Brandon: That’s 1 thing that makes Costco so great. Like, everybody always talks about our benefits, and the fact that people don’t utilize them, you know, it just blows my mind sometimes. Like, there’s so much available to you. Just keep checking it out. 

Anne: Hello, and welcome to Employee Podcasts, where Costco employees share their stories of how their benefits help them with personal challenges.

Today, we’re talking with Brandon Miller. Hi, Brandon.

Brandon: Hello.

Anne: So can you tell us, how long have you worked at Costco, what’s your position and which location do you work in? 

Brandon: I will have been with Costco 15 years this year. I work at the Nampa, Idaho, 734 location, and I’m currently the Night Merch Supervisor.

Anne: So I understand you’ve used a few different benefits in the nearly 15 years you’ve been with Costco. What was the very first benefit you used?

Brandon: The very first benefit that I used was the dental benefit, and that also ties in with the flexible spending account, or the health reimbursement account. I needed new teeth after teenage years of bad choices and drug use.

So I had to get some dentures, which was way too much money out of pocket for myself. So yeah, once I figured out how much it would cost and I finally became benefit eligible, I went online and got all the stuff set up. And yeah, it was a really easy process actually. 

Anne: That’s really great to hear. Thanks so much for sharing that. I know Costco’s FSA is the healthcare reimbursement account, or HCRA. Can you share a little bit about what that process was like for paying for the procedure with the FSA, and maybe about the benefits of having one — what that was like for you? 

Brandon: Yeah. So, when you go do your benefits each year, you have the option of setting one up.

It’s great because you have all that money available, like I think I had $2,000 set aside, and it was all available so that way you’re not… And it just takes payments out of your paycheck every pay period, and it’s pretty easy. You know, once you get the pre-authorization, you know how much you have to spend.

It made things super convenient. It comes out pre-tax, so that’s good. And, yeah, the dental benefits covers so much of the work that gets done. 

Anne: Perfect. That’s really great to hear. And I know there’s a new dental benefit too. It’s a $50 credit to your medical deductible when you get your teeth cleaned in network each year.

So can you tell us about some of the other benefits you’ve used since that very first dental benefit, and how did you first learn about them?

Brandon: So I learned about them through flyers and stuff in the break room. You know, you get that entire packet when you’re a new employee, but a lot of times you forget about it.

We used legal aid, having to do some stuff with my son. Did marriage counseling. I’ve done personal counseling. Yeah, they’ve been pretty great, and they’re pretty easy to find once you start looking for them.

Anne: And the legal aid and the personal counseling and marriage counseling, was that available through Resources for Living?

Brandon: Yeah, Resources for Living, or I think it’s the EAP, Employee Assistance Program. And yeah, you just go on the website or you can call and, yeah, they put you into contact with multiple different choices. 

Anne: So can you share a little bit about, like, how you went about finding a therapist? You said you got quite a few different choices. There were things kind of presented to you. How did you go about finding someone who you felt like you could really connect with? 

Brandon: So back before the Zoom counseling days when I called the benefits, they would either send me an email or just over the phone give me a list of everybody that was in my area that was in our benefit program or our benefits.

And, yeah, I could just call them and go in and have a session with them. Now in the Zoom era, you know, you can connect with them and have a quick 15-minute session. And if it’s someone that you connect with and you feel like you wanna continue, then, you know, I believe you get free sessions just to start, and then it’s just, I think $15 or $20 based on full-time or part-time. And you can just keep going from there. Like, there’s no break in your services. 

Anne: I know Resources for Living offers 8 free sessions, and that’s for all household members, plus dependent children living away from home up to age 26. So what has the experience been like finding someone who you connect with and can talk to about what’s going on in your life? How has that helped you? 

Brandon: It’s helped in so many ways. I mean, utilizing the marriage counseling, you know, my wife and I sought after it and granted we weren’t having that many problems, felt like we were at 90%, but just learning new ways to communicate, different things to try just to keep things fresh and exciting and happy.

You know, there’s always things that we can do to better ourselves. And then as far as my personal counseling, like, there’s a lot of stresses, you know, being a supervisor, life, children. It’s great to have someone that is there to listen and just be able to tell everything to and then get good advice from. 

Anne: Absolutely. I’m glad it’s been so beneficial to your life and your family. 

Brandon: Yeah, it definitely has. I’ve been so grateful just having that. I mean, I try to use the benefits for everything if I can. 

Anne: It sounds like you have used so many of the benefits available to you, and you’re always on the lookout for new benefits. Have any of Costco’s newer benefits, like Pelago maybe, inspired you to make a change or try something new? 

Brandon: Yeah. So I recently just started using Pelago. I was actually at a point where I’m trying to get healthier, and so I need to quit smoking and cut back on my drinking, and so it’s actually been really great.

You get, like, a coach. He checks in on you all the time. It’s helped me get smoking cessation equipment, patches, the gum. I mean, the guy checks in with me once a week. It’s really great, and the app has a lot of cool things and features and stuff to help keep you mindful of what’s going on, meditation techniques.

