不錯。

Plastics, resin increases on things like trash bags, Ziploc SKUs, pet products -- resin or (inaudible) PET products, plastic cups, plates, plastic wrap, many items up in the 5% to 11% range. Metals, again, aluminum foil, mid-single-digit cost increases as well as cans for sodas and other beverages.

塑膠、樹脂含量增加，例如垃圾袋、Ziploc SKU、寵物用品——樹脂或（聽不清楚）PET 產品、塑膠杯、盤子、保鮮膜等許多物品的含量都達到了 5% 到 11% 的水平。金屬製品，如鋁箔，價格上漲幅度在個位數中段，汽水罐和其他飲料罐的價格也上漲了。

I mentioned commodities earlier, oil, coffee, nuts, they remain generally according to our buyers at 5-year highs and so on. Higher import prices on things from Europe like cheeses, for the combination of freight and FX. 3% to 10% increases on certain but not all apparel items. And fresh foods, inflation is up in the mid- to high single digits, with meat leading the way, up high single to low double digits due to feed, labor and transportation costs.

我之前提到過大宗商品，例如石油、咖啡、堅果等等，根據我們的買家反映，它們的價格普遍仍處於 5 年來的高點。由於運費和外匯因素，來自歐洲的商品（如起司）進口價格上漲。部分服飾商品價格上漲 3% 至 10%，但並非所有服飾商品價格都會上漲。新鮮食品的通膨率在個位數中高點上升，其中肉類漲幅最大，由於飼料、勞動力和運輸成本上漲，漲幅達到個位數高點到兩位數低點。

Now I was asked back in March at our second quarter earnings call, at what level we felt inflation was running overall on the sell price side. I stated that our best guess at the time was somewhere between 1% and 1.5%. I updated that 16 weeks earlier -- 16 weeks ago on our May 26 third quarter call, and we estimate to be in the 2.5% to 3.5% range. As of today and talking with our senior merchants, we would estimate overall price inflation of the products we're selling to be in the 3.5% to 4.5% range.

早在三月的第二季財報電話會議上，就有人問我，我們認為賣方價格方面的通膨總體水準是多少。我當時表示，我們最好的估計是在 1% 到 1.5% 之間。我在 16 週前（即 5 月 26 日的第三季電話會議上）更新了這一數據，我們估計數據在 2.5% 到 3.5% 的範圍內。截至今日，經與我們的高級採購人員溝通，我們估計我們所售產品的整體價格通膨率在 3.5% 至 4.5% 之間。

As I discussed earlier, this inflation was the driver of the $30 million LIFO charge that we took in the quarter. But all of this said, I feel very good with the job that our merchants, our traffic department and our operators have all been doing and able to -- in order to get the products that we need, pivot when and where necessary and keep our warehouses full while keeping prices as low as we can for our members and continuing to show incredible value versus our competitors. I think this is reflected in our strong reported sales and profits that we've achieved despite challenges and our typical aggressive pricing.

正如我之前討論過的，通貨膨脹是我們本季提列 3000 萬美元 LIFO 費用的原因。儘管如此，我對我們的商家、運輸部門和營運人員的工作感到非常滿意，他們能夠獲得我們需要的產品，在必要時靈活調整，保持倉庫滿貨，同時盡可能降低會員的價格，並繼續展現出相對於競爭對手的驚人價值。我認為這體現在我們強勁的銷售額和利潤上，儘管面臨挑戰，我們仍然取得了這些成就，而且我們一貫採取了激進的定價策略。

Finally, in terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our September sales results for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, October 3, on Wednesday, October 6, after the market close.

最後，關於即將發布的產品，我們將於 10 月 6 日星期三股市收盤後公佈截至 10 月 3 日星期日的 5 週 9 月份的銷售業績。

And with that, I will open it up for questions with Ann. Ann? Thank you.

接下來，我將開放問答環節，由安來回答大家的問題。安？謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) We have our first question from the line of Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們收到來自摩根士丹利西蒙·古特曼的第一個問題。

Richard, my first question is on next fiscal year. I know you don't give a lot in terms of guidance, but wanted to ask if you think -- or how should we think about EBIT, whether it grows or not next year. And if you don't answer that, I was going to ask if comps grow in fiscal '22, should EBIT grow?

理查德，我的第一個問題是關於下一個財政年度的問題。我知道您在業績指引方面很少給出明確答复，但我想問您是否認為——或者我們應該如何看待息稅前利潤（EBIT），無論它明年是否增長。如果你不回答這個問題，我想問的是，如果 2022 財年同店銷售額成長，息稅前利潤是否應該成長？

Well, on the first question, of course, I can't say we don't provide guidance. But we've always talked about being a top line company, and that helps a lot of things. So depending on what level of sales, we'll have to wait and see.

嗯，關於第一個問題，我當然不能說我們不提供指導。但我們一直都想成為一家頂尖公司，這對很多事情都有幫助。所以，具體情況還要看銷售業績如何，我們拭目以待。

We do have the dollar increase that started in March that will anniversary next February, so at the end of Q2 next year. But again, we've shown that even with what we view as holding the line as much as we can on pricing and being pretty aggressive there and taking that into account, we've shown that with strong sales, we can certainly improve the bottom line as well. So fingers crossed.

美元匯率從三月開始上漲，到明年二月就會達到週年紀念日，也就是明年第二季末。但是，我們已經證明，即使我們認為在定價方面盡可能地保持克制，並且在這方面採取相當激進的策略，考慮到這一點，我們也證明，憑藉強勁的銷售，我們當然也可以提高利潤。祈禱好運吧。

So my follow-up, maybe 2 parts, and one of them is on sales, and then you mentioned the wage increase. So on the sales side, is there anything that you're looking at or approaching different? I know extreme value is one angle, but timing of mailers, inventory availability looking better. Is it ancillary that hasn't recovered? What can you do on the top line given how big of a lap?

所以我的後續問題可能分為兩部分，其中一部分是關於銷售的，然後你提到了薪資成長。那麼在銷售方面，你們有沒有考慮過或採取過什麼不同的方法呢？我知道極致性價比是一個角度，但郵件發送時間、庫存可用性看起來都更好。是尚未恢復的附屬部門嗎？考慮到單圈距離如此之長，你在最前面能做些什麼？

And then you mentioned the wage increases, and I know you'll lap those in March, but you've seen I think Amazon and Walmart have moved up. And so I'm just curious if -- how do you think about -- or should we expect another increase in terms of wages?

