blog

Taxi co-ops

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:57:00 +1300

Cooperative principle # six is Cooperation Among Cooperatives. There's probably not a cooperative in the land which doesn’t use taxis – shouldn’t we be using cooperative taxi companies?

There is a significant number of taxi cooperatives around New Zealand in which the drivers are the owners of the taxi business as whole. In these, the drivers really are working for themselves, they’re not at the whim of a franchisor.

Here are the taxi companies which as far as I can see are co-ops. Is this list correct?

Auckland Cooperative Taxi Society ● 09 300 3000 ● www.cooptaxi.co.nz
Blenheim Taxi Society ● 03 578 0225
Blue Star Taxis (Christchurch) Society ● 03 353 1204 ● www.bluestartaxis.org.nz
City Taxis Society (Dunedin) ● 03 477 3773 ● www.citytaxis.co.nz
Gisborne Taxi Society ● 06 867 2222
Gold Band Taxi Society (Christchurch) ● 03 379 5795 ● www.gold-band-taxis.co.nz
Greymouth Taxi Society ● 03 768 7078
Hamilton Taxi Society ● www.hamiltontaxis.co.nz
Nelson City Taxi Society ● 03 548 8225 ● www.nelsoncitytaxis.20fr.com
New Plymouth Taxi Society ● 06 753 0046
Rotorua Taxi Society ● 07 348 1111
Taupo Taxi Society ● 07 378 5100
Tauranga Taxi Society ● 07 577 5461 ● www.taurangataxis.co.nz
Waiheke Taxi Co-op ● 09 372 8038
Wanganui Cooperative Taxi Society ● 0800 500 000 ● www.wanganuitaxis.co.nz

Are there others? Can you help improve this list? And please let me know if you’ve switched to a co-op taxi company.●

The Art of Communication

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:30:00 +1300

Well hello!

It's been just over two weeks since I began my role as the Communications Officer for the New Zealand Cooperatives Association, with a particular focus on the International Year of Cooperatives 2012.

As the title suggests, my role is to increase the online presence of the Cooperatives Association, particularly in the realm of social media to engage a wider audience so what better way to introduce myself to the loyal cooperative supporters than to use one of our online communication channels!

For a bit of background, I am a 5th year student at Victoria University studying law and finance. My interest in marketing/communications/social media came about from my involvement in UN Youth, which has culminated in me being elected as the VP Communications for UN Youth.

The heady, breakneck development of information technology has made access to information easier than ever before. However it has also led to an explosive growth information to the point where we are overloaded with information and unable to process the information in a meaningful way. For example, just searching “cooperatives” on Google has given me 12,700,000 results. With that many results, how do I know where to go for information about cooperatives?

I believe the inherent value of the cooperative and the substantive message of NZ Cooperatives Association is a strong one, which would resonate with many New Zealanders. I believe this is the essence of my role – the content is all there, it is about communicating it in the right way and with the right communication channel to engage with the audience in a meaningful way.

What do you think? Chris●

Co-ops respond to the Feb 22nd Christchurch earthquake

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:46:00 +1300

This page will be updated as news and information comes in.
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For high resolution copies of photos send an email

Monday 2 May
3.45pm Piko is back. I am happy to let you all know that we are back in business! We managed to lease a free standing building at 248 Stanmore Rd.

It used to be a video store and had been empty since December, it is very spacious and has plenty of car parks -- and it is not far from our original site, only two intersections!

It was a lot of work to transform it from carpeted video store to organic shop. How great to be a cooperative, it was so good to have a good team.

We did a lot of the work ourselves painting, sanding, cleaning – we even built a wall. So now we are up and tradin, so next time you are in Christchurch come and check it out.

Thanks for sending all those links, it is very good to know people elsewhere care.

Tuesday 22 March
7.52am Up to 150 tonnes of Waikato-produced dairy product may have been ruined in the Japanese earthquake, according to Paul McGilvary, Chief Executive of Tatua Cooperative Dairy Co.

The cooperative is waiting for access to a Yokohama warehouse where the product is stored. “I’m not sure how badly damaged the warehouse is, because I can't see from the photographs, but bags of product have been thrown off their pallets,’ McGilvary said.

The Japanese subsidiary of the Waikato-based dairy co-op has been allowed back into its Tokyo office following the earthquake. No staff were injured, but the homes of two were damaged.

Wednesday 16 March
11.23am Immediately after the earthquake, Alister Lawrence, Chief Executive of the plumbers’ cooperative NZPM Group, went to Christchurch to determine where and how the cooperative can best help their members, staff and the community. While there, he got behind the tongs at the co-op’s daily in-branch barbeques, which proved to be a great support for those on the ground.

Two pallets of water, one for each branch, and supplies of muesli bars were dispatched, and all members were contacted by a Plumbing World employee who offered assistance in whatever capacity they could provide. Three additional staff from outside Christchurch will be working at Plumbing World’s Brisbane Street and Papanui branches until further notice.

Lower North Island regional manager Corrie James has been sent to Christchurch as Support Coordinator, and representatives of Plumbing World’s Senior Leadership Team will continue to visit every week for as long as the need remains. James said, “I am currently reviewing customer feedback in order to help us provide solutions wherever we are able, and the cooperative remains aware of the need to closely watch the physical and emotional state of all staff.”.

