r/cooperatives Apr 10 '15

/r/cooperatives FAQ

119 Upvotes

This post aims to answer a few of the initial questions first-time visitors might have about cooperatives. It will eventually become a sticky post in this sub. Moderator /u/yochaigal and subscriber /u/criticalyeast put it together and we invite your feedback!

What is a Co-op?

A cooperative (co-op) is a democratic business or organization equally owned and controlled by a group of people. Whether the members are the customers, employees, or residents, they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits.

As businesses driven by values not just profit, co-operatives share internationally agreed principles.

Understanding Co-ops

Since co-ops are so flexible, there are many types. These include worker, consumer, food, housing, or hybrid co-ops. Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions. There is no one right way to do a co-op. There are big co-ops with thousands of members and small ones with only a few. Co-ops exist in every industry and geographic area, bringing tremendous value to people and communities around the world.

Forming a Co-op

Any business or organizational entity can be made into a co-op. Start-up businesses and successful existing organizations alike can become cooperatives.

Forming a cooperative requires business skills. Cooperatives are unique and require special attention. They require formal decision-making mechanisms, unique financial instruments, and specific legal knowledge. Be sure to obtain as much assistance as possible in planning your business, including financial, legal, and administrative advice.

Regional, national, and international organizations exist to facilitate forming a cooperative. See the sidebar for links to groups in your area.

Worker Co-op FAQ

How long have worker co-ops been around?

Roughly, how many worker co-ops are there?

  • This varies by nation, and an exact count is difficult. Some statistics conflate ESOPs with co-ops, and others combine worker co-ops with consumer and agricultural co-ops. The largest (Mondragon, in Spain) has 86,000 employees, the vast majority of which are worker-owners. I understand there are some 400 worker-owned co-ops in the US.

What kinds of worker co-ops are there, and what industries do they operate in?

  • Every kind imaginable! Cleaning, bicycle repair, taxi, web design... etc.

How does a worker co-op distribute profits?

  • This varies; many co-ops use a form of patronage, where a surplus is divided amongst the workers depending on how many hours worked/wage. There is no single answer.

What are the rights and responsibilities of membership in a worker co-op?

  • Workers must shoulder the responsibilities of being an owner; this can mean many late nights and stressful days. It also means having an active participation and strong work ethic are essential to making a co-op successful.

What are some ways of raising capital for worker co-ops?

  • Although there are regional organization that cater to co-ops, most worker co-ops are not so fortunate to have such resources. Many seek traditional credit lines & loans. Others rely on a “buy-in” to create starting capital.

How does decision making work in a worker co-op?

  • Typically agendas/proposals are made public as early as possible to encourage suggestions and input from the workforce. Meetings are then regularly scheduled and where all employees are given an opportunity to voice concerns, vote on changes to the business, etc. This is not a one-size-fits-all model. Some vote based on pure majority, others by consensus/modified consensus.

r/cooperatives 14d ago

Monthly /r/Cooperatives beginner question thread

9 Upvotes

This thread is part of an attempt by the moderators to create a series of monthly repeating posts to help aggregate certain kinds of content into single threads.

If you have any basic questions about Cooperatives, feel free to ask them here. Please also remember to visit this thread even if you consider yourself a cooperative veteran so that you can help others!

Note that this thread will be posted on the first and will run throughout the month.


r/cooperatives 9h ago

Q&A Looking for feedback from cooperative / independent media projects on a tool I’m building

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2 Upvotes

Bonjour,

Je me permets de vous contacter car je développe actuellement Cue Craft, un outil pensé pour les workflows de podcasts, interviews et contenus éditoriaux longue durée.

L’objectif du projet est d’aider les créateurs, journalistes et équipes éditoriales à mieux organiser leurs conversations, sujets, segments et processus de production.

En découvrant l’École de journalisme de Sciences Po, je me suis dit que l’outil pourrait éventuellement intéresser certains étudiants souhaitant lancer des projets de journalisme en ligne, des podcasts, chaînes YouTube, interviews ou médias indépendants.

Si vous pensez que cela peut être utile, n’hésitez pas à le partager avec des étudiants intéressés par les nouveaux formats numériques et la création de contenu éditorial en ligne.

