Holistic Pet Care

My thoughts on the dog food coop.

I belong to a human Whole Foods Coop. It costs each of us to get the catalog every month. That's payable to the Whole Foods business who delivers to us. I think it's $16 a year but just last month there was a letter sent out that the only way they will send the catalog now is if $2.50 is inclued in the previous month's order for each catalog we need. Right now we are not always successful in having the minimum $750 order for them to even look at us. When we were Blooming Prairie out of Minnesota, it was easier but I suppose no matter whether Whole Foods bought them out or not, some money charges would have changed by now. Ours is strictly a volunteer organization but we do have to pay for the use of the VFW building where the semi comes to unload. So there are expenses. And the person who organizes and sends in the order uses a LOT of personal time doing it. On delivery day, the members are responsible for unloading the semi, grouping the orders for
each member, and collecting the money. It's a LOT of work! The bookkeeping involved makes me want to throw up when they ask if anyone could help/take over. I would unload the truck every day rather than do the bookkeeping!

To get back to pet food coops. I have an account with two different warehouses that supply pet/farm items to retail stores in this area. It's cheaper, that's for sure, for me to buy a couple of hundred dollars worth of dog food at wholesale cost rather than retail. I would have a tough time paying retail for my crew. I have thought many times if I could get enough people to order with me, I could meet the minimum dollar amount and then be able to order more often (fresher product) and not have such an enormous cash outlay all at one time. That would put me in charge of ordering, recieving, grouping according to who ordered what, collecting the money and making copies of the catalog available to everyone at my expense. I get a catalog from the wholesaler but those catalogs cost money and they don't give them away easily. (I work full time in publishing so I know!) Not to mention making sure that eveyone has their order in by order day and absorbing the
cost when someone bails. Been there, done that.

So I guess, if you want the products you see through the coop, decide whether you can buy them for a better price on your own. If you can, and if driving wherever you need to go to get the products, then by all means, don't join a coop. If you can't and the convienience of having someone be responsible for the things you want is worth a few bucks to you, then the coop would help you out for very little added cash. When I order something on the net (because I live in the boondocks) I decide whether I am likely to find that item next time I take a shopping trip to the next town, how desperately I need it, and if the shipping compares to a 100+ mile round trip for me to drive after it. And what if after I drive 50+ miles and spend another 20 miles driving all over town I don't find what I want anyway? And what if I do find it and it costs more than the item plus shipping on line? All things to consider. I am the Queen of Tightwads but I know when I'm beat.
So I just pay the money and quit thinking about it. When you fill your truck up at the pump, you gripe but you pay for it and life goes on. Same with pet food.

 Toni in zone 4 Iowa USA

http://www.stopanimalid.org/
http://nonais.org/
www.DownsizeDC.org
It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.
-- Robert Houghwout Jackson,
Chief Judge at the War-Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg

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