然後你提到了薪資上漲，我知道3月這些漲幅就會超過你，但你也看到了，我認為亞馬遜和沃爾瑪的漲幅已經超過了預期。所以我很好奇——您如何看待——或者我們是否應該期待工資再次上漲？

Sure. Well, first of all, as it relates to all the anecdotal comments I made about supply chain and inflation, I think overall, we feel that we're doing a heck of a job in that stuff. And I think some of the advantage we have is, is that we certainly have the financial ability to bring in things early or to order early and to mitigate whatever delay may have occurred. We certainly have the space to keep some of this stuff, most particularly because of our Costco Logistics acquisition a year ago, 2 additional storage space, if you will.

當然。首先，就我之前提到的供應鏈和通貨膨脹方面的所有軼事評論而言，我認為總體而言，我們感覺我們在這方面做得非常出色。我認為我們的一些優勢在於，我們確實有財力提前引進或訂購產品，從而減輕可能出現的任何延誤。我們當然有空間可以存放這些東西，尤其是一年前我們收購了 Costco Logistics，相當於多了 2 個儲存空間。

Not that we're having an issue with that because it's turning pretty fast. And the fact that we're able to pivot. We're bringing in new items. We're bringing in items off season. For Christmas, not -- pre-COVID, it was not -- it was toys and Trim A Home and electronics. Today, it's all those things, plus things for the house from barbecue grills, even summer items, but anything you can get your hands on. And again, I think we've done a very good job of adding suppliers where we can and also making sure we're coming up with new items and being creative and innovative on -- even on the food and sundry side.

不過我們目前還沒遇到什麼問題，因為轉向速度很快。以及我們能夠靈活調整策略這一事實。我們正在引進新產品。我們正在引進反季節商品。聖誕節期間，不是——在新冠疫情之前，不是——是玩具、家居裝飾用品和電子產品。如今，除了這些，還有各種家居用品，從燒烤架到夏季用品，應有盡有，只要你能拿到手的，什麼都有。而且，我認為我們在盡可能增加供應商方面做得非常好，同時也確保我們不斷推出新產品，並在食品和雜貨方面保持創造力和創新。

So I think from that standpoint, despite sometimes looking at each other, the merchants and the traffic people, everybody is saying, boy, this -- when is this going to end? The fact is I think we're doing a very good job with that. So from an inventory standpoint, I think for those of you who -- several of you do go in and visit our locations on a random basis, they're full. They look good compared to some of the pictures we see from others sometimes. And so I feel from that standpoint, we have a good issue.

所以我覺得從這個角度來看，儘管商販和交通人員有時會互相看著對方，但每個人都在說，哎，這——這什麼時候才能結束？事實上，我認為我們在這方面做得非常好。所以從庫存的角度來看，我認為對於那些偶爾會來我們門店逛逛的人來說，我們的門市都已滿員。與我們有時看到的其他人發的照片相比，它們看起來不錯。所以我覺得從這個角度來看，我們提出了一個很好的問題。

With inflation -- to the extent that there's permanent inflationary items like freight costs or even somewhat permanent for the next year, we can't hold on to all those. Some of that has to be passed on, and it is being passed on. We're pragmatic about it. But we recognize that since things have been so successful and our sales have been strong, we can hold the line on some of those things and do a little better job -- hopefully do a better job than some of our competitors have and be even that more extreme in the value. So I think all those things so far, at least despite the challenges, have worked in our favor a little bit.

考慮到通貨膨脹——如果存在像貨運成本這樣永久性的通膨項目，甚至是未來一年內某種程度上永久性的通膨項目，我們不可能把所有這些項目都保留下來。有些東西必須傳承下去，也正在傳承下去。我們對此持務實態度。但我們意識到，由於一切都很成功，銷售額也很高，我們可以在某些方面保持現狀，做得更好一些——希望比一些競爭對手做得更好，甚至在價值方面更加卓越。所以我覺得到目前為止，儘管面臨挑戰，但所有這些事情至少對我們有點好處。

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

Richard, in the past, what you've said, is that Costco's profitability tends to draft off the profitability of the overall retail sector. In the last 1.5 years, the profitability of the overall retail sector has moved nicely higher. Also, Costco's profitability, its margins have moved nicely higher. Do you view this as sustainable?

理查德，你過去曾說過，Costco 的獲利能力往往依賴於整個零售業的獲利能力。在過去一年半的時間裡，整個零售業的獲利能力有了顯著提高。此外，Costco的獲利能力和利潤率也顯著提高。你認為這種做法可持續嗎？

Well, first of all, let me finish. Simeon had one other question on wages, and let me just respond to that. Look, we're known for always being one to have the best wage package and benefits package and take care of our employees' package out there in big retail -- and big boxes and all forms of big retail. And even if the -- and we raised our lowest -- our starting wage to that $16 and $16.50 of late. Mind you, our average hourly wage is, I think, slight -- in the U.S. is slightly north of $24 with a very healthy employee benefit plan. We'll do whatever it takes to continue that model. And who knows when and where, but we feel pretty good about where we are and -- but as many of you on the call know, irrespective of what's going on with our company in terms of strong sales or weak sales, we're going to do what's right by our employees.

首先，讓我說完。西蒙還有一個關於薪水的問題，我就回答。你看，我們一直以提供最好的薪資和福利待遇而聞名，在大型零售業——包括大型超市和所有形式的大型零售業——我們都非常關心員工的待遇。即使——而且我們最近把最低工資——起薪提高到了 16 美元和 16.50 美元。不過，我認為我們的平均時薪並不高——在美國略高於 24 美元，但員工福利計劃非常優厚。我們將竭盡全力繼續推行這種模式。誰也不知道何時何地會怎樣，但我們對目前的狀況感覺相當不錯——而且，正如在座各位所知，無論公司銷售業績是強勁還是疲軟，我們都會為員工做正確的事。

And Michael, I'm sorry, I go back to your question.

邁克爾，抱歉，我還是回到你的問題。

Yes. The question was, we've seen an improvement in profitability across retail that tends to influence the profitability of the profit margins of Costco. Do you view this improvement to your profit margin as sustainable from here?

