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- $1.50 Costco Hot Dogs Forever
$1.50 Costco Hot Dogs Forever
And high impact delegations from Athena members
Katherine Krug
March 16, 2025 • Read Time: 3 minutes
Our aim at Athena is to give you your time back so you can spend it in the ways that matter most.
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$1.50 Costco Hot Dogs Forever
"If you raise the F-ing price, I will kill you."
That's what Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal famously told his COO when approached about raising the price of their iconic $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.
In 2013, the hot dog combo was losing money. The obvious solution was to just raise the price a little.
But Sinegal shut down the idea immediately and added three words:
"Figure it out."
Costco responded by vertically integrating—building their own hot dog factories in Los Angeles and Chicago, switching from Coke to Pepsi to cut costs, and increasing the price of the chicken bake from $2.99 to $3.99 instead.
All without sacrificing quality.
Today, they sell over 100 million hot dogs annually, more than all MLB stadiums combined.
And the price?
Still $1.50, unchanged since 1985.
Great leaders don't micromanage or prescribe solutions. They set clear, non-negotiable guardrails, trust their teams, and get out of the way.
High Impact Delegations from Athena Members
We asked our members what they've delegated recently. Here are a few that caught our eye:
Recovered missed revenue
"I realized we had no system for tracking overdue panoramic X-rays. Patients needed them every 3–5 years, but some hadn’t had one in a decade. Each X-ray is $175—so we were losing revenue without even noticing. I delegated this to my assistant, who now reviews the schedule daily and ensures overdue X-rays are flagged before the patient arrives. This one change paid for their role entirely while improving patient care."
Completely handed off content operations
"I run the blog and newsletter for my company, and I’ve handed all backend operations to my assistant. Once I approve a piece, she handles everything—coordinating with the developer, ensuring quality control, optimizing for SEO, and making sure everything is indexed. This helped me clear my mind to take on more creative topics, but also allowed me to start making key hires for my team.
Prevented future executive micromanagement
"I proactively had my assistant take a Pinterest course—even if she doesn’t run it herself, she now understands it well enough to help hire and manage someone when the time comes. It’s the kind of executive micromanagement I don’t have time for."
Have a delegation recently that’s made a real difference for you?
We’d love to hear about it and share with the community. Hit reply or send a message to us at members@athena.com.
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