Also, a request went out to all contacts for relief accommodation in the South Island – preferably within two hours drive of Christchurch – which can be used as a small time out retreat for staff and customers, and an additional payment was made into all affected staff bank accounts to assist with extraordinary costs.

Tuesday 8 March
4.00pm Mutual insurer AMI reports that all services are available at their Riccarton, Papanui, Hornby, Rangiora and Kaiapoi branches during regular business hours. All other Christchurch branches remain closed.

9.30am Christchurch Council called a halt to the demolition of the Kilmore St building which housed Piko Wholefoods Cooperative after Piko members got in touch with them. “Nobody spoke to us about it at all,” said co-op founder Tineke Witteman, who had been alerted by a text from a friend.

Witteman believe that no lives were lost because the 106-year-old building had been earthquake strengthened five years ago. “It took 29 years to build up, and 25 seconds to knock down,” she said. “It’s just not fair.”

Monday 7 March
11.00am Owner of the Stanmore New World supermarket and Foodstuffs South Island member Ian Wilde said that without the exceptional support of all his staff, the Richmond supermarket would never have been able to reopen so quickly to serve the hard-hit eastern suburbs.

"I want to publicly thank my fantastic staff and customers for their consideration and support at this really difficult time. The staff has been superb - they've been wonderful and I think that although they are all tired, they are constantly buoyed up by the feedback they are receiving daily from our customers. That's a reward for them, and for all of us. Every one of the staff had a good reason not to be there for the clean up," Wilde said, "but they all arrived, and everyone worked extremely hard. It was brilliant."

There was no damage to the building structure and interior damage was minimal. "We were just very, very lucky that the damage was so slight. We were able to evacuate the building, get all the shoppers and staff into the car park." Ceiling tiles had fallen in the supermarket, and "everything fell off the shelves," he said.

There was no power for two days, but even in the dark the staff worked to clear the debris. "We've been extremely busy. Water, canned foods, pasta, biscuits - all those were among the sought after items when we re-opened."

Now fully stocked, the supermarket is virtually back to normal. A contractor has scrubbed the car park at night to remove as much of the silt and dust as possible.

5.30am The New Zealand Herald reports that specially trained staff from Fonterra Cooperative Group have joined the recovery effort in Christchurch city centre. The co-op has 160 employees in its emergency response team, and according to team leader Kevin Lockley, they come from a wide variety of backgrounds: military, navy, fire service, ambulance service, and search and rescue. "We've got 'em all," Lockley said.

The team had been on standby from day one and since Tuesday last week had been working under the Civil Defence umbrella. Two teams of 12 had pitched their tents in a park and been out checking buildings, rubble and escorting structural engineers. "We weren't reliant on the community for services, we come completely independent as a team to live, eat and look after ourselves," Lockley said.

The biggest event that Fonterra's emergency response team had been involved with, "it just looks like someone's dropped a bomb on the place," said Lockley. "Hard to describe really, it's in pieces."

Friday 4 March
10.17am Silver Fern Farms announced that it will be donating the equivalent value of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand and Deer Industry New Zealand levies on all sheep, beef and deer processed during the week commencing 14th March 2011 to the New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal.

While the cooperative had already put in place a number of initiatives to support the relief effort in the wake of the tragedy, including providing access to fresh water and equipment from its processing sites and donating meat supplies to the Farmy Army and the Salvation Army, Chief Executive Keith Cooper said that the cooperative had been overwhelmed by messages of concern from its members and wanted to step up the company's response on their behalf.

"We're pleased we can put in place a simple mechanism whereby our shareholder-suppliers, via their cooperative, effectively make a donation on every head of livestock they process that week." In addition, Silver Fern Farms had also received commitment from customers offshore to match the company's contributions.

"We feel quite humbled by a very genuine desire on the part of both our farmer members and our international customers to help us do more for our colleagues and others in Christchurch facing hardship as a result of the earthquake."

They anticipate that with Beef + Lamb New Zealand and Deer Industry New Zealand also contributing, a total of $300,000 will be raised.

Thursday 3 March
9.30am No-one was hurt at either the CRT Cooperative Farm Centre in Waterloo Road, Christchurch or their offices in Sir William Pickering Drive, but their their offices had a good shake. General Manager, Marketing Nigel Riley reports that "ceiling panels fell down, everything was all over the place upstairs at Sir William Pickering Drive. It looked like someone had thrown a hand grenade and shut the door."

As well as supplying items such as water drums to the army, CRT have sent tents, food chillers, latex gloves, face masks, and their events barbecue trailer to the Federated Farmers Farmy Army as they help clean up the liquefaction. A team of ten from CRT will be going up today from South Canterbury to take part in the cleanup. "This isn't about us," said Nigel, "we're just getting out there and doing what we can to help the community."

Following checks by engineers, the Farm Centre was able to reopen on Monday, and their offices reopened on Tuesday.

Wednesday 2 March
3.30pm The PSIS branch at 19 Main Road, Papanui opens today from 10am to 4pm. All other branches remain closed.

