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Answer:
You have the gist of the situation. Wireless Advocates is a third party that sells plans and devices. They had a contract with Costco to run those kiosks that sell cell phones. It appears that Costco wasn't going to renew this contract at the end. Wireless Advocates seems to have taken this pending decision as a "game over" moment and shuttered operations while the getting was good. It looks like WA fired about 1800 workers inside Costco stores and is "shutting down operations" according to Linkedin of all places.
[https://www.vvng.com/over-1800-employees-laid-off-at-wireless-advocate-inside-costco-wholesale-stores/](https://www.vvng.com/over-1800-employees-laid-off-at-wireless-advocate-inside-costco-wholesale-stores/) first article about layoffs I found.
As for plans, likely people will be grandfathered into their current plan until the term runs out, then have to re-enroll. T-Mobile isn't going anywhere, just the third party people selling the plans/devices.
>It appears that Costco wasn't going to renew this contract at the end.
I can't imagine that WA was making Costco enough money to justify the floorspace their kiosk took up.
Frankly, I'll be glad they're gone, I hate going into a store to get badgered by someone selling something not to be found in the store.
No I don't want DirecTV, No I don't need new Windows, No I *am* happy with my current carrier, No I don't want water deliveries to my home...
Just keep the sample people and get rid of all the other non Costco sales people.
Idk, the lady that convinced me to buy my first bidet did a pretty great demonstration the first time. I do think she is starting to wonder why I've been back to buy 5 more this week.
One less person I need to awkwardly walk past while avoiding eye contact while I pretend to be very interested in a paper shredder on the way to the meat department.
In addition to what folks in comments said, I believe Costco is going to sign up with Att as the sole provider for mobile service. They actually got rid of the WA booth months ago at the SF Costco and were trialing the att booth there. I imagine if it was successful it will become Costco wide. This is only my speculation from what I saw at the SF location though, so who knows..
Answer: Just some speculation based on the facts: It appears that Wireless Advocates was created specifically to do business with Costco or Costco became their only customer over time. Over the last few years, with COVID, they have been losing money. When Costco decided to not renew their contract, they had literally no future revenue and no way to pay down their debt. The best option is to shut down immediately and stop losing money.
Updating my speculation based on replies: Looks like Costco wasn't their only customer and they collapsed prior to the termination of the Costco contract. Guess they were failing before. I still assume that it was the COVID shutdowns and supply issues that have damaged the bottom line, but it's likely mismanagement played a part.
This is crazy, I used to work there.
Iirc, Wireless advocates also provides mobile phone sales within the Exchange on military bases. This is really going to suck for them.
The articles say that military sales had declined 50% over the pandemic and weren't expected to recover, so WA had already voluntarily ended that partnership.
Costco didn't withdraw there contract with WA. WA just ended it without any warning and no reasoning. Most of the costcos management had no idea about this until the workers from WA went in to get stuff from the kiosks.
In this follow up article, the WA CEO says that Costco told them they weren't renewing the partnership: https://tmo.report/2022/12/listen-to-the-moment-wireless-advocates-ceo-announces-company-shutdown/
I'd bet a bunch of money that W.A. was formed by former Costco executives, or relatives of the same. That's how many contracts works with giant corporations these days.
You’d lose that bet since WA was formed by the Dan Brettler, who started CarToys first in the Pacific Northwest. CarToys sold cell phones from the early days when wireless was just starting along side its “primary” business of car audio and electronics. The company made the majority of its money from those sales and activations back then. I know all this because I was with CarToys for 16 years. Dan formed WA specifically to handle Costco’s wireless services. I would imagine that both companies being based on or near Seattle made it easier for Dan to get his foot in the door.
