Co-op Focus
Labor Day Deliveries
September 3, Monday, Week 4
North Farm will make deliveries on Labor Day, Monday September 3. If you do not wish to take delivery on Labor Day, please inform Member Services. We will try to reschedule your delivery but must honor the standing delivery times of other customers.
Order days leading up to and following Labor Day are also subject to change. A letter noting order changes was sent to coordinators in July. Please call Member Services if you have any questions about those changes.On Labor Day, Member Services will be open from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Orders due on Monday, Week 4 are due before 12 noon. Please place your orders early. Have a safe and happy holiday!
General Membership Meeting - 2002
Dates for the 2002 General Membership Meeting (GMM) are May 31 and June 1. Please record this on your calendar for next year and be sure to come. It’s a way for you to meet the North Farm Board, Staff and other members, participate in the annual meeting, learn more about health-related issues in the workshops and sample many products North Farm carries.
New Books Available From North Farm
Because of popular demand we are carrying Ronnie Cummins’
book,
Genetically Engineered Food, A Self-Defense Guide For Consumers. Ronnie was Keynote Speaker at this year’s GMM. His book will give you basic information about the real and potential dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply and empower you with suggestions on what you can do. We are also happy to carry A Women’s Health Resource, A Guide to Health and Hormonal Balance. This is a book women of all ages find useful in managing what once were called “female problems”. Buy it for yourself, your daughter, your mother, your nieces, your aunts and any woman whose health you care about. Find this book in the Price List under “Feminine Care & Hygiene, Emerita”.
| MEMBER ALERT! Because of the increase in late orders and their subsequent effect on on-time orders, North Farm will charge $25 for all late orders coming in after 4 p.m. (noon for NF-One orders). Member accounts which habitually send late orders will be reviewed for possible termination of services. |
Pantry Values: Order in Advance and Save Pre-orders can be placed any time through the end of the third week of the promotion month by faxing your order to Member Services clearly labeled "Pantry Values." |
New Delivery Qualification Process Policy
Higher Minimum Order Amounts For New Clubs, Stores
In an effort to provide more consistent, reliable service to our existing and valued customers, North Farm Cooperative is modifying the way we bring on new direct-delivery customers. Effective July 1, 2001, all new Buying Clubs and Retail Stores requesting direct delivery will be thoroughly reviewed prior to being added to an existing truck route. Of particular concern is how the addition of a new stop impacts service levels to existing customers on a delivery route.
Higher Minimum Orders
New minimum orders will be required of new clubs and stores brought on after July 1, 2001. Current, active clubs will be “grandmothered-in” under the old minimum order requirements and will not need to meet the new minimum order amount. Please see “For Fast Quality Service”, page 3, for the new minimum order amounts. Please note: Current, active Buying Clubs are defined as clubs who maintain consistent ordering practices, who have ordered 80% of their potential deliveries in the last 12 months.
Qualification Period
Those Buying Clubs with a history of irregular ordering may lose their standing on delivery routes and may be served through a depot or shared drop site. These irregularly ordering clubs as well as new clubs will need to meet a qualification period (listed below) to earn direct-delivery status:
• History of at least a $750 average order over 6 delivery cycles at a depot or shared drop site.
• History or at least a $400 average order over 6 delivery cycles for delivery within a 20-mile radius of the warehouse in Madison, WI.
Exceptions: Buying Clubs with a history of consistent deliveries at or above the new minimums for another distributor may have the qualification period waved.
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FREIGHT CHARGES |
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Freight Charge $30 $50 $75 |
Order Value for 50% off $1,500 $2,500 $4,000 |
Freight Discount for Higher Orders Freight charges will continue to be assessed; however, those Buying Clubs meeting or exceeding the Order Value as shown on this chart (below) will have their normal freight charge cut in half. Please contact Member Services at 1-800-236-5880 with questions regarding this new policy. |
By Seth Nowak, At-Large Board Member and Treasurer
| Each year the North Farm Board arranges training to expand our capacity to govern the co-op effectively. This year we set out to learn about capitalization from our accounting firm, Clifton Gunderson. Capitalization, in lay terms, is where we get money to exist and operate. When co-ops start up, they are capitalized by members paying in equity. When co-ops expand or take on a capital improvement project, it will be capitalized by borrowing the money. However, continued operations of a co-op are best funded from retained earnings. These are the net savings at the end of the year when expenses have been paid and there is money to be reinvested back into the co-op. Some members are concerned about the idea of profits being made by a co-op. Although there is an element of truth to the concern about profit, it can be a good thing. When income is greater than expenses for a period of time, a cooperative has realized a profit, or net savings. These net savings don't go away from the co-op to some outside investor like profits do in a corporation. Co-ops can reinvest back into their business and use the money again. |
Net savings are the best source of capital for a cooperative like North Farm. If we receive too much capital from banks, we have to pay interest to the bank. This means money is flowing from the co-op, not to the members, but to the outside world. Clearly it's in our best interest to get the capital we need to run the co-op from ourselves. Does it still mean we overcharged ourselves? Again, there is an element of truth, but it cries out for clarification. The Board budgets and approves business plans intending to realize a slight net savings. Why? It's our best option for capitalizing the co-op in the long run. And precisely forecasting our sales and costs every year to within 1% is difficult enough: better err on the safe side. In all likelihood, we wouldn't exactly break even in any given budget year. The alternative is to err on the side of undercharging ourselves, which is worse because the members would have to make up the difference one way or another. I came away from our training session with the belief that our Board should minimize outside borrowing and strive to make a slight profit to provide more and better services, even if it means somewhat higher prices or equity payments than before. |