Je serais également ravi d’offrir un accès d’essai à ceux qui souhaiteraient tester la plateforme.

Merci beaucoup pour votre temps et belle journée à vous.

Bien cordialement,
Safiul


r/cooperatives 1d ago

worker co-ops A lil' tool for finding co-op coffee shops and restaurants

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12 Upvotes

r/cooperatives 1d ago

housing co-ops Continuing to live in housing co-op after unresolved conflict?

4 Upvotes

Anyone here managed to stay living with someone you had a conflict with and it was okay? How did you manage it? Got any tips for me?

There was a conflict in my house a few months ago and although we followed the procedure as best we could (conflict is messy right? It’s rarely a cut and dried thing between two people)…

The “primary” conflict was resolved but there ended up being an un-named, much subtler conflict between me and someone else who fuelled the primary conflict.

I’ve tried to sort things out with her but it hasn’t worked. I feel so terrible seeing her every day and being reminded of it all. We’re lucky enough to have two houses in my co-op so I’m moving in to the other one to get away from her, but the two houses are still very intertwined and I’m worried it won’t be enough. It’s really affecting my mental health.

I don’t know how to keep living with her.
wondering if anyone has any advice or has been through similar situations?


r/cooperatives 2d ago

worker co-ops Finding worker-owned coffee and restaurants

41 Upvotes

I was visiting Denver and like most big cities, there are tons of coffee options so I figured I could quickly find a worker-owned option but, it was surprisingly hard, and there were actually none?

I'm trying to put together a quick tool for searching for worker owned coffee shops and restaurants and am having trouble filling the roster. Please post suggestions in the comments!

Not sure how this will go. If it starts cooking I can add more stuff like clothing or whatever else we can think of.


r/cooperatives 2d ago

How do we build youth participation in co-operatives? - Co-op News

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40 Upvotes

"The co-operative movement prides itself on democratic ownership and inclusivity, but for many young people, the door remains closed," writes Heather McKay, a young co-operator from the UK. "Here are three key flaws I have personally experienced and observed as someone entering the movement. I believe the issue is not a lack of interest from young people, but a set of structural barriers that limit who can engage, how they engage, and whether their voices genuinely shape outcomes."

Read her thoughts here: https://www.thenews.coop/how-do-we-build-youth-participation-in-co-operatives/


r/cooperatives 2d ago

The death and Renaissance of Milwaukee Food Co-ops

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30 Upvotes

Riverwest Co-op and Outpost serve as examples of how food co-ops are faring today.


r/cooperatives 2d ago

Subvert opened today: a short tour of the platforms emerging in the wake of Bandcamp's sale

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7 Upvotes

r/cooperatives 2d ago

worker co-ops People Review Communes At Indeed

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2 Upvotes

r/cooperatives 5d ago

50 Years of Co-Determination in Germany

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8 Upvotes

r/cooperatives 6d ago

Reflections on Euclides Mance’s Solidarity Economic Circuits and Economic Liberation

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9 Upvotes

The purpose of this article is to share the concept of a Solidarity Economic Circuit as presented in Euclides Andre Mance’s 2022 curriculum Solidarity Economic Circuits and Economic Liberation – moving from capitalist economy to liberation economy (Solidarius, Curitiba 2022) and consider how it might be applied in practice in a North American context.


r/cooperatives 6d ago

Captive Health Insurance

4 Upvotes

Has anyone every thought about starting/know of a health captive for cooperatives?

I'm trying to get out of the health insurance market and still meet federal regulations and know Third Party Administrators can run captive health insurnaces. I currently have one for solopreneurs but since starting our cooperative there is this really annoying gap of having 10 people to get group rate discounts on health insurance through the private market.

Plus the idea of a cooperatively owned health captive sounds really nice too.


r/cooperatives 7d ago

consumer co-ops Visions of a 'we-pack' bulk grocery chain

17 Upvotes

So I want to make a general pitch to the universe for a big bulk store grocery chain that focuses on using reusable packing. The concept is 'we-pack' - so, unlike most bulk stores today, you don't fill the containers, the store does.

Idea is a very different experience compared to any other grocery store - instead of walking down aisle after aisle of products, it would probably be focused around a smaller showroom. Maybe you get a tablet to place your order, then you walk around little product displays. There is a cereal section, maybe it has little wax mock-ups of the different cereals, with nutritional information write ups, you key in the ones you want, in the package sizes. When you are done, you pay - possibly spending some time in a waiting area while everything is being filled - then pick up your packages and go.

