By Michael Sansolo
Mel Brooks put it this way:
“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”
In other words, things only really matter when they impact me.
On Monday, KC posted a piece about problems with Kirkland diapers and resulting complaints from some parents. Apparently, Costco has a new private label diaper supplier, and parents are going on social media to complain about them being “paper thin” and leaky. They may be cheaper because they’re lower-priced, but consumers seem to be questioning whether they are a good value.
Sadly, I couldn’t laugh for a very personal reason.
Just the day before I was babysitting for my nearly two-year-old granddaughter when she told me she needed a diaper change. (She’s good that way.) I dutifully laid her on the changing mat and started the process when I encountered a major hitch – with a Kirkland private label diaper. Her wet diaper did its job perfectly, but the new one I placed under her had a mangled piece of tape on the right side making it impossible to secure the diaper.
As anyone who has changed a diaper will tell you, you cannot possibly leave a child’s diaper secured on only one side unless you want to face incredible consequences later.
So faced with no alternative, I had to do a MacGyver and get some masking tape to complete the job. It worked but I was convinced my daughter-in-law would shelve me as a sitter. But when I explained what happened she was very sympathetic, saying she’s been having repeated problems with her recent supply of – you guessed it – Kirkland diapers.
And one day later (without any discussion) KC covered that exact issue. Luckily, the masking tape worked, and KC immediately said, “that’s a story worth writing.”
After all, Costco’s Kirkland brand long has had a reputation of being better than national brands. For a long time, it actually sold its private label canned tuna fish at a higher price than national brands, because it was perceived as being of higher quality.
But as KC said on Monday, this may be a rare misstep for Costco. We’ll learn a lot about the company in how it deals with this issue. They can fix the diapers, or they can cross merchandise them with Kirkland masking tape.
Meanwhile, in our house, it’s pretty simple:
Tragedy averted, comedy tonight!
Michael Sansolo can be reached via email at [email protected].
His book, “THE BIG PICTURE: Essential Business Lessons From The Movies,” co-authored with Kevin Coupe, is available here.
And, his book “Business Rules!” is available from Amazon here.
The post Sansolo Speaks: Some Problems Cannot Be Diapered Over appeared first on MNB.
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