Costco vs Walmart
On overall TruNorth grade, Costco scores higher (Costco: B, Walmart: C). Both graded from public records across nine values categories.
Political donations
FEC: $336K in executive political donations; partisan lean split across 16 executive donors.
FEC: $22K PAC donations; 58% to Republican, 42% to Democratic committees. [CA CalAccess + NY COELIG + TX Ethics adds state-level totals.] [Stanford DIME (Bonica) corroborates.] [FollowTheMoney.org adds state-level totals.]
Environment
EPA SmartWay partner — commits to measure + reduce freight transportation emissions. JUST Capital JUST 100 — ranked #97 of Russell 1000 (2025) for treatment of workers, customers, communities, environment. CDP A-List (2024) — top tier for climate disclosure and emissions-reduction action. Held by 4 ESG/SRI fund(s) (calvert, parnassus, trillium, vanguard-esg) — investor-screen positive signal.
water pollution violation: $90.8M in federal penalties (Violation Tracker).
Labor
104 federal penalties totaling $98.3M since 2000 (Violation Tracker).
609 federal penalties totaling $5.8B since 2000 (Violation Tracker). Supply-chain signals: WRC 1 investigation; HRW 1 report; ILRF 1 campaign.
DEI
HRC Corporate Equality Index: 85/100 (2025) — strong LGBTQ+ workplace policies with minor deductions. JUST Capital JUST 100 — ranked #97 of Russell 1000 (2025) for treatment of workers, customers, communities, environment. HRC Corporate Equality Index 85/100 (2025) — top-tier LGBTQ+ workplace equality rating.
HRC Corporate Equality Index: 90/100 (2025) — strong LGBTQ+ workplace policies with minor deductions. Disability:IN Equality Index score 90/100. JUST Capital JUST 100 — ranked #88 of Russell 1000 (2025) for treatment of workers, customers, communities, environment. HRC Corporate Equality Index 90/100 (2025) — top-tier LGBTQ+ workplace equality rating.
Charity
$80M reported corporate giving in 2024 (~0.03% of revenue). JUST Capital JUST 100 — ranked #97 of Russell 1000 (2025) for treatment of workers, customers, communities, environment. Drucker Institute Management Top 250 — ranked #26 (2024) on customer satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength. Fortune World's Most Admired Companies — ranked #8 (2024). Newsweek Most Trustworthy Companies in America — ranked #7 (2024).
$1.73B reported corporate giving in 2024 (~0.27% of revenue) via Walmart Foundation. JUST Capital JUST 100 — ranked #88 of Russell 1000 (2025) for treatment of workers, customers, communities, environment. Drucker Institute Management Top 250 — ranked #28 (2024) on customer satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength. Fortune World's Most Admired Companies — ranked #7 (2024). Newsweek Most Trustworthy Companies in America — ranked #8 (2024).
Animal testing
BBFAW 2024 Tier 5 — limited disclosure of farm-animal welfare programmes. Open Wing Alliance: At risk — Kirkland Signature US shell-egg cage-free transition behind schedule. [BBFAW Tier 5 · Cage-free at risk · MSC certified · ASC certified]
Open Wing Alliance: At risk — Great Value cage-free milestone not yet reported. MSC retail partner — Great Value canned tuna + wild-catch lines MSC-certified. [Cage-free at risk · MSC certified]
Firearms
No federal firearms license on record for this company in the ATF FFL registry — no licensed firearms dealing or manufacturing.
Buycott — campaigns over warehouse wages, firearm retail, supply-chain labor. [buycott]
Privacy
Costco publishes a detailed privacy policy offering consumers opt-out rights, data deletion, and a Consumer Health Data Privacy Notice stating it does not sell consumer health data; however, two federal class action lawsuits filed in October 2023 (Castillo et al. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. 2:23-cv-01548, and R.S. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., W.D. Wash.) allege Costco secretly used Meta Pixel on its pharmacy webpages to transmit patients' sensitive health information—including prescriptions, HIV status, and insurance details—to Meta, Google, and other third parties without consent, in alleged violation of HIPAA and federal/state wiretapping laws; a federal court largely allowed the case to proceed in November 2024.
1 investigation by The Markup (themes: pricing). Most recent: "Walmart Charges Higher Prices in Lower-Income Zip Codes" (2023).
Executive pay
CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio 283:1 (median employee pay $49,186) — SEC proxy statement (DEF 14A, 2025).
CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio 958:1 (median employee pay $30,520) — SEC proxy statement (DEF 14A, 2026).
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