1.00pm Since 25 February, customers passing the checkouts at the nation's New World, PAK'nSAVE and Four Square stores have donated $614,000 for the people of Canterbury, according to Foodstuffs.

In addition to assisting with the Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal, Foodstuffs Auckland is working closely with the Student Volunteer Army in Christchurch to provide much needed resources. Many stores are contributing to individual fundraising events and the head offices of the three Foodstuffs cooperatives around the country are holding fundraising events to contribute to the Earthquake Appeal. Foodstuffs Auckland has committed to matching dollar for dollar the money raised by staff during their lunchtime fundraiser.

"There is still a long way to do down here in Christchurch and every little bit counts, says Foodstuffs NZ Managing Director, Steve Anderson.

10.49am The earthquake relief fund set up by Fonterra Cooperative Group will contribute more than $3m to the Canterbury earthquake relief effort. In the five days since the fund was set up, Fonterra farmer members and staff have donated more than $1m and donations were still coming in.

The cooperative matched the first $1m dollar-for-dollar and will continue to do so, according to Chief Executive Andrew Ferrier. With the $1m pledged by the cooperative last Wednesday, over $3m has been donated so far.

Tuesday 1 March
4.30pm The Southern Cross Health Society team and their office is in turmoil, according to the Ashburton Trading Society website. While everyone is safe, all calls are being diverted to Auckland.

4.20pm Health stores co-op Health 2000+ report that two member stores in the Christchurch CBD remain closed with no access, while the Riccarton store plans to open tomorrow. "The Eastgate Mall store is in a bad way," said co-op chairman Bob McDonald, "but no staff or customers were hurt, thankfully". Five other member stores in the Christchurch area are open having been checked by engineers.

2.06pm With help from the New Zealand Army and the District Health Board, pharmacy wholesale cooperative CDC Pharmaceuticals found, secured and moved to new premises, and were operational yesterday. Their Cashel Street building was "shaken and subject to liquefaction," according to Chief Executive Mike Rhodes, "but thankfully everyone got out safely. It was a huge logistical effort," he said. At least three CDC member pharmacies in the CBD have been totally wrecked and whether or not others may reopen is uncertain.

1.34pm The World Council of Credit Unions is making a donation from its disaster relief fund to the Canterbury Earthquake Relief Fund and the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions is working with the New Zealand Association of Credit Unions to channel donations from around the world to credit unions in need.

Monday 28 February
6.38pm The Papanui and Riccarton branches of SBS Bank reopened today with rostered staff from all Christchurch branches. All staff are safe and accounted for. Manchester St and Ferrymead branches remain closed until further notice.

9.47am The New Zealand government has launched the official Christchurch Earthquake Appeal out of the Department of Internal Affairs. People around the world now have the possibility of donating towards the recovery effort. It can be found online at www.christchurchearthquakeappeal.govt.nz.

Sunday 27 February
2.30pm With work continuing at the weekend, good progress is being made according to Foodstuffs South Island. Despite heavy demand still at retail stores, suppliers are continuing to meet the demand for essential goods and there are no shortages of fresh product or essential foods and beverages.

All distribution centres reported excellent staff numbers, making all the difference to their ability to supply food. Stanmore St New World reopened on Friday and Moorehouse Pak'nSave reopened midday Saturday, which means that 13 out of 18 stores in the wider Christchurch area are now open.

They are working hard to open Wainoni Pak'nSave this week, South City New World is closed and difficult to access behind the inner city cordon, St Martins and Redcliffs are damaged and were to be assessed by engineers over the weekend, while the building owner of Lyttelton Four Square has yet to assess the damage at this property and advise when it may be operational.

Foodstuffs is supporting the Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal by providing shoppers with the opportunity to donate at the checkouts of New World, Pak'nSave and Four Square stores nationwide. In addition, Foodstuffs Charitable Trust (South Island) will donate $100,000 to help victims of the quake, and the three Foodstuffs cooperatives will match this with a further $100,000. This $200,000 will be used by the Trust to help people affected by the earthquake.

Their update to staff stated: "It is vital we in the cooperative do everything we can to support our members, and through them, the people of Christchurch and the South Island. We expect all staff to be at work and helping with this vital task. We know some of you will have difficult personal situations that you are dealing with and we urge you to discuss these with your manager or health and safety officer to ensure you get the full support that Foodstuffs can offer you."

12.00pm No-one was hurt when the earthquake shook mutual insurer Unimed's Gloucester Street building, according to Chief Executive Dermot Martin. They have now moved into their disaster recovery facility with all systems checked and operational. For the week to come they ask that members who wish to contact them do so by email rather than phone so as not to overload the Christchurch phone network.

Friday 25 February

5.04pm Farmers have been allocated a sector of Christchurch on Saturday 26 Feb as part of the clean up process. Federated Farmers ask farmers to register at the A+P Showgrounds, Curletts Rd between 0630 and 0800.

They acknowledge Silver Fern Farms and Tegel Foods for donating food, NZ Safety for the donation of safety vests and Rabobank for its assistance. CRT Cooperative is supplying five 4x6 tents to assist with accommodation.