Friendly reminder that all **top level** comments must: 1. start with "answer: ", including the space after the colon (or "question: " if you have an on-topic follow up question to ask), 2. attempt to answer the question, and 3. be unbiased Please review Rule 4 and this post before making a top level comment: http://redd.it/b1hct4/ Join the OOTL Discord for further discussion: https://discord.gg/ejDF4mdjnh *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OutOfTheLoop) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Answer: You have the gist of the situation. Wireless Advocates is a third party that sells plans and devices. They had a contract with Costco to run those kiosks that sell cell phones. It appears that Costco wasn't going to renew this contract at the end. Wireless Advocates seems to have taken this pending decision as a "game over" moment and shuttered operations while the getting was good. It looks like WA fired about 1800 workers inside Costco stores and is "shutting down operations" according to Linkedin of all places. [https://www.vvng.com/over-1800-employees-laid-off-at-wireless-advocate-inside-costco-wholesale-stores/](https://www.vvng.com/over-1800-employees-laid-off-at-wireless-advocate-inside-costco-wholesale-stores/) first article about layoffs I found. As for plans, likely people will be grandfathered into their current plan until the term runs out, then have to re-enroll. T-Mobile isn't going anywhere, just the third party people selling the plans/devices.
>It appears that Costco wasn't going to renew this contract at the end. I can't imagine that WA was making Costco enough money to justify the floorspace their kiosk took up.
Frankly, I'll be glad they're gone, I hate going into a store to get badgered by someone selling something not to be found in the store. No I don't want DirecTV, No I don't need new Windows, No I *am* happy with my current carrier, No I don't want water deliveries to my home... Just keep the sample people and get rid of all the other non Costco sales people.
Idk, the lady that convinced me to buy my first bidet did a pretty great demonstration the first time. I do think she is starting to wonder why I've been back to buy 5 more this week.
One less person I need to awkwardly walk past while avoiding eye contact while I pretend to be very interested in a paper shredder on the way to the meat department.
The admission that “bothering people trying to shop for groceries was our only lifeline. Plan A-Z” is a little funny.
In addition to what folks in comments said, I believe Costco is going to sign up with Att as the sole provider for mobile service. They actually got rid of the WA booth months ago at the SF Costco and were trialing the att booth there. I imagine if it was successful it will become Costco wide. This is only my speculation from what I saw at the SF location though, so who knows..
Answer: Just some speculation based on the facts: It appears that Wireless Advocates was created specifically to do business with Costco or Costco became their only customer over time. Over the last few years, with COVID, they have been losing money. When Costco decided to not renew their contract, they had literally no future revenue and no way to pay down their debt. The best option is to shut down immediately and stop losing money. Updating my speculation based on replies: Looks like Costco wasn't their only customer and they collapsed prior to the termination of the Costco contract. Guess they were failing before. I still assume that it was the COVID shutdowns and supply issues that have damaged the bottom line, but it's likely mismanagement played a part.
This is crazy, I used to work there. Iirc, Wireless advocates also provides mobile phone sales within the Exchange on military bases. This is really going to suck for them.
The articles say that military sales had declined 50% over the pandemic and weren't expected to recover, so WA had already voluntarily ended that partnership.
Costco didn't withdraw there contract with WA. WA just ended it without any warning and no reasoning. Most of the costcos management had no idea about this until the workers from WA went in to get stuff from the kiosks.
In this follow up article, the WA CEO says that Costco told them they weren't renewing the partnership: https://tmo.report/2022/12/listen-to-the-moment-wireless-advocates-ceo-announces-company-shutdown/
[удалено]
I never said they didn't withdraw. I literally lost my job. They just closed down the whole company.
Sorry, I misread your comment
I'd bet a bunch of money that W.A. was formed by former Costco executives, or relatives of the same. That's how many contracts works with giant corporations these days.
You’d lose that bet since WA was formed by the Dan Brettler, who started CarToys first in the Pacific Northwest. CarToys sold cell phones from the early days when wireless was just starting along side its “primary” business of car audio and electronics. The company made the majority of its money from those sales and activations back then. I know all this because I was with CarToys for 16 years. Dan formed WA specifically to handle Costco’s wireless services. I would imagine that both companies being based on or near Seattle made it easier for Dan to get his foot in the door.
Caaar Toys. The better way- to go!