The Co-operative

When my better half and I went to the supermarket, she was surprised and amused by the pile of compacted snow that still remains. Now I know there are some American friends for whom this sight is normal, but here in England that is relatively unusual. However, it was the snow and the harsh winter that got me thinking. As during the period when the snow was making travelling difficult the local co-operative started stocking baking products. Not least because when I could get no bread, I reacted by saying that I would bake my own.

However, just a couple of weeks ago I saw that these items were now being discontinued. This enabled me to buy a few items so that I can make some nice cakes. But it was the fact that they stocked a whole range of baking ingredients that were for cake making when the demand was clearly for bread making ingredients. Now I don't know if it was a local decision to stock the cake making items, or one taken regionally or even nationally, but it did seem rather odd when they appeared. Now because of the very limited demand they are being de-stocked.

This is where local knowledge really could have been of help here. Far to often the major retailers impose what foods they want to sell rather than what people want and need. I had an example of this when I wanted to buy some decent Assam Tea from the co-operative I was told that they could only stock the Assam if they carried the whole range. This is why I suspect that decisions are made by others in a remote office rather than a manager who is matching customer demands to the food items stocked.

This is just one of the ways that the major retailers control the food and health of the nation.

When the co-operative first started, it was because there was a need for cheaper good quality food for the poor and the working people. Also when they first started they would only sell wholemeal bread. Now while there will be folks that will baulk at the lack of choice in them doing that, but it helped to improve the health of working people. Further they explained why they refused to carry foods that were unhealthy.

There was a time when the co-operative were the largest retailer in Britain. But as often happens, large organisations loose sight of there core values. Thus with competition from the new players like Tesco et al, they moved away from their core values and started doing all the “me too” products so that now their range carries all the same unhealthy options that all the supermarkets carry.

The one major redeeming feature of the co-operatives current policy is that they are leaders in fair trade foods and wines. I just wish that their ethical policy extended further to ensure that they acted ethically across the board. For example; I have written often about the bellow production cost that the supermarkets pay for milk. The co-operative pays the lowest price for milk. Something that is clearly profitable but unethical.

Its a shame that an organisation that was founded upon ethics, fairness and healthy food, should have lost its way so much.