1.56pm Silver Fern Farms has made available bulk water from both its Islington and Belfast plants on the outskirts of Christchurch to bring much needed water supplies into the city. With four wells on site, the Belfast plant adds significant additional capacity with an endless supply of potable water available for immediate transportation.

Chief Executive Keith Cooper said that the cooperative had been overwhelmed by messages from members wanting to assist and he was heartened that they could make a meaningful contribution to the relief effort by teaming up with other committed individuals and organisations to provide assistance where and when it really counts.

12.50pm The majority of Mitre 10 and Mitre 10 Mega stores in the Canterbury region are open and have emergency stock arriving daily. The stores open in Christchurch are Beckenham Mitre 10, Upper Riccarton Mitre 10, Bishopdale Mitre 10, Hornby Mitre 10 Mega and Rangiora Mitre 10 Mega.

12.25pm Six Paper Plus stores in Christchurch are closed until further notice, two are open and two scheduled to open during the week commencing 28 Feb. One staff member suffered minor injuries which have been treated.

11.52am Anna Thomson of Canterbury Education Services reports that the CES team are all okay and accounted for as are all of their families. "We are among the very fortunate," she writes. The CES office in Middleton is a significant distance from the city and inner city suburbs where the major damage has occurred. Their building is fully operational and will reopen on Monday 28th February.

11.44am World Travellers Christchurch City is now fully operational in new premises, and has been humbled by the support received from the trade and fellow World Traveller cooperative members.

Owner Larry Lumsden says it's been a surreal and frightening time in Christchurch, but it's been heart-warming to receive such incredible support from so many places, allowing his team to rebuild their operation in less than 72 hours.

"Of course, our first focus is on the welfare of our staff, and they've pulled through remarkably well. We are all keen to regain a sense of normality in our lives, and work can help provide that," said Lumsden.

The World Travellers' board has frozen all management fees and World Travellers Management Services has been working tirelessly alongside Larry to implement the co-op's business continuity plan, liaising with suppliers, ordering stationery and brochure stocks as well as updating websites.

"I will be eternally grateful for the support we've received," says Lumsden. "The daily conference calls with the World Travellers board have helped keep me buoyed, and the co-op's support has meant that we could quickly rebuild our business. It's a tragic time for Christchurch, and we feel we're contributing by getting our business back on track and letting our customers know that we are there for them."

10.05am Financial services cooperative PSIS has put together a special banking package with a number of short-term cash management options for members impacted financially by the earthquake.

All their Christchurch branches are closed until further notice and members are asked to phone 0800 AT PSIS (287 747) 8am to 8pm daily (including weekends) with all enquiries that would otherwise be directed at a branch.

4.12am The New Zealand Association of Credit Unions have been assessing damage to credit unions in the Canterbury region. "We know of two credit unions damaged in Christchurch, but no lives were lost and no injuries sustained," said Henry Lynch, NZACU CEO.

As expected, members of the Christchurch Emergency Credit Union which serves ambulance drivers and emergency medical personnel have been heavily involved in search and rescue efforts in the earthquake's aftermath.

"New Zealand Credit Union South is our second largest member," Lynch said. "NZCUS staff have been arranging emergency cash loans for members affected by the quake and will soon begin an outbound calling programme to each of its 23,864 members to see if further assistance is needed."

Thursday 24 February
5.32pm Mutual insurer AMI reports that all branches in Christchurch city centre are closed, but their branches at Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Hornby remain open. Members should phone 0800 100 200 if they need assistance or to lodge a claim.

4.13pm Silver Fern Farms have made the contents of their Islington reservoir which holds 300,000 litres of water available to the people of Christchurch, according to a report from Federated Farmers.

4.05pm From Foodstuffs South Island, Malcolm Wratt writes, "the best news is that there were no injuries to any of our staff at the co-op or in any of the stores, and only three customers suffered minor injuries."

"Our Distribution Centres were largely unaffected and are fully operational. We are getting excellent support from suppliers and our staff (many of whom have been affected by the tragedy in some way), and the situation is improving hour by hour. The primary problems for us are at retail level with some of our members' stores still closed, and a number may need fairly major repair work."

Further updates on the co-op's stores will be posted on www.foodstuffs-si.co.nz.

4.00pm Chairman of Ravensdown, Bill McLeod, reports that their people in Christchurch are all okay although some have major damage to their homes. While the Ravensdown office in Oxford Terrace in the middle of the city's CBD has some internal damage and has initially been cleared by a structural engineer, the co-op intends to investigate the soundness of the building more thoroughly. Their plant at Hornby is undamaged, Bill said.

"I was actually in the building on the third floor when the quake struck and I can assure you it's not something I would want to experience again. However, having got all our people out safely is something I will be eternally grateful for. We need to be aware, though, that the trauma will take a lot longer to fix than the buildings."

7.10am International Cooperative Alliance Director-General Charles Gould tells the world's cooperatives, "We know that many of you are concerned about the situation in Christchurch, New Zealand, as the scale and impact of the recent earthquake becomes more clear. ... Please keep all of the people in New Zealand in your thoughts as they work through their personal loss."