是的。問題是，我們看到零售業整體獲利能力有所提高，這往往會影響 Costco 的利潤率。您認為這種利潤率的提升能夠持續下去嗎？

Okay. Well, look, I think the anomaly over the last 1.5 years has been that when a lot of big boxes or big retailers were enjoying comps pre-COVID in the, I'll call it, the 2% to 4% range or the 2% to 5% range, and we were enjoying 5s, 6s and 7s. Now we've been enjoying mid-teens or effectively low to mid-teens over -- and we've taken some market share from others. We think that some of that will stick, and we hope it will stick. And we feel pretty good right now about what we've done and what we've accomplished.

好的。嗯，你看，我認為過去一年半的異常之處在於，當許多大型超市或大型零售商在新冠疫情爆發前享受著2%到4%或2%到5%的同店銷售額增長時，我們卻享受著5%、6%甚至7%的同店銷售額增長。現在我們已經享受了十幾分之一或十幾分之一左右的收益——而且我們也從其他公司奪取了一些市場份額。我們認為其中一些建議會奏效，也希望它們能奏效。我們現在對我們所做的事情和所取得的成就感到非常滿意。

To the extent that we can generate greater than industry average comps, I think -- and that -- they don't have to be in the low to mid-teens. They could still be in the mid- to high singles that we should continue to improve. But again, I get back to the comment that has been reinforced internally from the beginning of time, we are a top line company, and everything else will take care of itself.

如果我們可以獲得高於行業平均的可比收益，我認為——而且——它們不必非得在十幾到五幾的水平。他們可能仍然處於中高水平單打的行列，我們應該繼續提高他們的水平。但是，我還是要回到公司內部從一開始就反覆強調的觀點：我們是一家頂尖公司，其他一切都會迎刃而解。

Got it. My second question is on your gross margin. There's a lot of moving pieces as there are a lot of moving pieces with everything that's happening with Costco right now. But specifically, you're giving back some of the core-on-core gross margin gains that you experienced from really strong fresh sales last year. But on the other hand, your ancillary businesses are doing really well. So is that dynamic where you're making up for the pressure on the fresh with strong ancillary, is that sustainable? And as part of that, the perception is that Costco tends to raise prices at a slower rate than others in the retail landscape, which tends to pressure its margins as inflation is heating up. What would be different this time to make that not happen?

知道了。我的第二個問題是關於你們的毛利率。就像 Costco 目前發生的一切一樣，有很多因素在不斷變化。但具體來說，你們正在收回去年強勁的新產品銷售所帶來的部分核心產品毛利率成長。但另一方面，你的輔助業務發展得非常好。所以，這種透過強大的輔助產品來彌補新鮮產品壓力的動態模式，是否可持續？而同時，人們普遍認為 Costco 的漲價速度往往比其他零售商慢，這在通貨膨脹加劇的情況下往往會對其利潤率造成壓力。這次需要做哪些改變才能避免這種情況發生？

Well, I think your first part of your question, I think, tells part of the tale is there are so many moving parts. If you look at gasoline, which is a -- is 10-plus percent of our sales, it's a huge business, which can have huge variations of gross margin. Knock on wood, always profitable, but it's still quite a range of gross margin. And that's more reflective of what's going on with competition in the retail gasoline market. We feel that sometimes other large retailers of gasoline are looking to make a little more, which gives us the ability to be quite profitable but still show an even bigger savings. So there's lots of puts and takes.

嗯，我認為你問題的第一部分就說明了問題的一部分，那就是其中涉及的環節太多了。如果你看看汽油，它占我們銷售額的 10% 以上，這是一個巨大的業務，其毛利率可能會有很大的波動。但願如此，一直獲利，但毛利率的波動幅度仍相當大。而這更能反映零售汽油市場競爭的現況。我們覺得，其他一些大型汽油零售商有時會想辦法多賺點錢，這讓我們能夠在保持獲利的同時，還能提供更大的折扣。所以有很多投入和撤回。

Certainly, from last year, you had -- I mean I think there was a 16-week -- roughly a 16-week period where our optical and our hearing aid centers were outright closed. Travel went to literally having negative revenue because it was not having new business, and it was refunding previously booked business at the trough of COVID. And so there's those kind of anomalies.

當然，從去年開始，我們眼鏡店和助聽器中心就完全關閉了——我的意思是，我想大概有 16 週的時間——大約 16 週的時間。由於沒有新業務，旅遊業實際上出現了負收入，並且在新冠疫情最嚴重的時候不得不退還之前預訂的款項。所以才會出現這類異常狀況。

Again, I get back to thinking that due to the unfortunate thing called COVID, some businesses have benefited in the sense that we were essential, in the sense that our cavernous places, we feel that people felt comfortable coming in. To the extent that we are able merchandise wise to have pivoted and maintain, notwithstanding supply chain issues, maintain exciting full warehouses of merchandise. So I think those are the things that help us.

我又開始思考，由於新冠疫情這種不幸的事情，一些企業反而從中受益，因為我們是必不可少的，因為我們寬敞的場所，我們覺得人們進來會感到很舒服。儘管面臨供應鏈問題，我們仍能在商品方面進行調整併保持充足的庫存，從而維持令人興奮的滿倉商品。所以我覺得這些對我們有幫助。

Our next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom from Gordon Haskett.

我們的下一個問題來自戈登·哈斯克特的查克·格羅姆的詩句。

Richard, if inflation stays up in that 2.5% to -- I'm sorry, 3.5% to 4.5% range over the next couple of quarters, would you expect that LIFO charge to be [about] $30 million per quarter? Or should we -- could we adjust it per week or -- years ago, you used to have that charge every quarter or sometimes a credit. Just wondering how we handle that from here.

理查德，如果未來幾個季度通貨膨脹率保持在 2.5% 到——抱歉，3.5% 到 4.5% 的範圍內，你預計 LIFO 費用每季度會達到 3000 萬美元左右嗎？或者我們應該——我們可以每週調整一次嗎？ ——幾年前，你們通常每季收取這筆費用，有時也會退款。想知道接下來該如何處理這件事。

It's hard to say. I wouldn't just say it's that much based on that -- it really depends. And mind you, when you had -- again, we've enjoyed a number of years of effectively very little, if any, no LIFO or eating into a previous LIFO credit 5 and 6 years ago. So -- but if there's consistent inflation going forward for the next 2, 3, 4 quarters, you're going to also see some price increases to those customers. And may I say some -- there's been some already. But in our view, there is less than we could have done, and that'll continue. And I think the more consistent inflation -- if inflation raise stayed at this level, and we don't know that, but if it did stay at this level, even with a LIFO charge, in some ways, it'll be offset by price increases.

