6 Things WinCo Employees Wish Idahoans Knew
WinCo grew out of one Boise discount store in 1967, and its employees have partly owned the chain since 1985.
The person on the other side of that register has a stake in the store, which explains more about how WinCo runs than the shelf prices do.
These are the things WinCo employees wish Idahoans knew.
1. Bulk Bin Grazing as Theft
WinCo fills a full aisle with bulk bins in many Idaho stores, and scooping out a cashew or two feels harmless while you shop.
Big mistake.
WinCo’s FAQ page calls an unpaid taste Theft by Consumption, the same bracket as pocketing a candy bar on the way to the register.
Idahoans who’d never slip a candy bar into a pocket don’t always connect a bulk bin taste to the same rule.
2. No Personal Containers at the Bulk Bins
Oats, trail mix, and dozens of other bulk-bin staples fill WinCo’s aisles.
A reusable jar from home feels like the eco-friendly move for scooping them up.
WinCo’s FAQ page bars shoppers from refilling personal containers at any bulk bin, citing the container’s weight and the risk of cross-contamination between shoppers.
Not allowed.
The one exception is a water jug, which WinCo will refill once it’s returned to the store.
Bring a jar from the co-op? WinCo still says no.
Only a returned water jug earns a refill.
3. Bagging Your Order
At WinCo, checkers ring up the order.
Then the bagging job lands on the shopper standing at the end of the belt.
That’s the point.
WinCo’s FAQ page says the chain skips carry-out service on purpose, and WinCo folds that labor cost back into lower shelf prices instead.
Idahoans who grew up bagging groceries at a full-service store sometimes wait at the belt for help that was never coming.
4. No Credit Cards at WinCo
WinCo’s checkout lanes take cash, approved checks, and debit cards with a personal identification number (PIN).
Try a credit card?
The register rejects it every time.
WinCo’s FAQ page says the chain skips credit card processing because of the transaction rates card networks charge on every swipe.
But debit still works, PIN and all.
Psst! How well do you know your way around WinCo? Run through this checklist and see how many boxes you check.
5. No Weekly Mailer
A glossy weekly circular never lands from WinCo the way it does from other grocery chains around Boise.
None at all.
WinCo’s FAQ page says the chain reserves mailed ads for store openings and other special occasions, then puts that budget into lower prices instead.
The deals show up on the shelf instead, marked with price tags WinCo uses store-wide.
Check the mailbox all you want, since the only WinCo mail that shows up marks a new store opening nearby.
6. Three Days for Bulk Orders
WinCo will special-order a case of something for a birthday party or a church potluck, but the request has to come in ahead of time.
Three days, minimum.
Idahoans planning a Boise State tailgate or a big family reunion do better calling ahead than showing up expecting a pallet on the spot.
WinCo’s FAQ page says shoppers need to visit the store at least three days ahead of a large bulk, bakery, produce, meat, or deli order.
No discount comes with it either, since WinCo’s shelf prices are already about as low as the chain will go.
Checkers’ Stake in WinCo
WinCo funds an Employee Stock Ownership Plan that hands eligible workers a stake in the company itself, not just a paycheck.
No cost to them.
WinCo contributes stock worth 20% of an eligible employee’s pay to the plan every year, funded entirely out of company profits.
Eligibility kicks in once a worker logs 500 hours in the first six months on the job, turns 18, and keeps hitting 1,000 hours a year after that.
Every checker, every stocker, and every deli worker in Idaho who clears those marks owns part of the store they work in.
What WinCo’s Stock Contributions Add Up To
WinCo’s stock contribution compounds the longer an employee owner stays with the company.
An employee who receives a $5,000 stock contribution every year for 15 years ends up with an account worth almost $185,000, according to WinCo’s worked example.
Where WinCo’s Story Started
WinCo Foods traces back to a single discount store two Boise businessmen opened in 1967, a no-frills warehouse grocery called Waremart.
Waremart, not WinCo.
Flat-carts and grease pencils for marking prices by hand are long gone, but the low prices stuck.
Ownership changed hands in 1985, when Waremart’s employees banded together and bought a controlling stake from the founding family, the company’s history page says.
WinCo’s Boise distribution center was finished in 2009.
The company says it was the largest free-standing building in Idaho at the time.
What WinCo’s Name Stands For
WinCo picked its current name in a company-wide contest after the Waremart era ended in 1999.
The letters spell out Winning Company, the chain’s FAQ page says, a reminder of what the goal has always been.
Nothing fancier than that.
There’s a second layer tucked into the letters, too: WinCo’s name also strings together the first letter of every state the company originally called home.
WinCo has grown to more than 140 employee-owned stores and over 20,000 employee owners across the West and Southwest, a scale the founders in Boise never could have pictured.
Three WinCo stores never got the new sign.
Independence, Ontario, and Keizer, Oregon still ring up groceries under the old Waremart name the rest of the chain dropped in 1999.
9 Things Idahoans Say That Confuse Everyone Who Visits
Idahoans have a whole vocabulary that means nothing to a visitor standing at the counter.
From how they say Boise to what they call the valley around it, these are the words that mark someone as a local instantly.
9 Things Idahoans Say That Confuse Everyone Who Visits
9 Rude Costco Behaviors That Annoy Idahoans to the Core
Costco pulls the same bulk-buying crowds WinCo does, and Idaho’s aisles get just as packed.
These are the habits at the checkout and in the parking lot that make fellow Idahoans want to reroute their cart.
