tl;dr: Costco's business model—limited SKUs (~4,000 vs. Walmart's 130,000), in-person bulk shopping, and minimal distribution infrastructure—is more logistically efficient and socially beneficial than Amazon's infinite-assortment, home-delivery approach, resulting in lower overhead, higher wages, and just 6% employee turnover. The author argues this constraint-based model is more generalizable than Amazon's, which relies on complex last-mile delivery that isn't universally scalable. The piece concludes that NYC Mayor Mamdani's proposed public grocery stores should adopt Costco's playbook: low SKU count, high volume, centralized distribution at sufficient scale, and a signature loss-leader item.