co-ops

[MsBirdie]

I am kind of new into this whole idea. can you explain to me what your co op is or how it is run. What are the pros and cons of being in a co-op?

I recently found a local organic one but would like to get more information.

thanks so much

[swimswamswum]

We belong to a food co-op. Ours is an actual store (physical building) that is democratically run by its member/owners. We vote on the board of directors. Any major decision has to have a certain number of member votes. Ours is also open to the public. The benefits of joining are partially financial- we get discounts on special orders and there are certain member only sales. We joined more for philosophical reasons than financial. I like that no one is making a profit on our food. I like that fair trade and living wages are goals in the business dealings. I like that the animals that give us milk, eggs and meat are treated well. I like that most produce, meat and dairy comes from my state. I like voting. I am pretty sure that when we move from our city, we can get most of the money back that we paid to join.

We go to our co-op the same way that we go to the regular grocery store. I know that some co-ops are smaller and don't have physical buildings with cash registers. Hopefully someone who knows more about them will explain how those work.

[avendesora]

Our coop is a bit different - it's in a church, so it's only 'open' two hours a week. Everyone works some.

Our membership fee is $40/year, and our markup is only 5-10% above wholesale.

Work is often only 2 hrs/month - and it can be setup, running the cash register, clean up, ordering, etc.

We buy a lot of produce from a farm that is 2 hrs away - close enough to be 'local' but far enough that no one wants to drive there themselves That farm also is a produce distributer so we can get bananas, avocados, etc as well as the local spinach, kale, berries, tomatoes.

We don't just do produce, but we try to limit the dry goods we have on hand due to lack of storage space. Most dry goods are special ordered. Special orders are only as good as you choose them to be - our dry good distributer sells lots of things - including highly processed boca burgers, etc. We buy Annie's whole wheat organic mac & cheese by the case, yum.

You'll have to go ask your coop how they do things - there's a lot of variety as to how coops work.

Aven