I have a new Co-op in my community. It's such a wonderful addition and I like shopping in a place who's goal and thinking about sustainable living and where our food comes from is in line with mine. I have been thinking about becoming a member and this video made that decision a no-brainer.
I have a small co-op grocery in my area. They have a diverse selection & the best customer experience I've had in my life. After my unsavory experience shopping at other stores, it's a welcome change.
I mean whether you are a Co-op or a regular business... You still have to respond to the community you are selling products to. If you don't you go out of business or have to become a niche catering to a minority of the people in the area you sell to at a small scale. Also any Grocery could probably show where the food came from unless the particular product is made with food from several sources. Technically any store has a right to refuse service, but most don't cause they want people to shop. Especially grocery stores so... how is that different? I guess it's not in every grocery but in a couple local grocery stores also sell things in the loose style, and there are plenty of stores that sell food in bulk. Honestly most of the things in this video... aren't different from any grocery store inherently. My question becomes "How do you become a member, what are the costs or commitments, and what do you get by being a co-op member?"
@Ivan Michel You are uninformed about what it means for something to be capitalist. Capitalism =\= markets, there were markets long before capitalism was even thought of. Socialism is when the workers own the mean of production and given that this is a democratized work place where everyone has a voice and there aren't any bosses, food co-ops like this qualify as socialist.
@Ivan Michel Its neither communisms nor neolibralism / globalism people call "capitalism" these days. Its a business model that is pro social and pro community. I'll invent a word for it since you need a nice label to box it into... social capitalism it comes out of the underrated and forgotten and sometimes call an oxymoron libertarians socialism type thinking.
@@imomako What you said is true but that word means authoritarian centralized state controlled left wing these days which creates the same result as global neoliberalism/neoconservatism. Its members have right of free association so you can also argue its capitalisms. Those labels are not important what really is that it is decentralized by the community for the community. But if you need a label its from forgot left wing school of say libertarian socialism or something.
Cooperatives worldwide share the same values and are made to operate within those ideas, they can be implemented anywhere thats why theyre so great! The british co-op is one of the biggest and oldests of cooperative food stores but there are plenty of them in Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, and Italy just to say a few, they are different entities tho :)
So most banks will give a loan to members wanting to start a co-op talk to you’re local bank if you don’t have the funds.. The way a co-op works is all who are starting it or if it’s just a couple people they all pitch in to get it started, all decisions of the workplace are made as a group together, democratically. One person one vote, people hire and fire as a group and if it gets big enough and to busy to always decide on things together you guys can decide on management and replace them if they abuse there power. It basically puts all decisions in the hands of the members/ workers themselves. All profits are also decided as a group, how much should be saved for things that have to do with the business or bonus cash for the members. It’s very profitable and a very good thing for working people, traditionally one person would soak up all the benefits and profits for his own pleasures privately, a worker co-op on the other hand is about team work and everyone who helps keep the business alive. Everyone in a worker co-op benefits at a higher rate then traditional business. The key to a co-op tho is try starting a business that differs from competition or try starting something that has no competition in you’re area.
Socialism doesn't have to be authoritarian, and I'd argue that co-ops are a vital step towards anti-authoritarian socialism They decommodify and collectivize industry without handing it over to the state
@@auskipper your literally into 10,000 genders and other wokism and think Tim pool is nothing but grifter. I wouldn't trust you at all your subverting centralization commie.
@@wucash5672 Good job looking at my RU-vid channel and then immediately assuming everything about my beliefs That Tim Pool video was a shitpost and I have a slightly better opinion of him than I used to (still don't like him but I don't think he's a total grifter) I don't believe in 10,000 genders either, if you can find a quote where I've said that feel free But let's say that I did believe in 10,000 genders, or that I thought Tim Pool was a grifter - what the fuck does that have to do with centralization? Also, while I haven't made a video on anything like this yet (I have 3 proper videos), I have a very negative opinion of tankies/authoritarian lefties. If a leftist or a socialist defends China, or the USSR, or any other dictatorships, then I instantly lose respect for them