很難說。我不會僅憑這一點就斷定就是那麼多——這真的要視情況而定。請記住，當您有——再說一遍，我們已經享受了好幾年幾乎沒有（如果有的話）後進先出法或消耗 5 年和 6 年前的後進先出法抵免額的情況。所以——但如果未來 2、3、4 個季度通貨膨脹持續下去，那麼這些客戶也將面臨一些價格上漲。我可以說，已經有一些了。但我們認為，我們本來可以做得更多，而且這種情況還會持續下去。我認為，如果通膨持續穩定——我們不知道通膨是否會持續，但如果通膨確實持續穩定，即使採用後進先出法計提費用，在某種程度上，也會被價格上漲所抵消。

But also, it stays (inaudible)

但同時，它仍然（聽不清楚）

Okay. Okay. Great. And then on -- I just don't know if you had a follow-up there. And then on the labor front, I'm curious if you guys have observed an increase in applications in roughly 20 states that ended unemployment benefits on September 1. A number of companies have spoken to a big increase in job applications recently.

好的。好的。偉大的。然後——我不知道你後來有沒有跟進。在勞動市場方面，我很好奇你們是否注意到，在9月1日結束失業救濟金的大約20個州，求職申請數量增加。許多公司也表示，最近收到的求職申請數量大幅增加。

I don't know the -- I haven't asked it. I don't know the answer to that. It makes sense.

我不知道——我還沒問過。我不知道答案。這很有道理。

Next question comes from the line of Karen Short from Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的凱倫·肖特。

I just want to clarify one thing on that last line of questioning. In terms of the LIFO charge, was this $30 million a catch-up for the whole year? Or was that something that was reflective of the quarter itself because that then speaks to the run rate?

關於最後一個問題，我只想澄清一點。就後進先出法（LIFO）費用而言，這 3000 萬美元是全年的補繳費用嗎？或者說，這反映了本季本身的狀況，因為這會影響到運行率？

It's the quarter. It's basically -- if you take your cost silos of inventory and what was it at Q3 end and what is it now at Q4 end.

季度末到了。基本上就是──如果你把庫存成本分成幾個部分，看看第三季末的成本是多少，第四季末的成本又是多少。

Okay. So I guess, obviously, as you listed all these different pressure points on pricing, I guess my bigger picture question is, how do you think about the membership fee structure in general? Does all these pressures on, I guess, your business but also on the consumer from an inflationary standpoint make you more likely, less likely? Or how does it impact your membership fee increase decision process?

好的。所以，很顯然，正如你列舉了定價方面的各種壓力點，我想問的是一個更宏觀的問題是，你對會員費結構總體上有什麼看法？我想，所有這些壓力，無論是對您的企業還是從通貨膨脹的角度來看，都會給消費者帶來壓力，這會讓您更有可能還是更不可能採取行動？或者，這會對你們的會費上漲決策過程產生什麼影響？

What we've said over the years is that certainly, we look at our gross profit as a combination of a gross margin plus a membership fee. But we really don't look at it together in that way that, hey, if we do something with a membership fee, we could be more aggressive on pricing.

多年來我們一直強調，我們把毛利視為毛利率加上會員費的總和。但我們真的不會這樣看待這件事，認為如果我們收取會員費，我們就可以在定價方面更具競爭力。

I remember years ago, somebody had asked when the economy had softened and our comps had weakened a little bit, and we're coming up on kind of that fifth anniversary-ish of a pending increase and somebody said, given the economy is weaker, you -- and your sales have weakened a little bit, still a positive number, but weakened a little bit, would you still do it? And the response at the time was more likely we're going to do it because that's what we do. We could drive lower prices with it and drive more business. And so we really do -- we look at the loyalty. And certainly, the loyalty and renewal rates have been up...

我記得幾年前，有人問過，當時經濟疲軟，我們的同店銷售額略有下降，而我們即將迎來一次加薪的五年左右，有人說，鑑於經濟疲軟，你們的銷售額也略有下降（雖然仍然是正增長，但確實有所下降），你們還會加薪嗎？當時的回應更像是：我們很可能會這麼做，因為這就是我們所做的。我們可以利用它降低價格，從而促進業務成長。所以，我們確實會——我們會關注忠誠。當然，客戶忠誠度和續訂率也都有所上升…

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Yes. Honestly, we're still ways away from anniversarying the last -- the fifth year or so -- fifth plus year anniversarying of the last increase. So we're a little ways from thinking about it.

是的。說實話，我們距離上次升息的周年紀念日還有很長一段時間——大約是上次升息的第五年——也就是五年多一點。所以，我們離真正考慮這個問題還有一段距離。

Okay. And then just -- we had a conference today with some large cap names that kind of indicated that their new view on what their actual cash balance should be going forward relative to prepandemic had actually increased. So wondering if you could just talk about your perspective on what you think the right like sustainable cash balance could be because, obviously, you're still sitting on a pretty hefty excess cash balance now.

好的。然後——我們今天與一些大型公司舉行了一次會議，會議表明，他們對未來實際現金餘額相對於疫情前水平的新看法實際上有所增加。所以我想問您，您認為合理的、可持續的現金餘額應該是多少？因為很明顯，您現在仍然擁有相當可觀的現金盈餘。

I think if the -- we've always been considered to have more cash and have a more conservative balance sheet. I think if the world is saying that they think that it should be going up more, I don't think we've thought about it going up more. In fact, when we did the capital raise in April of '20, it's related specifically to what was the worst case of COVID. Once -- 6 months later, we saw that we didn't need it. We promptly gave it back to our shareholders and then a little.

我認為，如果——我們一直被認為擁有更多現金，並且資產負債表更加保守。我認為，如果全世界都認為它應該上漲更多，那我們可能還沒有考慮過它應該上漲更多。事實上，我們在 2020 年 4 月進行融資時，正是因為當時新冠疫情最為嚴重。六個月後，我們發現我們並不需要它。我們立即將資金返還給了股東，然後又返還了一些。

So I think we're -- the other anomaly has been is we've been blessed with a very good fiscal year. The last 1.5 years in terms of net income and operating cash flow relative to our CapEx, our regular dividend and the special, let's say, that kind of offset the debt capital -- the debt we did. And so at the end of the day, I don't see us changing our MO in that at this point.