Wednesday 23 February
4.30pm Fonterra Cooperative Group has donated $1 million to the Red Cross Christchurch earthquake appeal.

At the same time they have launched a Fonterra Earthquake Relief Fund to enable their 10,500 farmer members and 16,000 staff to make personal donations which will be matched $1 for $1 by the cooperative up to a further $1 million.

They are also shipping 1 million litres of water from their Clandeyboye site to schools around Christchurch, and will be delivering UHT milk and bottled water to relief centres in Christchurch.

2.45pm The New Zealand subsidiary of Dutch cooperative Rabobank will be donating $100,000 to the Salvation Army Canterbury earthquake appeal. Their Christchurch office is closed while it is assessed for damage.

Rabobank have also expanded their employee Workplace Giving programme to enable New Zealand and Australia staff to donate to earthquake relief, with contributions being matched by the bank.

1.00pm Foodstuffs are working to ensure that as many of their supermarkets as possible are open with a continuous supply of essential items.

11.50am The Christchurch World Travellers was hit hard by the earthquake hard and was up and running offsite within 24 hours. The World Travellers cooperative put out the following statement on 23 February:

"We at World Travellers are very conscious of the priority in saving lives and livelihoods, and at the same understand that there are people wanting to desperately get in or out of Christchurch. We have organised backup from our co-op shops around the country for travel assistance and updates regarding travel insurance etc can be found on the Christchurch World Travellers website HERE.

"If anyone needs assistance please contact us by first checking the numbers on the site HERE or by phoning 0800 242 5299 or 0800 101 303."

9.05am The building housing Piko Wholefoods Cooperative on the corner of Kilmore and Barbadoes Streets has been badly damaged by the earthquake.

Tuesday 22 February
9.53pm Cooperative commentator Alan Robb writes: "We are both OK after today's quake but our house has suffered much more damage than previously – water through the ground floor from liquefaction, many, many things broken. It will take quite some time to make it habitable again and we will be staying with family while that happens."

4.00pm Rural insurer FMG has a team standing by to assist members affected by the earthquake. If you have major damage or require urgent attention phone 0800 366 466 or email earthquake@fmg.co.nz with a phone number and the best time to contact you.

3.00pm The Interflora Pacific Unit headquarters in Christchurch is closed because of the earthquake and unable to process orders. To send flowers throughout New Zealand and the world, you should contact your Interflora florist directly. The cooperative has members in 15 countries.

12.51pm A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Christchurch.●

Out with the old

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:20:00 +1300

After winning the prize for Most Improved Publication in the 2009 Cooperative Communicators Association competition for the redesign of Cooperatives News, an interview with CCA News editor Lynette Alcorn for their member newsletter is now online.

You can find it at
http://www.communicators.coop/CCA/subpage.aspx?cmid=MiwyMDUsMA==

Here are some of the judges' comments on the new design:

● Clean, fresh, contemporary look
● Colorful without being distracting – I love the blue and green
● Beautiful, sharp photos (even desk or meeting shots – which are usually boring -- are done well)
● Font selection gives this an attractive, professional feel – more credible than the old
● Nameplate – modern and appealing
● Efficient use of page space – feels open, but not jammed
● Good use of white space makes it more readable

Here's what they said about the text:

● Fresh, concise
● Brief
● Good use of bylines – increases the “ownership” and build credibility with readers

And their overall view of Cooperatives News was

● Great variety
● Good use of calls-to-action
● Topics of interest and value to most readers
● Easy for readers to engage and see the value of items and how they can use it

What are your views on the Association's newsletter?●

VINZ members were correct to demutualise

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:30:00 +1300

That this heading may not be a popular statement among cooperators I realise, however...

Set up as an investor-owned firm in 1995 by vehicle importers to inspect used vehicles coming in from overseas, Vehicle Inspection New Zealand converted to a cooperative in 1998.

The cooperative structure was eminently suitable for the group of motor vehicle traders who used the services of VINZ as and when the boat came in, who bought the co-op’s services and received an end-of-year rebate according to how well the co-op had performed and how many vehicles they had each had inspected.

While waiting for the boats to come in, the inspection centres needed to be kept busy with other work, so they started to offer COF and WOF tests on passing vehicles, which were in the main owned by non-members.

Over the years, casual testing at the VINZ network of testing stations grew, contributing significantly to the co-op’s turnover, to its profit, and to member rebates.

As stricter regulations were introduced, the market for used imports started to dry up, which meant many members were importing less.

They could see their co-op starting to move away from them, with the likelihood of having their member shares returned to them if they were dry.

And if they weren’t putting vehicles through the co-op, then they weren’t getting a share of the surplus being created by the other work.

Demutualisation was not just on the cards but inevitable. It was the right thing to do.

VINZ members now have investor shares, and while it will still be inspecting the trickle of used vehicle imports, it will be better positioned to take on some of the other players in the market for other work.

The lesson? Cooperatives work brilliantly when the activity they conduct is a cooperative activity.

The VINZ board could see that to survive the co-op needed to diversify, did so, and the members thanked them for it.

With the demise of the original cooperative activity, members saw the need to change the structure of their business and did so. Quite rightly.

