When is the Co-op not the Co-op (food stores)?

booter

On many occasions, I've noticed that my local Co-op food store doesn't have the offers/deals advertised on the website. (Or offers posted on here ) I queried this instore and staff have either relied on the "subject to availability" clause, or they've said "this offer doesn't apply to us". Puzzled, I contacted Co-operative Food (through their website). It turns out that my local store isn't a Co-operative Food store, it's a Midcounties Co-operative Food Store (which I'd never noticed). My membership is also area specific.

It was explained to me by the "main" (website) Co-operative Food customer service that whilst they were responsible for the buying for all the Co-operative Societies members, they weren't responsible for the prices charged by those individual member societies. Which is fine (sort of) - I understand the concept and structure of Co-operative Societies (sort of ). I understand that each local Co-operative Society can set their own prices (and offer deals maybe not available to the "main" society - can't say I've noticed this yet). But when I search on the "main" Co-op website for my local store, my local store appears in their search results. My local store is also branded with the "main" Co-operative Food livery and looks no different from a "main" Co-op Food Store.

So when is a Co-op Food Store not a Co-op Food Store? When it's a Midcounties Co-op food store, a Central England Co-op food store, an East of England Co-op food store, a Penrith Co-op food store, a Southern Co-op food store, a Lincolnshire Co-op food store.....well, you get the drift - the list goes on. All of these stores are branded as Co-operative Food and with their livery. But although they say "Co-operative Food" there will be additional signage at the store which specifies exactly which Co-operative Society they belong to. And they then may, or may not, offer the same deals as the "main" Co-operative Society (the website).

So although you may think that you are a member of "the Co-op", and that you are shopping at "the Co-op", this may not be the case. And you can't rely on the website to show the deals at your Co-op.

Doc_N

This has been the case since the start of the Co-operative movement in 1844 - a large number of individual companies trading as separate entities.

Mergers have taken place over the years, and the number of independent Co-ops is now relatively small.

From a PR viewpoint it seems a ludicrous way to do business - confusing to customers and inefficient in terms of duplication and scale.

Try telling that to the individual Co-ops, though. They value their independence and some of them are pretty successful (though often largely because of property interests).

skintpaul

I feel if a shop uses the Co-op branding, the same rules should apply?

The_Last_Username

I "get" what you mean about the branding.
Here though, we've had that "problem" (if you can call it that) for years; we have both CWS (or Food) Co-Ops and Lincolnshire Co-Ops - often one (or more) of each in the same town.
Yes, the offers CAN be different in each - leads to more varied offers though maybe?
We're just used to it by now.

Stuart_W

On the plus side though, booter, if your local co-op is a midcounties co-op, it means that every time you swipe your membership card you are actually earning dividend with your membership points. Co-op group have not paid divi for a while, given they have not made a profit for a while.

If, however, you have a co-op group membership card and not a midcounties membership card, your divi will take longer to be received as midcounties pay it out first and you then get it in the following co-op group payout as "dividend from other societies". The reciprocal dividend scheme can lead to very slow payout of divi - and add to the confusion of when you are in a different society shop. Societies like Lincolnshire Co-op and East of England Co-op are not in the reciprocal dividend scheme and have their own separate membership cards to collect divi. If you're not a member, you can't get the divi.

booter

skintpaul wrote: »

I feel if a shop uses the Co-op branding, the same rules should apply?

You'd think so wouldn't you?

The_Last_Username wrote: »

I "get" what you mean about the branding.
Here though, we've had that "problem" (if you can call it that) for years; we have both CWS (or Food) Co-Ops and Lincolnshire Co-Ops - often one (or more) of each in the same town.
Yes, the offers CAN be different in each - leads to more varied offers though maybe?
We're just used to it by now.

Are your stores branded the same aswell? The offers in my local (Midcounties) Co-op always appear to include some, but not all, of the main Co-op - but certainly no additional offers. It would appear they "cherry pick" only certain offers

Stuart_W wrote: »

On the plus side though, booter, if your local co-op is a midcounties co-op, it means that every time you swipe your membership card you are actually earning dividend with your membership points. Co-op group have not paid divi for a while, given they have not made a profit for a while.

If, however, you have a co-op group membership card and not a midcounties membership card, your divi will take longer to be received as midcounties pay it out first and you then get it in the following co-op group payout as "dividend from other societies". The reciprocal dividend scheme can lead to very slow payout of divi - and add to the confusion of when you are in a different society shop. Societies like Lincolnshire Co-op and East of England Co-op are not in the reciprocal dividend scheme and have their own separate membership cards to collect divi. If you're not a member, you can't get the divi.

I have a Midcounties membership, which again, is branded the same as the main Co-operative group, but is not part of that group. So no reciprocal divi (afaik).

I remember when the Co-op (whichever one ) were considered one of the "main" supermarkets and were competitively priced. I used to do my weekly shop at the Co-op and so benefitted from my divi However, now they're more of a convenience store (and priced accordingly), I only use them "as and when" for the odd bottle of milk or loaf of bread, (or yellow sticker items, obviously ) so my divi in the last year has probably equated to around £1 I have the option to either receive these vast sums paid into my share account, in vouchers, or to give them to charity.

So I believe that, personally, I would benefit more (financially) from access to the deals offered by the Co-op - and chances are I'd be a more frequent shopper (in order to get the bargains )

But my bugbear is that I believe when people shop at the Co-op, they generally believe that it's "The Co-op" - and that may not be the case. OK, whinge over :)

MysteryMe

Yes, it is confusing. I've got two Co op dividend cards, one has like a yellow honeycomb design which I tend to use down in Devon where I have a caravan and which think is for the main Co op and the other is my local East of England co op which is a blue card.

Petula

Very confusing, yes :mad: More than once in the past I've seen one of their adverts and stopped in specially for advertised items only to find that it didn't apply to my local store.

Only use them for quick bread, milk etc... pick-ups now and come away with the (very) occasional in store deal

wiltsguy_2

for these exact reasons i NEVER use co-op and NEVER will. We have two co-ops in my town, a large one and a small one. the lasrge one does all the deals, the small one does some. Also the prices are different on many products, more expensive in the smaller co op than the larger one for exactly the same item, less than a mile apart??

antrobus

booter wrote: »

...I remember when the Co-op (whichever one ) were considered one of the "main" supermarkets and were competitively priced. ....

At one time, I think you might have to go back as far as 1970ish, the whole Co-Op was bigger than ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Morrisons combined.

booter wrote: »

.... However, now they're more of a convenience store (and priced accordingly)...

That's exactly what they are these days. To the extent that they have any actual supermarkets left, and they still have a few left over from the Somerfield takeover, they are trying to get rid of them.

Feral_Moon

We have a decent sized Co-op here which stocks a wide range of their goods (bigger than the one in the next village) and I use it frequently to top up between Aldi shops. I don't find it to be much more expensive than the larger supermarkets but I'm compensated for that with frequent money off till vouchers plus 10% discount off everything, including alcohol, using an NUS card.

E.g just last night I spent £26 and using 2 x £2 off £20 spend vouchers plus my 10% discount I saved £6.60 and considering quite a lot of that was reduced price yellow sticker items, I ended up spending less than £20 on almost £40 worth of shopping. I'll do that at least once a week.