所以我覺得──另一個反常現像是，我們很幸運地迎來了一個非常好的財政年度。過去 1.5 年，就淨收入和營運現金流而言，相對於我們的資本支出、常規股息和特別股息，可以說，這在一定程度上抵消了債務資本——我們所做的債務。所以歸根結底，我認為我們目前不會改變這方面的做法。

Next question comes from the line of Chris Horvers from JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

I'll stick by the price (inaudible). I guess if I'm interpreting what you're saying, is it basically because these pressures seem more structural in nature and because the demand environment is so good, you feel less compelled to be more aggressive on price, and if the environment slows, then that could change your calculus?

我會堅持這個價格（聽不清楚）。我想，如果我理解你的意思沒錯的話，是不是因為這些壓力似乎更多是結構性的，而且由於需求環境非常好，所以你覺得沒有必要在價格上採取更激進的策略，而如果環境放緩，那麼這可能會改變你的考慮？

It's really all about the value proposition. If anything, I think from the outside, people would look at us relative to other retailers and say, we've been more aggressive on holding prices than others, at least that's how we feel. But we have to be pragmatic. As these things are permanent and consistent, you've got to raise the price. We can't be completely noble here. But we feel that, if anything, that moat has probably widened a little bit for us. And that's great. We like wider moats.

關鍵在於價值主張。如果有什麼不同的話，我認為從外部來看，人們會把我們與其他零售商進行比較，然後說，我們在價格控制方面比其他零售商更積極主動，至少我們是這麼認為的。但我們必須務實。由於這些因素是永久性的、持續的，所以你必須提高價格。我們在這裡不可能完全高尚。但我們覺得，如果有什麼變化的話，那就是這道護城河可能對我們來說稍微加寬了一些。那太好了。我們喜歡更寬的護城河。

So the third variable being others are raising prices faster than you, so the price gaps have widened.

第三個變數是其他人提價的速度比你快，因此價格差距擴大了。

That's our view. That's our buyer's view. But we're looking at really at us, given -- frankly, given how strong it's been -- and we -- in our DNA, we hate raising prices. We want to be the last to raise it and the first to lower it. In our DNA, not even -- putting on shades on the side and not even looking at others, we're looking at how do we drive our own business. And we know that being the most -- the best value out there and having great merchandise and all that other wonderful stuff is how you do it. And as we've seen such strength in our numbers and then as we've encountered rising levels of inflation, where can we hold the price on some things? And that's what we do. It's an art form more than a science, but it seems to work for us.

這是我們的觀點。這是我們買家的觀點。但說實話，考慮到我們自身實力如此強勁，我們真正應該關注的是我們自己——從我們的基因裡來說，我們討厭提價。我們希望成為最後一個抬高它、第一個降低它的人。在我們的基因裡，甚至──戴上墨鏡，甚至不去關注其他人，我們只專注於如何發展自己的事業。我們知道，要想成功，就要做到物超所值，擁有優質的商品以及其他一切美好的事物。鑑於我們的經濟數據如此強勁，而通膨水準又不斷上升，我們該如何控制某些商品的價格？這就是我們所做的。與其說是科學，不如說是藝術，但它似乎對我們有效。

For sure. So my second question is on the membership fee, MFI growth, ex the FX benefit that you've seen, that number has accelerated the past 2 quarters. So is it -- given that the accounting of this is over a 12-month basis, you sort of -- you have a view -- you have some inkling on what that growth could be as you look forward. Higher renewal rates, obviously, taking a ton of share. Should, all else equal, that level, again, MFI growth ex FX, continue to accelerate?

一定。所以我的第二個問題是關於會員費、小額信貸機構的成長，撇開您看到的外匯收益不談，這個數字在過去兩個季度加速成長。所以——鑑於這項會計核算是基於 12 個月的，你大概——你對未來可能的成長有一些看法——你有一些預感。顯然，更高的續約率佔據了大量的市場份額。在其他條件不變的情況下，這種水準（即剔除外匯因素後的小額信貸成長）是否應該繼續加速？

Well, the big answer is we hope so. The fact that we're opening more units in '21 than we did in '20 is a positive. The fact that there are several international units, which tend to have higher growth rates, the fact that auto renew is kind of a freebie in the sense that more people getting -- signing up and putting a credit card on their application -- in their application or signing up for the most -- more importantly, signing up for the Citi Visa card, that helps you a little bit. Driving executive -- getting more people today -- for every 100 people signing up today, I think, a little over half, I don't have an exact number, sign up as an executive member.

嗯，最確切的答案是：我們希望如此。2021 年我們開設的門市數量比 2020 年多，這是一個正面的訊號。有幾個國際部門，這些部門往往增長率更高；自動續期在某種程度上是一種免費福利，因為更多的人在申請信用卡時——尤其是在申請花旗Visa卡時——這對你有所幫助。推動高階主管會員發展——今天吸引更多人——我認為，今天每註冊 100 人，其中略多於一半（我沒有確切的數字），就會註冊成為高階主管會員。

I remember 6, 7 years ago, 8 years ago, it was half that percentage, and these are rough numbers, so don't hold me to them. But at the end of the day, the executive members, by its definition, have higher renewal rates. They shop more frequently. They buy more stuff. So all that stuff is -- that's -- those are all good factors for us.

我記得 6 年前、7 年前、8 年前，這個比例只有現在的一半，這些只是大概數字，所以不要太當真。但歸根究底，根據定義，執行委員會成員的續任率更高。他們購物頻率更高。他們買的東西更多了。所以所有這些因素——這些對我們來說都是有利的因素。

And just one quick last one. Have you shared how many -- the percentage of your membership that have -- in the U.S. that have the Citibank private label card?

最後一個問題。您有沒有透露過，在美國，有多少會員持有花旗銀行的自有品牌信用卡（佔總會員總數的百分比）？

I don't think we have. By the way, before the next question, somebody checked on the number of -- we have seen a recent increase in applications in the last couple of weeks. I think Chuck asked that.