I wish them success in the future, and wonder what other co-ops might arise within the motor vehicle industry – emission testing perhaps?●

– from the August/September 2009 Cooperatives News

Comparing apples with apples

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:40:00 +1300

As a small child, I read the Daily Express my dad brought home from work avidly, to begin with spreading the broadsheet on the ﬂoor and kneeling on it because I wasn’t big enough to hold it.

The voice of Canadian Max Aitken (later 1st Baron Beaverbrook), I remember scratching my head when the paper would contrast “democracy” with “communism”, as this to my young mind was not comparing two similar things.

Surely, I felt, they should be comparing either capitalism with communism as economic systems, or democracy with totalitarianism as political systems.

What brings this to mind? One sign, I believe, of a successful cooperative is the way it communicates with members. CRT does this excellently with their monthly magazine CRT Agline.

During this year, they have been running a superb series of articles in CRT Agline in which directors explain what co-ops are and how they work.

The July article, “Cooperative versus corporate”, however, got me thinking. The content is superb but the title does not compare apples with apples: a cooperative is an economic entity which can be large or small, while a corporate is actually a form of social structure, generally large.

The comparison should, I feel, be between cooperatives and investor-owned ﬁrms.

A corporate I understand to be a large business, which could be compared with small and medium entities.

There’s no doubt that comparing co-ops with investor-owned ﬁrms gives a very real understanding of the beneﬁts of the cooperative and mutual business model.

Comparing cooperatives with “corporates”, though, muddies the water.

I hope they put this excellent series of articles on their website at www.crt.coop for all to access.●

– from the August/September 2009 Cooperatives News

Sulphur Jack's Son

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:34:00 +1300

Ravensdown sales rep Mike Davey’s father was known as Sulphur Jack to his work colleagues who alleged there was no blood in his body, just a potent blend of adrenalin and fertiliser.

Interviewed by the Taranaki Daily News on 30 April, 2009, Mike tells of following his father into the fertiliser industry as a sales rep, starting with investor-owned New Zealand Farmers’ Fertiliser in 1965.

The two businesses might sell similar products but it’s how they treat the farmers that shows they are light years apart:

“...there is a marked difference between working for a corporate and a cooperative, says Mr Davey, who recalls a dramatic change in culture when Ravensdown [the cooperative] bought out New Zealand Farmers’ Fertiliser [the corporate, or investor-owned ﬁrm] in 1998.

“In my father’s day with New Zealand Farmers’ Fertiliser, it was basically a distribution industry. Today, it’s totally different,” he says.

“We actually recommend the right product to suit individual situations and if the farmer concerned doesn’t need fertiliser, we will advise them accordingly.

“The farmer is our prime concern rather than the sale. It is a complete reversal to what it was back in the 1960s.

“I have been with Ravensdown for 11 years and the philosophy is completely different. I had come from a corporate background and it wasn’t easy to adjust.

“Under the old regime the aim was to get as many sales as we could. With this company that is not the case because every farmer is our shareholder.

“It was difficult for a start, but I actually buy into that philosophy because if a farmer doesn’t need fertiliser then I think the professional and prudent thing is not to sell it to him.”

Have you seen a clearer understanding of why people decide to be part of a cooperative?●

– from the June/July 2009 Cooperatives News

Bank report on rural co-ops proves sadly lacking

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:27:00 +1300

In his eight-page report A Financial Commentary on New Zealand Rural Cooperatives, National Bank rural economist Kevin Wilson demonstrates an understanding of cooperatives which might not be shared by co-op members.

The title entices. Finally, it seems, mainstream economists are taking cooperatives seriously. It will, however, sadly disappoint those who are co-op shareholding members.

The author examines publicly available information on nine significant cooperative businesses: Fonterra, Westland, Tatua, Silver Fern Farms, Alliance Group, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Ravensdown, CRT and Farmlands, dividing them into what are described as four “natural groups”:

● dairy – Fonterra, Westland, Tatua
● meat processors – Silver Fern Farms and Alliance Group
● fertiliser manufacturers – Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Ravensdown
● merchandise cooperatives supplying farm inputs and services – CRT and Farmlands

On the surface this appears logical, but actually is not useful in understanding what motivates people to join and, more importantly, continue being involved with them, and why they are so successful.

To better understand what drives these nine businesses they should be seen as either producer co-ops or purchasing/shared services co-ops.

● Producer cooperatives are owned by those who produce similar types of products: farmers who milk cows, raise sheep, deer and cattle, or grow crops, or by artisans and craftspeople. By banding together they are able to leverage greater bargaining power with buyers. They also combine resources to market and brand their products more effectively, improving the incomes of their members.

Dairy co-ops Fonterra, Westland and Tatua along with meat processors Silver Fern Farms and Alliance Group are the producer cooperatives examined in this report.

● Purchasing and shared services cooperatives are owned and governed by independent business owners who join together to enhance their purchasing power, lowering their costs and improving their competitiveness and ability to provide quality services. They operate in all sectors of the economy.

This accurately describes the fertiliser and the farm supply co-ops. At the same time it describes a large number of non-agricultural co-ops, such as Orb Communications, Mitre 10, Independent Timber Merchants and Foodstuffs.