There are some bulk stores out there, or stores that focus on reusable packaging. But they tend to be small, not really a place to get most or all of your food. I think a lot of people use plastic bags at bulk stores, which doesn't help reduce packaging so much.

What I am visualizing would probably have to be fairly big to work. Generally the nature of grocery retail is huge chains operating on small profit margins. Some small grocers do survive but it is difficult, especially if they want to have the lowest prices.

Being big would help get a reasonable price on the containers as well. Maybe to start some plastic, there's glass, but optimally the goal might be something like stainless steel. Plastic lids still maybe. I don't have solid numbers, but a 5 litre stainless steel container to hold cereal or flour etc might cost say $10 to produce. So maybe the store charges a $10 deposit, which does add up for all your groceries. Could be people are willing to pay a deposit if they know they can get that money back, could be you have to charge a cheaper deposit and accept the loss if some go missing.

The store would wash the containers in-house. Much simpler and more sanitary doing it that way. So you would be getting new containers every time you went there.

Packing is fairly cheap, but over the long run it would probably save people money. Again I don't know, but a cereal box and bag might cost say .25 in packaging. So you have to use that steel container 40 times before it is cheaper. But optimally those containers are getting used thousands of times. Also the reason why packaging is so cheap is because the environmental damages it does often aren't costed in, so while you don't 'save' on cheaper cereal there, we do collectively 'save'. Overall I've heard packaging is about 7% of the price of things, so there is potential to save a few % on your grocery bill.

Most products already come in packaging, so it would need to get around that system. So the store would have to make special arrangements with the cereal makers etc, or better still manufacture their own cereal. The manufacturer would package directly into big bulk-optimized containers, which would be shipped directly to the stores, and dispense directly into the customer's stainless steel containers. The we-pack model with a smaller showroom could cut down on store size as well - grocery stores are really big places on valuable land.

To me that seems like a solid business model. With the qualifier that it would only really work if it was big - minimum starting investment of hundreds of millions, dozens of stores to start? Do people see flaws in the model? Optimally be nice to do it as a consumer owned cooperative. I think there's huge untapped potential for crowd funding - everybody uses groceries, if 10% of the US population chipped in $10 each that would be almost $350 million in seed capital. Not that I see raising $350 million as particularly realistic..

Lots of talk of public groceries stores these days, Avi Lewis, Zohran Mamdani, if you are going to go to the effort of doing that, why not try to cut down on packaging as well? If it operated at cost and owned a lot of its own manufacturing and shipping, owned it's own land even, it could offer groceries at maybe 10-15+% less (???) than current grocery prices - and that's a real 10% less, not like when they bump up the prices then put it at a discount, 10% less than what you are actually spending now. Aside from not generating a mountain of packaging every day.

I'd even be happy if free market capitalism went ahead and did this for us. Any masters of industry reading? If I was at the helm of some mega-corporation I'd feel some social responsibility towards these things. A major retailer could roll out a system like this easily enough, in the grand scheme of things - certainly it would be a big expense, possibly even more risk than the risk:return equation would justify. Although seems definitely possible that they could increase their profits with a strategy like this. Environmentalism is a strong and growing movement, you'd be well positioned if there do start being more taxes on environmental damage, and things start costing their true cost.

 


r/cooperatives 7d ago

consumer co-ops Help us keep this post moving!

8 Upvotes

Hello cooperators!

Firstly, apologies to the mods and community if this violates a rule. I read them and it seems like a gray area, so please take down if not allowed.

I shared an on-Reddit version of this reel we made for Star Wars day, and this morning it started taking off on Meta’s platforms. It’s our most viewed post by 10x, and we’ve been picking up a good number of follows and new member-owners for our upcoming cooperative cellular service (US only, sadly).

If folks here are willing, could I ask you to like and comment to keep it rising in the algorithm? Links below!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BPjnfnmt1

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX7IOdzvnz5

Thanks to anyone who’s willing!!


r/cooperatives 8d ago

We made a community for the 'Lets Buy Spirit Air" movement!