我認為我們沒有。順便提一下，在下一個問題之前，有人查了一下申請數量——我們發現最近幾週申請數量有所增加。我想是查克問的。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的保羅‧萊胡茲。

This is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. Going to take a stab at the membership question as well. You have some great membership statistics. It sounds like you're offering great value in the club. I was wondering, are you thinking about not investing as much in the new member promotions? Anything that you could talk on there. Has that looked similar to last year? Has that increased?

這是布蘭登·奇瑟姆代替保羅發言。我也來嘗試回答會員資格的問題。你們的會員統計數據非常出色。聽起來你為俱樂部提供了非常有價值的服務。我想問一下，你們是否考慮減少對新會員推廣活動的投入？你可以在上面聊任何你想聊的話題。今年的情況和去年類似嗎？這個數字增加了嗎？

No. I think when you say member promotions, what do you mean?

不。我想問一下，您說的會員促銷活動具體指的是什麼？

I think right now, you're offering $40 Costco cash card if you sign up.

我認為現在註冊就能獲得價值 40 美元的 Costco 現金卡。

Marketing...

行銷...

Marketing, okay. We do a variety of things, not a huge basis, but we try some things in the last few years. We've done some things with Groupon and with one other one, LivingSocial. We've done some things like you've mentioned, but those are not on a -- I'd say they're on a regular, irregular basis. And we try different things all the time. But I think that's really, frankly, independent of looking at the membership fee itself. It's really about how do we drive memberships and what is the incremental cost, what is the true cost of acquiring a new member other than waiting for them to go online or walk into the warehouse to sign up themselves. And so we're always trying some new things.

行銷，沒問題。我們做了很多不同的事情，雖然規模不大，但過去幾年我們嘗試了一些新事物。我們曾與 Groupon 和另一家公司 LivingSocial 合作過。我們做過一些像你提到的那樣的事情，但這些事情並不是——應該說，它們是定期、不定期地發生的。我們一直在嘗試不同的方法。但坦白說，我認為這與會員費本身並無直接關係。關鍵在於我們如何推動會員發展，以及新增會員的增量成本是多少，除了等待他們上網或親自到倉庫註冊之外，獲取新會員的真正成本是什麼。所以我們一直在嘗試一些新的東西。

Got it. And you mentioned your own chartered ships. So I was just wondering, what percentage of your shipping would that represent next year?

知道了。你也提到了你自己的包租船隻。所以我想知道，這筆費用明年會佔你們出貨量的多少百分比？

Less than 20%.

不到20%。

Less than 20%. Got it. And...

不到20%。知道了。和...

Yes. Less than 20% of our Asia shipping.

是的。不到我們亞洲出貨量的20%。

Got it. Okay. And last one for me. On the e-comm side, I was just wondering your customer that shops there, do they visit the store as frequently as a member that doesn't shop online?

知道了。好的。這是我最後一個問題。在電商方面，我想問一下，你們的網購顧客和不網購的顧客一樣常光顧實體店嗎？

I don't know that off the top of my head. What I -- and I don't have all the specific statistics in front of us. All the charts that we look at keep going in the right direction: number of people that bought online, percentage of members, the hit rate when we do something on an e-mail to get people to do something online.

我一時想不起來。我——而且我手頭上也沒有所有具體的統計數據。我們看到的所有圖表都朝著正確的方向發展：線上購買人數、會員百分比、透過電子郵件引導人們在線上採取行動的成功率。

I think what we do know is when you shop online and in the warehouse, you typically shop maybe a few less times in warehouse, but you overall spend more...

我認為我們目前已知的是，當你同時在線上和實體店購物時，雖然你在實體店購物的次數可能會少一些，但總體消費額會更高…

Okay. What Bob has mentioned -- thank you, Bob, is that when you -- if you take a regular loyal member and when they do start shopping online, they may shop a few times less in-store, but the aggregate of the 2 is greater than the historical, which makes sense.

好的。鮑勃提到的——謝謝你，鮑勃——就是，如果你有一個忠實的會員，當他開始在線購物時，他在實體店的購物次數可能會減少幾倍，但兩者的總和大於歷史平均水平，這是有道理的。

And by the way, the other thing there is that online, while we're constantly putting on what I'll call greater frequency, traffic building items or velocity items like apparel and health and beauty aids and things like that, the fact of the matter is, is more and more big and bulky items are bought online. Years ago, if you wanted to buy a mattress or a refrigerator, you had to go buy it and pick it up and take it home. We didn't deliver. We didn't install. That's, of course, changed in the last many years. And we have an appliance business in the U.S. that's well over $1 billion and growing fast -- continue to grow fast, helped by the Costco Logistics. So that changes the metric a little bit, too.

順便說一句，還有一點是，雖然我們在網上不斷推出我稱之為提高頻率、增加流量或提高銷量的商品，比如服裝、保健美容用品等等，但事實是，越來越多的笨重大件商品都是在網上購買的。多年前，如果你想買床墊或冰箱，你必須親自去買，然後把它搬回家。我們沒能交付。我們沒有安裝。當然，這種情況在過去幾年裡已經發生了變化。我們在美國擁有超過 10 億美元的家電業務，並且成長迅速——在 Costco 物流的幫助下，將繼續快速成長。這樣一來，衡量標準也會略有改變。

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Baker from Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自戴維森的麥克貝克。

Two questions for me. One, you did allude to the Delta variant and having to limit some product in areas where we've seen higher cases. So could you just sort of talk about overall different trends that you might be seeing in areas that are seeing bigger spikes in the new COVID variant versus others?

我有兩個問題。第一，你確實提到了 Delta 變種病毒，並且必須限制某些病例較多地區的某些產品供應。那麼，您能否談談在新冠病毒新變種病例激增的地區與其他地區相比，您可能觀察到的整體不同趨勢？

I don't know -- I don't have in front of me any detail by region in that regard. What I do know is like everything right now, it's all over the board. We're talking – I forget what cleaning supply it was, whether it was Clorox or Lysol or some type of antibacterial wipe or whatever it was. But there had been -- a year ago, there was a shortage of merchandise. Now they've got plenty of merchandise, but there's 2- or 3-week delays on getting it delivered because there's a limit on short-term changes to trucking and delivery needs of the suppliers. So it really is all over the board.

