Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money.

From full global headquarters, this is Motley Fool Money. It's the Motley Fool Money

radio show. I'm Chris Hill and this week it's our Labor Day weekend special. We hope

you're enjoying a little bit of R&R. We are. So if there's any big news in the world

of business and investing, I promise we'll get to it next week. But this week we're

talking Costco, one of the world's most successful retailers and a market-beating stock. Earlier

this year at our Motley Fool One event in Seattle, Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner sat down

with Costco co-founder and longtime CEO Jim Synagol in front of a live audience. Even

though Synagol stepped down as CEO a few years ago, he's still very involved in the business.

When the conversation began with Synagol talking about his very first job in retail, working

at FedMart when he was just 18 years old.

You know I was a student at San Diego Junior College and sophomore and was invited to a friend

of mine. It was between Christmas and New Year's and a new company called FedMart. It just

started in business in San Diego and I had a job at that time. I used to get out into

the harbor and pick up the laundry early in the morning before school. So I'd worked

for about three or four hours early in the morning and then go to college. They got a load

of mattresses in it, this new business. A buddy of mine that I went to school with was

working there. They'd only been open for about four weeks and they needed some help putting

away the mattresses. I went down. There was a dollar and a quarter an hour and we put

the mattresses away and at the end of the day the guy who was the boss said you better

come back tomorrow. So I came back the next day and they still didn't pay me and I wound

up staying there 23 years. So it became my introduction to the retail business. I thought

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