Costco | PERSON

In this photo taken March 9, 2010, Raymond Cirimele, 55, displays his Costco membership card outside his home in Chicago. Cirimele is one of at least 245 people in 44 states who have been sickened by a recent salmonella outbreak. Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries and followed the trail of grocery purchases to a Rhode Island company that makes salami, then zeroed in on the pepper used to season the meat. He said no one asked for his shopper card data, but he would have provided it if someone had. "I don't have any secrets, so I'm not worried about it," he said."It's kind of like the whole airport security and all that. I'd rather fly on a safe plane."

Costco customers wait in the check-out line at Costco in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Many retailers are reporting solid sales gains for February, even in the face of falling consumer confidence and heavy snowstorms that hammered the East Coast.

A Costco employee cooks chicken at Costco in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Many retailers are reporting solid sales gains for February, even in the face of falling consumer confidence and heavy snowstorms that hammered the East Coast.

In this photo made March 3, 2010, customers look at bagels at Costco in Mountain View, Calif. Prices at the wholesale level plunged in February by the largest amount in seven months as a big drop in energy prices offset higher food costs.

In this March 3, 2010 photo, a Costco worker changes the price sign at Costco in Mountain View, Calif. Businesses trimmed inventories at the wholesale level again in January even though sales rose for a 10th consecutive month. The dip in inventories underscored that businesses remain cautious about restocking their depleted shelves.