我不知道——我手頭上沒有這方面按地區劃分的詳細資訊。我知道的是，就像現在所有事情一樣，情況非常混亂。我們當時在聊天——我忘了​​那是什麼清潔用品了，可能是高樂氏、來蘇爾，或是某種抗菌濕紙巾之類的。但一年前確實出現過商品短缺的情況。現在他們有很多貨物，但是由於供應商的卡車運輸和配送需求短期內難以做出改變，所以交貨會延遲 2 到 3 週。所以情況真是五花八門。

And maybe as part of that, are you seeing anything in terms of the travel trends, which I know were coming back really strong as of last quarter, but has Delta reverted that at all?

或許作為其中的一部分，您是否觀察到旅行趨勢方面有任何變化？我知道上個季度旅遊趨勢已經強勁復甦，但達美航空是否扭轉了這個趨勢？

Yes. Yes. If you look to the chart, which went down, so it's at -- last summer or last spring, it was negative, more refunds than new things being booked. It really got back to almost normal. I'm talking about bookings of resort vacations and -- like to Hawaii and to Mexico and things like that. And just a month ago -- 1.5 months, 2 months ago, at the monthly budget meeting, the charts were showing it was almost back to where it was pre-COVID. And then it fell like a rock, not as bad as it was at its trough last spring, but it's certainly come down. Cars not hit as bad, but that'll fluctuate based on, again, what's going on out there.

是的。是的。如果你看一下圖表，你會發現它一直在下降，所以——去年夏天或去年春天，情況是負增長，退款比新預訂的還要多。一切都幾乎恢復正常了。我指的是度假村度假的預訂，像是去夏威夷、去墨西哥之類的。就在一個月前——或者說一個半月前、兩個月前，在每月預算會議上，圖表顯示情況幾乎已經恢復到新冠疫情前的水平。然後它像石頭一樣暴跌，雖然沒有去年春天跌到谷底時那麼糟糕，但肯定已經跌得很低了。汽車受損程度沒有那麼嚴重，但這也會根據實際情況而有所波動。

Yes. That all makes sense. One more quick one. The -- that was one question in 2 parts. You -- can you update us on the curb side pickup tests that you were running in New Mexico, I think, as of -- last time we spoke, it was in 3 stores.

是的。這一切都說得通。最後一個快速的。那是一個分成兩個部分的問題。您能否向我們介紹一下您在新墨西哥州進行的路邊取貨測試的最新情況？我記得上次我們談話時，是在 3 家商店進行的。

Right. We're currently not doing it. We discontinued for now. We'll try some new things somewhere sometime. But at this point, we got a lot of good things going on. And we were -- we really didn't see a lot of traction in it.

正確的。我們目前沒有這樣做。我們暫時停止了這項服務。我們以後會在某個地方嘗試一些新事物。但就目前而言，我們有很多好事正在發生。我們當時確實——我們並沒有看到它取得多大進展。

Our next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自奧本海默公司的魯佩什·帕里克。

So I guess just going back to the core margin. So it sounded like at least this past quarter, on the price side, you guys delayed passing through some of the price increases. So as you look at nonfood versus your foods categories, is it generally easier to pass through on the nonfood side versus the food side?

所以我想還是回到核心利潤率。所以聽起來至少在上個季度，在價格方面，你們推遲了一些價格上漲的措施。那麼，當你比較非食品類和食品類時，一般來說，通過非食品類關卡是否比通過食品類關卡更容易？

I wouldn't say that. I think food -- fresh turned so fast. It turns more than 50 times a year, 50 times a year or whatever. And when you've got a hot price on strip steaks or keeping the rotisserie chicken at $4.99, that's going to impact you a little faster.

我不會這麼說。我覺得食物──新鮮的食物變質得太快了。它一年轉動超過 50 次，一年 50 次，或隨便什麼次數。當牛排價格很優惠，或者烤雞價格保持在 4.99 美元時，這對你的影響會更快一些。

I don't think it changes the price of muffins every week.

我不認為鬆餅的價格每週都會有所變動。

Yes. But the comment here is that we're not going to change the price of muffins every week. So we'll take a little less margin on some items. I think it's all over the board. But at the end of the day, there's -- it's an art form not a science or not a straight across, we're going to do this much on every item.

是的。但我想說的是，我們不會每週調整鬆餅的價格。所以我們會降低部分商品的利潤率。我覺得情況五花八門。但歸根結底，這是一種藝術形式，而不是科學，也不是簡單地對每件物品都做這麼多。

Okay. Great. And then a second question. Just as you look at your service business, optical, food courts, et cetera, where are we versus where you were prepandemic? Have those businesses fully recovered at this point?

好的。偉大的。然後是第二個問題。就像您審視自己的服務業、眼鏡店、美食廣場等等一樣，我們現在的情況與疫情前相比如何？這些企業目前是否已經完全恢復營運？

Mostly.

大多。

Mostly. Yes, pharmacy and optical have. Food courts have come back.

大多。是的，藥局和眼鏡店都有。美食廣場又回來了。

Hearing aids is getting there.

助聽器正在逐步普及。

Hearing aid is not quite yet, but it's much better than it was at its trough.

助聽器雖然還不完美，但比它最不成熟的時候好多了。

[I don't think] travel...

我不認為旅行…

And travel is lots of fun based on what's going on with COVID.

根據新冠疫情的現況來看，旅行也充滿了樂趣。

Okay. Great. And one final question. I may have missed this in your prepared comments. Did you guys give a forecast for CapEx for the upcoming fiscal year?

好的。偉大的。最後一個問題。我可能在您準備好的發言稿中漏掉了這一點。你們有沒有對下一財年的資本支出做出預測？

No. It'll have a [3] in front of it.

不。前面會有一個[3]。

Our next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel from Guggenheim.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢美術館的約翰·海因博克爾。

So Richard, you said it's an art not a science. I'm curious where you guys sit on data science and analytics around price elasticity, one; and two, personalization of the monthly mailer or monthly e-mails. Where are we on that journey?

理查德，你說過這是一門藝術，而不是一門科學。我很好奇你們在價格彈性方面的資料科學和分析方面有什麼看法；還有，你們在每月郵件或電子郵件的個人化方面有什麼看法。我們現在處於這段旅程的哪個階段？

First of all, as it relates to pricing and elasticity, I think if we were considered the best company in the world with data analytics, we would still not use it for price elasticity. We're going to do what we do as merchants and look at competitive prices and see how low we can mark something up. And the old saying from years ago, we want to improve margins by lowering -- and lower prices at the same time by buying better and doing those things. So I don't see that happening at all.