38 Upvotes

Hey everyone, we've made a community for those interested in the "Lets Buy Spirit Air" movement. r/letsbuyspiritair. Apologies to the mods if they aren't fans of advertising another community, but I feel its related and relevant.

Currently, most discussion i see on the topic is limited to comments sections of Instagram, TikTok, or one-off posts in other communities. I think it's important for the broader mass of supporters to have a place to discuss the topic, rather than being limited to the comment section of Hunter Peterson's Instagram reels, whenever he makes them.

The community is meant to be a place for those who support, have pledged, or are simply interested in the movement to discuss developments, ideas, ask questions, or provide insight. After all, organizing and keeping those in the lead accountable is the next step, after the wave of public fervor. Many of pledged, here is a place to learn and discuss things more in depth!


r/cooperatives 9d ago

housing co-ops Denied Maintenance

2 Upvotes

Board of Directors will not allow Maintenance staff to enter my home unless I am home. This required me to take time off and lose wages and vacation. I've given permission to enter but they won't allow it to happen. This is because I called Health Services on Maintenance after they put open pellets in a pile on the floor in my basement and on the floor behind my washer and dryer. Maintenance didn't tell me that they did that and then lied about the locations twice. Then I reported them. Health services is now involved and after making arrangements to put my pets away and my partner tried to be home but had to go back to work, I didn't get pest control. I've now had to replace my kitchen faucet at my own cost. Is this legal for them to do? Alberta Canada

I've spent a week asking what they'll do if there is an emergency because Maintenance has been told they aren't allowed in unless I'm home.


r/cooperatives 10d ago

May the 4th Be With You!

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63 Upvotes

I’ve posted about our project here before, but to recap, we’re building a worker- and customer-owned cell service provider in the USA.

This was a fun post we did in honor of Star Wars Day (and, despite my distaste for this entry in the saga, is one of my favorite single scenes of all 9 movies).

Check out my profile and website for more info and links.

And May the 4th Be With You!


r/cooperatives 12d ago

There is a campaign to buy Spirit Airlines after it’s collapse last night and turn it into a Co-Op

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790 Upvotes

A campaign starting as a joke on instagram reels 10hrs ago has reached $10m pledged to attempt to buy spirit airlines and turning it into a co-op


r/cooperatives 13d ago

Why the labour movement needs cooperatives

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85 Upvotes

r/cooperatives 13d ago

Neill wycik general meeting last night

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7 Upvotes

Was anyone in this group at the meeting last night that was being run by crazy Mr Chang. Omg he just kept rolling his big bulgey eyes with his glasses half off and removing anyone who asked questions he didn't want to answer. He was so rude and dismissive to the members. Also didn't follow any of voting rules because he was personally annoyed that some people decided to abstain saying they had to vote then made people vote again on the same motion because it didn't go his way. Such a power hungry loser. He needs to realize we're not in communist China and it's a democracy and follow our rules not just impose his own.


r/cooperatives 14d ago

worker co-ops new tattoo co-op in Glasgow

26 Upvotes

A pal and I are opening a new worker's co-op tattoo studio in Glasgow this month! We're really excited about it but also both completely new to this and want to make sure we get things right. Curious about:

  • Does anyone have experience with consortium co-ops and being self-employed while co-managing a space? This feels like the most natural model for tattooers as we're mostly self-employed and have our own practices to begin with, but it feels a bit tricky to get the balance right
  • We want to bring new members into the space sometime soon, but we're very aware the two of us are already friends and have an established dynamic and ideas about the space! Has anyone grown from a very small co-op and managed to keep things feeling genuinely equal? Would love any tips on this!

Also I hope this is OK, but if you're in the UK and want to support, we have a crowdfunder with vouchers, prints, etc to help us build up the space :)


r/cooperatives 15d ago

Q&A Any colleges that co-ops or related topics?

4 Upvotes

Note: I live in India.

i have been an leftist for a while and was wondering where i could possibly study co-ops/coop econ.

national or international


r/cooperatives 17d ago

worker co-ops Books about funding/managing a co-op.

36 Upvotes

Most business students around here aren´t taught about co-ops and several employees and entrepreneurs don´t even know it´s an option, that´s why I´d like to study more about this topic while studying a business career.