So it, it’s pretty neat. I like it a lot.

Anne: That’s really helpful. When you first signed up for that, did they have you set a quit smoking date? Or how do they kind of approach you and, like, what you want to … like, what your goals are? 

Brandon: They wanna know if you’re quitting, if you’re cutting back, what you’re looking for, what you wanna do with it.

They don’t force you to pick a quit date, but the person that I was speaking with reminded me, “You wanna set something, you know, realistic,” but you don’t wanna just be like, “Oh, I wanna quit in 6 months,” because a lot of times we lose the motivation or we forget why ’re doing it. And so, like, he motivated me to try to set my quit date, which is coming up toward the end of the month, the 27th.

So, yeah, I’m hopeful. 

Anne: That’s really great. It really sounds like they’re personalizing it to you and making sure that they’re meeting your needs. 

Brandon: Yeah, exactly. They check in regularly and, yeah, it’s been very helpful. 

Anne: So Brandon, what keeps bringing you back to your benefits or interested in exploring what’s available to you?

Brandon: Um, I keep coming back to the benefits ’cause I, I like to save money, you know, fairly cheap. There’s so many different benefits that we have that are available and, you know, for everything that you need, sleep or digestive health, counseling. There’s ways to save money, you know, investments, all those kind of things.

So it’s pretty crazy. Like, I just keep looking through them ’cause, you know, there’s something for everything. 

Anne: Right, and who doesn’t like to save money?

Brandon: Yeah, exactly.

Anne: So how do you go about finding these new benefits or exploring ones that might be interesting to you? 

Brandon: So I mean, every now and then there’s like flyers in the break room, and they’ve recently started putting some new stuff up on like the TVs in the break room.

But, as a supervisor, you know, there’s regular emails that I get from like the We’re In This Together stuff, the, pledge. And you know, there’s like quick little short articles that I can just like print out, and I leave it on the desk for, for my co-workers, so that way they can, you know, see what I see and realize that there’s so much more that they probably forget about.

Anne: Absolutely. That’s really helpful.

Brandon: Yeah. I noticed that some of them really enjoy it. 

Anne: Do you get a lot of questions about your benefits, or do your employees ask a lot of questions about benefits and resources?

Brandon: I do get some questions, and I feel more than questions, I feel like I find myself trying to show them the benefits that we have ’cause I, you know, as a supervisor, a lot of people bring their problems and their concerns to me.

Life happens and they just forget that we have all these things. So I’m constantly trying to just educate them and show them going to, you know, Costcobenefits.com. And from there, you know, there’s the We’re In This Together pledge site that you can go to, and it brings you to a bunch of different subsections.

And, you know, I- they just have to be reminded that we have it ’cause when life happens, you’re not thinking about what’s available if you’ve never used it before.  

Anne: Absolutely. You wanna always kind of have it in the back of your mind, like, “I can go here for help.” 

Brandon: Yeah, exactly. And so mean, every time I need something I’m like, “Huh, let’s go check out what they’ve got today.”

Anne: So what’s 1 thing you want other Costco employees to know about using their benefits and what’s available? 

Brandon: If there’s 1 takeaway, just keep looking. Keep checking back. I mean, there’s something for everything. Like we have so much going on in our lives, stress, family, kids, work. There’s something for everything, and it’s free or low cost.

It’s there. We have it for a reason. That’s 1 thing that makes Costco so great, like is everybody always talks about our benefits. And the fact that people don’t utilize them it just blows my mind sometimes. Like, there’s so much available to you. Just keep checking it out. 

Anne: Are there any other benefits that you have on your list to explore you haven’t taken a look at yet, but you’re thinking you wanna explore a bit more?

Brandon: Oh, absolutely. Since I’ve started Pelago and I’m working on quitting smoking, I wanna start getting healthier, so I’ve been looking into like some of the gym membership options and discounts that we get through that. As I get older, realizing retirement’s actually a thing and, you know, I should start setting money aside, which I, I have been a little bit.

But, yeah, the health and wealth area, like, you know, my 401k through T. Rowe Price. There’s a lot of things that I’m starting to look into now. 

Anne: Absolutely. I know there are gym discounts available through LifeMart, and I know you mentioned T. Rowe Price. SmartDollar is a great way to help with finances and budgeting and thinking about retirement plans as well.

Brandon: Yeah, so I’ve been looking into all those. So it’s been pretty cool. 

Anne: So Brandon, we always like to ask, what’s your favorite Costco product and why? 

Brandon: It’d definitely have to be the deli items. The lobster mac and cheese is delicious, and every time it’s my turn to cook, you know, I can just bring something home, put some foil on it, toss it in the oven, and everybody likes it.

It always tastes good, and it’s just super convenient.

Anne: I’m gonna have to look out for that at my Costco.

So thanks so much for being here, Brandon, and for sharing your story. And thanks to those who listened in. Until next time, remember, we’re in this together.