Putting these nine cooperatives into two rather than four groups would therefore permit us a far clearer understanding of their performance.

I would also criticise the author’s use of profitability as a measure of performance for cooperatives.

Unlike investor-owned ﬁrms (IOFs), cooperatives are not profit-maximising entities. They need to make a fiscally prudent level of profits and allow for sufficient retained earnings, but more than that and they would not be serving their members well.

As evidence of this, I’d hazard that while many New Zealanders know Fonterra’s milk price, very few indeed would be able to say how much profit the cooperative made in any given year. It’s just not a relevant statistic.

For co-op members, aside from the level of payment for what they produce or rebate on purchases, the best measure of performance is to look at what is happening in the market place outside the co-op.

Look, for instance, at the competition between farm supply businesses in South Canterbury – between co-op and co-op, and between co-ops and IOFs. This is not something that is easily measurable.

Also, IOFs maximise profits by externalising costs, worrying less for instance about pollution than would a locally-owned cooperative which is part of a community, and which has a direct interest in not messing up their own back yard.

So why has this report been produced? At a guess, because as The National Bank is New Zealand’s largest rural bank, their owner, Australia’s ANZ Group, are concerned about how much money they can repatriate to fatten a precarious balance sheet.

(ANZ National Group proudly claim on their website that, based on their proﬁts and assets, they are New Zealand’s largest company.)

This document is thus best understood as a moneylender’s risk analysis. In the current financial recession, the risk from lending to a cooperative is clearly more political than financial, seeing as a bank has the ﬁrst call on the co-op’s revenue while the owners who transact with it are unsecured creditors.

Let’s face it, with Fonterra’s milk payout being in the region of $10bn, there is, in reality, little or no problem for the banks.

A realistic examination of the financial risk from these cooperatives would show that they are likely to survive with their assets more or less intact long after individual farmers who own the co-ops go under, in particular those at the margin who find it more difficult to survive in this recession.

Should you read this report? Most deﬁnitely. It could in fact usefully be discussed by co-op members in small groups.

However, as well as analysing annual reports and financial statements, a useful exercise in itself, this report shows that your cooperative businesses remain, sadly, misunderstood.

Download the report from HERE.●

– from the April/May 2009 Cooperatives News

Irish dairy farmer’s scathing comments on NZ co-ops

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:12:00 +1300

Writing in NZX AgriFax, Irish dairy farmer and Nuffield scholar Jason Rankin had strong words for what he found in New Zealand cooperatives:

“One of the major items on my agenda was to find out ways of releasing the value of the wealth of my own cooperative, which is barely expressed in the nominal shares… In the end I left New Zealand with a far different set of conclusions than I thought I would when I arrived.”

He continued, “I have to say that among the senior ﬁgures in the industry many have a mental image problem with being involved in a cooperative. A common attitude is ‘We are a co-op because we are owned by our suppliers/customers but in every other regard we operate like a PLC.’ They see cooperatives as being wimpish and socialist and somewhat running against the grain of the New Zealand free enterprise spirit.”

Could it be that what he has observed are cooperatives acting as profit-maximising entities with the stated aim of distributing profits to members as rebates?

Given that the members of most NZ co-ops are themselves profit-maximising entities, they may of course not see anything wrong with this.

However, the relationship between a cooperative and its members – its suppliers or its customers – and that of an investor-owned business and its suppliers and customers is quite different, Jason might argue.

Investor-owned businesses buy cheaply and sell dear, the difference supplying the profit that investors ultimately receive.

Cooperatives either buy dear and sell dear, or buy cheaply and sell cheaply with the intention of making a profit of course, but not maximising profits.

He concludes his article: “the real value of a dairy cooperative is to secure the best price it can for its members’ milk this year, next year and in ten/twenty years’ time…

“Allowing retiring farmers to take far more money out of Fonterra then they ever put in, while creating enormous hurdles for new entrants, is simply unethical. While it itself is only a few years old, Fonterra is a culmination of decades of hard work by generations of New Zealand dairy farmers.

“Perhaps we should think as they did and treat our cooperatives not as something we inherit from our fathers, but rather borrow from our children.”●

– from the October/November 2008 Cooperatives News

Why cooperatives thrive

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:00:00 +1300

Found on the U.S. National Cooperative Business Association website at www.ncba.coop, the following tips on how cooperatives are successful have been gleaned from articles that first appeared in the NCBA's CBJ Cooperative Business Journal, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's magazine for cooperative business, Rural Cooperatives.

● providing only the goods and services members use

● ﬁnanced by the members – the greater the ﬁnancing (risk capital) supplied by the members, the more efficient the cooperative

● using all major ﬁxed assets at the 75 percent level, or more

● members who do the majority of their business with the cooperative

● low administrative and overhead costs

● more individualised and specialised services, particularly in the marketing area

● maintaining an open line of communication with members – individual members will then become more inﬂuential

● selecting and developing a quality management team

● placing more emphasis on electing business-oriented directors

● developing and implementing a systematic method of cooperative education for members, employees, directors and paid management

● aggressively positioning for changes in operations, markets and member needs.

