History of Our Company

The company founder and President, Calvin Johnson started Costless Express in 1989. After hearing how customers had difficulty taking home large purchases from Costco, Calvin created a unique business plan and approached Costco Wholesale to offer in-store delivery and installation. With a beat up pickup truck and a loan from Grandma, Costless Express was born!

Calvin personally made 22,000 home deliveries during the next 10 years. He completely reinvented the company in 1999 while noticing the parking lot of an office building full of delivery trucks. Grand and Toy, Coke, Frito Lay, Dairyland and a coffee company were all trying to deliver at the same time. The wheels of a true entrepreneur started turning. What if a company existed that could deliver everything an office needed at the same time? With the growing popularity of the Internet and a continued partnership with Costco Calvin reinvented Costless Express into a catalogue and Internet retailer of business products – racking up an astounding 2800% growth in five years and a top 5 spot on the Profit 100 fastest growing companies in Canada. Calvin was also honoured as one of Vancouver’s most creative and innovative business people less than 40 years of age with the Business in Vancouver’s 40 Under 40 award.

The Costless Express single source philosophy is built upon delivering commodity business supplies at low prices with exceptional service. Products include office supplies, food and beverage products and facility products. Costless Express publishes and distributes catalogues and sells products online. Costless Express now runs its operations from a central call center and inside Costco warehouses. Innovative inventory, technology and logistics systems allow Costless Express to offer several times the selection of its competitors with free same and next business day delivery at exceptional delivered prices.

Mission Statement

We are committed to providing our customers with convenience, low prices and impeccable service; to being unique and innovative in our philosophies; and to operating at the highest degree of efficiency. We will embrace change and constantly pursue quality solutions. We will take great pride in everything we do...and have fun doing it!

Critical Success Factors at Costless Express

We feel that there are a few critical factors that are most important for the long-term success of Costless Express. Every effort each of our team makes should support the company’s implementation of these facts.

1. Provide impeccable over the top customer satisfaction.
2. Be a great marketer.
3. Be a learning organization.
4. Be a low cost supplier.
5. Be an action and results oriented organization.

Factor # 1 - Provide Impeccable Over The Top Customer Satisfaction

We will have a passion for constantly exceeding customer expectations, doing the ordinary things exceptionally well and constantly finding new ways to satisfy them. Through extensive research, customer feedback and analyses, we will learn our customers’ needs, wants and preferences, those they know of and those they haven’t even thought of yet. We will then focus strongly on meeting and even exceeding them; providing our customer with impeccable over the top customer satisfaction that sets us apart from every other competitor.

Factor # 2 - Be A Great Marketer

Using what we learn about our customers, and with sound marketing discipline, our goal is to market to and satisfy each and every one of our accounts (and individuals within accounts), as they want. We will be aggressive and innovative marketers by product and by market segment.

Factor # 3 - Be A Learning Organization

We must constantly learn from our customers, from the best of other companies, from each other and from other sources. It is a mind-set we must acquire - A never-ending pursuit of knowledge that is the only way we can stay at the leading edge in every area of our business. It is everyone’s responsibility to learn and to teach others about customers and their needs, about our company and about effective business practices.

Factor # 4 - Be A Low Cost Supplier

We will aggressively, relentlessly and constantly drive down operating and product costs to the lowest possible levels without compromising satisfaction, quality, ethics or good business practice in order to provide our customers the greatest possible value.

Factor # 5 - Be An Action And Results Oriented Organization

Success lies in the aggressive and outstanding execution of our strategies and tactics and not just the genius of the strategies and tactics themselves. We will move mountains to achieve our goals. We will constantly strive to improve our performance in every way. But above all else, through a strong organization and excellent work force, we will act quickly aggressively, intelligently, ethically and with every intention of being successful.