The food co-op where shoppers are happy to work | The Compost Bin | Forums

this sounds pretty sweet, how come more of these aren't around?

Chris Agee is loading boxes of food and drink products on to a conveyor belt down in the basement of a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York.

One floor above him, shoppers push trolleys up and down the aisles, picking up their weekly groceries.

But this isn't Chris's full-time job. In fact he's not getting paid a wage at all. Chris actually teaches political science at City University of New York.

He is one of the 16,000 members of the Park Slope Food Co-op, who volunteers at the store.

The co-operative is one of the few in the US that still has a member labour requirement - members have to work there if they want to shop there.

Chris Agee

Chris Agee usually teaches political science but says he is proud to work in the Co-op

Cheaper products

Chris admits that some people find it hard to believe that he stacks shelves at the weekend, but he says he does it for two main reasons - the quality of the food and the pricing of the food.

"We hire 80 people to select the best quality produce, so when you shop here you really feel like you're getting food that's healthy and organic.

"The other reason why I do it is there's no profit margin that goes to some unknown group of people. We end up paying a third less because there's no profit margin because it's a co-operative," he explains.

"People ask me, 'What were you doing?' I say, 'Stocking tomatoes.' But it's fun, it's a change of rhythm and actually I'm quite proud of it."

Ann Herpel

Ann Herpel says Park Slope members range from bus drivers to people who work for hedge funds

'The world's changed around us'

All members of the Park Slope Co-op are required to work 2.75 hours every four weeks. Jobs vary from working on the check-out to unloading deliveries to working in the office upstairs.

Continue reading the main story

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Start Quote

As co-ops have grown in their sales volume, there was less of an actual need. They could [afford to] hire trained staff”

Adam Schwartz

The Co-operative Way consultants

When you enter the shop as a customer, people on the entrance desks will scan your membership card to ensure that you are keeping up with your scheduled shifts.

Ann Herpel, one of the general co-ordinators at the Co-op, says the member labour requirement was a decision made when the Co-op was founded.

"We're 40 years old this year. It was decided that a co-operative at its base means working together," she says.

"So in order for us to be a true co-operative [it was decided that] working together was the best way of both owning and making a business you own sustainable."

She says that in the 1970s Park Slope wasn't the only working co-op in the US, and that though it might be unusual today, it is only because others have moved away from the original model.

"We don't really feel we've changed, we feel the world's changed around us."

more here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25455991