What are your thoughts? What makes your cooperative successful? Post your comments.●

How cooperatives fail

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:00:00 +1300

Also found on the U.S. National Cooperative Business Association website at www.ncba.coop, the following tips on how cooperatives have failed were gleaned from articles which first appeared in the NCBA's CBJ Cooperative Business Journal, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's magazine for cooperative business, Rural Cooperatives.

● poor selection of directors, especially those who fail to support their cooperative

● members who join but never use their cooperative and bypass it for a small gain elsewhere

● members who use cooperatives but fail to take responsibility – each member must be ready to accept responsibility when asked, or as the need arises, and every member should have an equal opportunity to be chairperson of the cooperative

● members who never ask questions and who let a few persons make policy

● members who don’t attend annual meetings and directors who fail to attend board meetings

● lack of consistent membership education about the problems cooperatives face and the challenges they must meet

● not supporting the cooperative with enough money (risk capital) to get the job done

● low-cost management – it’s the most expensive item for a cooperative, while high-priced management is usually the least expensive item

● not closely watching the formation of cliques and special interest groups within the cooperative

● concealing facts about a cooperative; all facts, both good and bad, should be placed on and not under the table

● errors in financial policy, such as over-extension of credit, too little capital, poor accounting records, lack of a financially sound, systematic programme for reimbursement of equity

● errors in educational and social work – this begins by failing to teach cooperative ideals to members unfamiliar with how cooperatives function, neglecting general educational programs, failure to develop member loyalty or countering the development of factions within the co-op

● management errors, such as inadequate inventory, poor location, improper equipment, neglected appearance of physical facilities, employee dishonesty, ineffective management, incompetent directors, nepotism, poorly conducted meetings, admittance of disloyal and dissatisfied members.

So, what are your thoughts about these? What do you think makes a cooperative fail? Post your comments.●

Cooperatives as religion?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:03:00 +1200

At the evening meal after one of the recent cooperative education workshops, Orb Communications director Chris Haunton made an interesting comment: he talked about how the tone of some of that day’s seminar reminded him of Sunday School.

What brought this to mind, he said, were the points that were being raised about the ethics and values that make a successful cooperative business, successful. This, Chris felt, was not the usual language of business.

These comments set me thinking. From time to time, I come across a cooperative “believer”, an upholder of a faith in cooperatives that mostly they don’t express well and often are unable to rationalise. They just “know in their hearts” that co-ops are the appropriate form for whatever business they’re doing. Some have a dogmatic belief that cooperatives are inherently infallible, forgetting that they’re run by humans.

Funnily enough, there is a religious group which includes cooperatives among its three main tenets – Proutist Universalists – the other parts of their trinity being spirituality and self-restraint.

Getting back to Chris Haunton’s comments, what is it about cooperative business that makes ethics and values important, I wondered?

The answer I came up with – and tell me if you disagree – has to do with the way that a co-op operates in the market in relation to its members. It’s about proﬁt: how it’s obtained, and who gets it.

Investor-owned businesses are proﬁt-maximising entities, buying cheaply and selling dear. Part of this margin provides investors with their dividends, so it’s in their interests for the company to buy as low as possible and sell as high as possible.

A cooperative, however, either buys cheaply and sells cheaply, or buys dear and sells dear. It needs to make a proﬁt to stay in business, so it is a proﬁt-making entity, but it’s clearly not proﬁt-maximising. These proﬁts are then distributed to members according to their participation in the cooperative, effectively reducing even further the margin between buying and selling.

It’s from this relationship to proﬁt that the need arises for cooperatives to behave ethically and have a set of values which members know to be appropriate for their relationship with the co-op they own. As an aside, whether the type of business the co-op does is “ethical” in the modern sense of “ethical business” is another story.

However, given that the members of most New Zealand cooperatives are businesses themselves, this means that proﬁt-maximising entities are members of a proﬁt-making entity. Confused? I was for a while. Actually, the relationship is quite straightforward.

This perhaps explains why those with a desire to demutualise a co-op sometimes find it not so difficult – they simply appeal to the member businesses’ proﬁt-maximising instincts, without pointing out that the fundamental basis of their cooperative is quite different.

Association chairperson Peter Macdougall tells of a farmer acquaintance who chides him and other co-op members as being “communists”. Could the way that successful co-ops have a focus on values and ethics not only explain Chris Haunton’s perception of the seminar but also explain this farmer’s sad misunderstanding?●

Adding your two penn'worth

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:53:00 +1200

This is the executive director's space to comment on cooperative issues. In short: a blog.

Approved members or approved employees of a member cooperative of the New Zealand Cooperatives Association, are invited to contact us with a request to be issued with a username and password. This will give you access not only to the blog but also to the member area of the Association web site.

In addition, the Association's executive director has the discretion to allow people who are not approved members or approved employees of a member cooperative of the Association access.

All comments are mediated; we reserve the right to allow or disallow comments. You are expected to identify any comments you make with your full name. This is not a place for anonymous commenting.

The Association's site now uses a content management system called Silverstripe. Developed in Wellington this CMS will not only make it a lot easier for the site to be updated but eventually allow members to contribute more content — this is what Web 2.0 means.●