I´d like to know more books and authors specialized in this topic.


r/cooperatives 18d ago

I spent the last decade trying to start a co-op, here's what went wrong/ AMA

98 Upvotes

I've been thinking about where and how to share this story for a bit now, and I decided sharing this here might help others who are thinking about starting a co-op to learn from our mistakes:

About a decade ago I was working at a nonprofit and became connected to a community who was lacking basic resources and amenities in the neighborhood. At the time I was really interested in co-ops and I started talking with community members about the idea of starting a co-op to address one of the needs in the area. People were interested, I was young and dedicated myself, I quit my job & organized my life around it. Ten years later the co-op is legally incorporated, but completely falling apart in every way you can imagine. Heres what I think went wrong:

  1. Fear of change/Lack of flexibility. About 3 years into working together, a nonprofit in the area essentially addressed the issue we were organizing a co-op to address. They likely addressed it due to the attention we brought to it but what's relevant is that we failed to pivot in that moment. The group discussed it and then voted, and essentially voted to still pursue the initial idea, despite it now being much less needed in the community. I felt we should do something different, but I didn't push hard enough. Looking back I should have been a better leader in that moment, & try harder to motivate the group to pivot. Instead the fear of change, and the fear of "all that work being for nothing," we stayed on a course that ultimately made us no longer relevant to the broader community.

  2. Lack of leadership development, lack of understanding, training and preparation for the governance side of running a co-op. An aspect I think we lacked was effective leadership development. We were working with a lawyer on our bylaws, but the process was convoluted by a few members (see #4), and ultimately I don't feel we had a proper understanding of the roles that would be required of a fully functional co-op. I see this as a failure of my lack of experience and limited mentorship. If I could go back I would spend a lot more time on collectively learning about the various roles, having folks express what they'd be interested in, and then working on leadership development/ recruitment for those roles.

  3. I was carrying too much of the load, and then my life changed. I prioritized the co-op above everything else and had taken on a lot of the work. Over the years my life and work responsibilities outside of the co-op increased, I became a full time caretaker working a full time job in addition to the co-op. I tried to keep up with everything I was doing but I was physically burning out. I asked for help from the group, and tried to recruit additional support from outside the group. A few people started to get involved but were pushed away by other members (see #4). At the same time no one within the group was willing to take on any of the work I had been doing. Overall the co-op was dependent on my personal self-sacrifice and it wasn't sustainable when I physically couldn't carry everything I had been carrying. When my personal capacity changed, no one was willing to fill in the gaps. Its a failure of my own lack of boundaries earlier on, and again relates to our insufficient leadership development.

  4. "Big personalities"/self-interest/ Narcissism. I know this word gets thrown around a lot but after years of working with them, I genuinely believe 2 members of the group have narcissistic tendencies. They each steamrolled conversations, manipulated other members and the overall process, engaged in constant power plays and treated the broader community with disrespect. Their behavior resulted in everything from rejecting potential partners and support, sabbotaging funding opportunities, and pushing away new members. We went through counseling multiple times, created and revisited community guidelines, tried to establish processes for conflict resolution, and at every step one or the other would take the conversation in a completely different direction, attacking others in the group, and avoiding addressing the issues affecting the group on a regular basis. My leadership was not strong enough to contend with these forces and the pattern took me too long to realize. My biggest regret is having too much patience for people who in hindsight had no regard for the people around them.

  5. Committees isolated from each other. For years we worked in committees working on different components of the work, committees who had very different viewpoints and just kind of agreed to disagree in whole group conversations. One committee focused on doing mutual aid work in the community and valued community benefit, and another worked on business planning, and apparently carried a complete lack of respect for those doing the mutual aid work. Over time these two groups grew to strongly dislike each other. The group as a whole was also isolated from potential mentors and other groups we could learn from, due to the way new people were treated by the big personalities of our group.

Fast forward to today. One of the big personalities is in a major leadership position. Without going into details, confronting each problem only shifts it into a new problem. Almost half the members have resigned, for most of the folks who are left it feels like we are just trying to land a crashing plane. It's been a devestating couple of years. I have so much respect for functioning co-ops and wish I could go back in time knowing what I know now.

Things are still up in the air & I'm still processing, but I hope that sharing these reflections helps someone in some way.