首先，就定價和彈性而言，我認為即使我們被認為是世界上數據分析最好的公司，我們仍然不會將其用於價格彈性。我們將像商家一樣，檢視市場價格，看看我們的加價幅度能有多低。多年前就有一句老話：我們希望透過降低成本來提高利潤率——同時，透過採購更好的產品和採取這些措施來降低價格。所以我認為這種情況完全不會發生。

As it relates to the other aspect of that, that's coming. We made a big investment in what I'll call data analytics for us because we went from darn near 0 to something, but brought on a VP of Data Analytics a year ago March. There's been a lot of progress. A lot of focus to date has been on the merchandising side, providing better tools to buy and to project and things like that. I think you'll see more of that over the next year. But again, we're getting there.

至於另一方面，敬請期待。我們對所謂的數據分析進行了大量投資，因為我們從幾乎為零發展到如今的規模，並在一年前的三月聘請了一位數據分析副總裁。已經取得了很大進展。到目前為止，我們關注的重點主要集中在商品銷售方面，例如提供更好的購買和展示工具等等。我認為在接下來的一年裡，你會看到更多這樣的情況。但是，我們正在一步步接近目標。

I always look at it as some of the things that others are doing that will help. It's low-hanging fruit for us because we haven't done it yet, but we'll keep going. But that's where a lot of the data analytics function to date in this past year as we built a department around it has been just that.

我總是把這看作是其他人正在做的一些會有幫助的事情。對我們來說，這是唾手可得的成果，因為我們還沒做到，但我們會繼續努力。但過去一年來，我們圍繞著數據分析建立了一個部門，而迄今為止，數據分析的大部分功能正是如此。

And then maybe secondly, one of the things you guys have been known for, right, is seasonally getting in and out before everybody else. So do you lean into that in an environment, right, where it's hard to chase product, get it in early, people buy it, and they're done for the season? Do you lean into that more in terms of where you can more inventory get it in the club? Or is there a limitation, right, because you've got to transition from one season to the next?

其次，你們的一大特點就是能比其他人更早完成季節性的收尾工作，對吧？那麼，在這樣一個環境下，你會傾向於這樣做嗎？在這個環境下，很難追趕產品，很難儘早推出產品，人們購買後，他們的銷售季節就結束了？你是否更傾向於從俱樂部的庫存來源地獲取更多庫存？或者說，這其中存在某種限制，對吧？因為你必須從一個季節過渡到下一個季節？

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

I think there's a little bit of both. There's a little bit of taking it where you can get it right now. And certainly, we're consciously bringing in -- I think I mentioned on, what was it, furniture, where the cycle has gone from 12 and 14 weeks to 16 and 18. We're bringing in early. And certainly, on seasonal things, we'll do that on some items. And -- but it's a mixed bag just because we're pivoting and blocking and tackling in 12 different directions like everybody. Yes, we have time for one last question.

我認為兩者兼而有之。現在有點兒得抓住一切機會。當然，我們正在有意識地引入——我想我之前提到過，家具，它的周期已經從 12 到 14 週延長到了 16 到 18 週。我們提前引進了。當然，對於一些季節性商品，我們也會這樣做。但是——但這結果好壞參半，因為我們像所有人一樣，在 12 個不同的方向上進行轉身、阻擋和擒抱。是的，我們還有時間回答最後一個問題。

Our last question comes from the line of Kelly Bania from BMO Capital.

最後一個問題來自 BMO Capital 的 Kelly Bania。

Richard, just wanted to ask one more on the inflation. You mentioned that the 3.5% to 4.5% range just want to clarify that is retail inflation. Just curious what your cost inflation is. I'm just trying to get a sense of how much you're absorbing. And maybe if you can just provide some examples of how Costco and the merchants are mitigating some of the pressures.

理查德，我還想再問一個關於通貨膨脹的問題。您提到3.5%到4.5%的區間，我想確認一下，這是指零售通膨率。我只是好奇你們那裡的成本通膨率是多少。我只是想了解你的吸收能力。如果您能舉例說明 Costco 和商家是如何緩解這些壓力的就更好了。

Yes, it's both. I'm sorry, what?

是的，兩者都是。你說什麼？

Margins have (inaudible)

邊距有（聽不清楚）

Yes. Margins have generally stayed the same. I mean we gave you some examples on the fresh food side where it's changed and why. But generally speaking, I think there's, again, a lot of moving parts, and we continue to figure out how to balance it.

是的。利潤率整體上保持不變。我的意思是，我們已經舉了一些關於新鮮食品的例子，說明了哪些方面發生了變化以及原因。但總的來說，我認為這裡面有很多變數，我們仍在努力尋找平衡之道。

Any examples you want to provide about how you're mitigating some of the pressures?

您能否舉例說明一下您是如何緩解這些壓力的？

Well, I mean not on a specific product example, but the fact is, one, we've got strong relationships and good buying power with our vendors. When we're eating a little bit into something, we're asking, in some cases, for them to eat a little bit into it. We're -- during these times, we're constantly figuring out how to be -- where are there any cost savings to offset some of the cost increases, whether it's packaging or whatever it might be. And so I mean I think one of the things that helps us is that we're worrying about managing 3,800 items, not 100,000 items or 50,000 items, and that's helped us.

嗯，我的意思不是要舉具體的產品例子，但事實是，第一，我們與供應商建立了牢固的關係，並且擁有強大的購買力。當我們吃一點東西的時候，在某些情況下，我們其實是在請求他們也吃一點。在這樣的時期，我們一直在思考如何節省成本，以抵消部分成本的成長，無論是包裝還是其他方面。所以我覺得對我們有幫助的一點是，我們只需要管理 3800 件商品，而不是 10 萬件或 5 萬件商品，這確實對我們有幫助。

Yes. And there are times where we'll be pivoting in and out of items for that reason also. It's hard to be vague, but it really is, there's just so many different things out there.

是的。基於這個原因，有時我們也會調整對某些產品的投入和撤離。很難含糊其辭，但事實的確如此，外面的世界實在太複雜了。

Well, thank you, everyone. We'll be around for any additional questions, and have a good week, and talk to you next time.

謝謝大家。如有任何其他問題，歡迎隨時與我們聯繫。祝您一週愉快，下次再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。