So – are you part of the supermarket or something?

Through the course of selling the products and services of Co-operative Web to new customers one of the things I most encounter is an ignorance of what a Co-operative actually is.  I'm sure that even some of our current customers think of us as being part of some massive company called the Co-operative and to be honest due to some of the complications of retail sales this image is being propagated out in the advertising by retail Co-operatives in this country - but I am getting ahead of myself... 

A Co-operative is a way of running a business, with a set of rules which need to be adhered to in order to call itself one.  The basic premise is one of self-help, joint ownership and democratic control.  Unfortunately it then gets a bit more complicated as there are a number of different variants; including Consumer Co-operatives (which include groups of supermarkets that you see on the high street) and Worker Co-operatives (which is what Co-operative Web are). 

Consumer Co-operatives are a business that is owned by the people who use the service that they provide.  I think it helps to think about where it all came from: in 19th century Britain items which were vital for survival such as flour and sugar were really expensive to purchase for oneself but by clubbing together and buying in bulk the price could be brought down.  So that is what they did - and through this cooperation items could be bought and the savings enjoyed by everybody.   So, when you go to your local supermarket and they ask you to join for a £1 contribution what you are actually doing is taking ownership of part of the business (it has to be noted that you are owning part of a business that isn’t all of the supermarkets called “the Co-operative” as they are actually organised in regional groups but that is something I will, no doubt, come back to later).

A worker Co-operative is a different proposition but following a similar “let’s all get together and help each other” principle.  So instead of needing to buy something we we switch it for all need to work - i.e. a group of individuals get together and perform a task.  The company that is formed to do this work is still owned and controlled by members but in this case the members are the workers of the company.  The fruits of the company can then be shared out between these workers in an equal and fair way; benefiting those who actually do the work rather than those who sit at the top with the money to open the companies in the first place.  This was done for many different reasons, I guess the main one back in the early history of the Co-operative movement was to give work to people in an area/industry which wasn’t considered that profitable for a company to make much out of but the workers wanted employment and it made them enough...  I think in the world of today being a Worker Co-operative has a huge amount of relevance and potential to shake up the way companies work – but for now I will save that rant for another day!   

I’ve tried to give an impression of what Co-operatives are here, and the kinds of things that they can stand for.  There is a lot more (including the rules, ethics & values involved with Co-operative business), stuff I will touch on as this blog evolves but if you are keen to know more – or the actual history that I’ve paraphrased above then check out “What is a Co-operative” on the Co-operatives UK site (Co-operatives UK is the apex organisation for Co-operatives in the UK