Anyone ever started a co-op

[MommyofSeven]

I may have asked this before, now that I think about it.

 

I'm thinking about starting a co-op-ordering from different places quarterly or so, or going up to the upick farms up north of here. I know I did a google search on it awhile back and got stuff about starting a members only store. I don't want to do that, just want to be able to place large orders to get discounts (or order somewhere like herbalcom, where you have to order in 1 lb minimums (1 lb of nutmeg is going to last me YEARS LOL).

 

Any ideas?

 

Mo7

[Suz]

from my days of making soap, the gals who ran co-ops for supplies complained it was a lot of work. With that said,

 

I guess a poll of what people are interested in and from which vendors. Gather pricing data. Figure out repack/ship fees to cover your cost of boxes, tape, gas to the post office etc. How will you work out the reship cost to various ppl around the country? (too early for me to figure that one out lol)

 

When you post your ordering xxx from xxx be very firm the money (paypal? money orders? ) has to be in your hand no later than xxx. In the soaping co-op, I believe the dates not being adhered to caused problems. There was always a few that wanted to be included after the ship sailed.

 

 

Our household budget wouldnt have the wiggle room to buy xxx and wait for ppl to send in their money. Not sure if yours does but you could run the risk of 'the check being in the mail' and getting stuck. Something to think about....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MommyofSeven]

Well, at least to start I am going to do local. We live out in the boonies so going to hfs even isnt an option. I'm thinking whether we're ordering in bulk or driving up to the upick farms, if the shipping etc is absorbed by 10 people, it will be far cheaper for everyone. Plus we have a lot of elders in this community who can't drive, or who are on fixed incomes, who would benefit from this.

 

Mo7

[Suz]

I need to move to your town!

 

If we have a co-op around here, I never found it which to me is weird as we are a rural area.

 

Our Agway does oranges & grapefruit by the order. How about posting flyers or an ad in your local "free press" type paper to poll the community. Ask your local minister, ladies group etc?

 

 

[JCK88]

If you are interested in bulk buys from Emergency Essentials, they will help you find other people in your area interested in joining a buying group. They don't guarantee a group, but if you notify them, they will help with this if they can. (At least they used to do it some years back)

 

I joined an organic farm co-op this year. It' s a first for me, so I'll let you know how it goes. For that, we had to pay up front for the season by a certain date. Then, we got in the mail notification that once harvesting begins we will be quaranteed a certain amount of produce weekly, either Saturday or Wednesday depending on our choice of pick up days. After that, we are allowed to come help pick and take home extra for canning, the amount depending on how much we help.

 

Check with some of the U-pick farms about whether they will sell to you wholesale if you are getting a lot. One of the farms near me has a regular retail farm stand and a wholesale barn in addition to the pick your own. Thus, if you go there to pick blueberries or whatever, you can go over to the wholsale side and buy green beans by the bushel much cheaper than across the street at the farm stand where they are sold by the pound.

 

This is how I get all our fruit and veggies for canning. (Well aside from the ones I plant here at home. My garden is not large at home, the ground is difficult to work. But this year I have incorporated more beds for cucumbers, broccoli and tomatoes and squash.)

 

That being said, you might put up notices in local libraries, laundromats or supermarket bulletin boards where people can contact you. If you go to a church, ask there for interested people.

 

I'd suggest having the deadline cutoff date for collection of money. Anyone late has to wait till next time. And, you could have certain dates where they pick up the stuff at your house or a designated location so you don't have people in and out all the time.

 

I dunno...this sounds like it could be more trouble than it is worth. (but hey,I'm old and tired, so don't listen to me, LOL)

 

 

 

 

[Suz]

Mo7 I now have co-op on the brain, seems everyone has a co-op but moi! Found this and it looks like a winner, hope it helps!

 

http://www.coopdirectory.org/

 

towards the bottom is a bunch of info

 

now if it would only direct me to that 10# box of choco chips Westie was talking about

[Jeepers]

I've been in a few coops. None of them were food or prep stuff though. It works if someone can get a good deal on buying something in bulk. Big quantities. For instance;

 

One person (you) says you will do the coop. Lets say it's nutmeg. You can get a great deal if you buy 10 pounds. You will put it out there that you can get a deal buying in quantity and if anyone wants in they can say how much they want. You say how little of the nutmeg a person can buy ie. 8 oz. You tell how much you can get the nutmeg for, per pound by buying bulk. Let's say it's regular 1.00 a pound but buying bulk you can get it for .60 a pound. You also say the date the order and money has to be made to you. Usually PayPal.

 

You want a pound. I'll take a pound, Mary will take 8 oz. Kathy will take 8 oz. and Ann will take a pound etc.

 

So now I owe you .60 for my pound.

 

You charge each person a 'hostess' fee. That fee covers the cost of shipping the bulk package to you and for the packaging of the nutmeg and sending materials of a box or envelop etc. Let's say 3.00.

 

Before you order, everyone sends you the money for the nutmeg and their hostess fee. I owe you 3.60

 

You order the nutmeg and get it all divided up. Then you say how much it is going to cost to mail it out to each person. After they pay, you send out their order.

 

OR, because it is a light weight product you can just say it will cost 2.00 to send out each package. Then all of the money will be collected all at one time. In that case, I'd owe you .60 for the nutmeg, 3.00 hostess fee and 2.00 for shipping.

 

If something is really light weight, a hostess may charge a one time fee. That will include the shipping and handling. In that case I'd owe you .60 for the nutmeg plus your 3.00 hostess fee which includes the shipping containers and postage, 3.60

 

If I'm going to come to your house to pick up my share of the nutmeg; I'd owe you .60 for the nutmeg plus your hostess fee for the nutmeg container, your gas and time.

 

Those numbers were all made up for ease of explaining!

 

Was that way too much information? I was on a roll there.

[Snowmom]

 

I've been in a co-op for about 30 years now. But, haven't ordered anything these past few years from them.

 

What they did was get together in a home or cafe, and then we had a book that we ordered from. Then when the food stuffs came in, we would meet at a home and then divide it. We had two places we ordered from plus one that had cheese and such. They stopped meeting and were just calling orders to one person, and this just didn't work out for me. Also, when we were able to get things at Sam's at about the same price or less, I just stopped calling orders in.

 

There was also one that had a store in town, and the store has stopped being a co-op and is now a market type place. You can buy bulk now from there and they have all kinds of spices, and I'm not sure just what all they do have now. They also serve lunches there.