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Greetings!
Hello to all the member/owners and other friends of the Yelm Food Co-op! It's been awhile since you've received one of these so this is to bring you up-to-date with what's going on, what we've done and where we're going.
2008 in review:
We made a major change to our accounting for 2009 and are making it retroactive to 2006. We had been showing membership payments as income and this was giving us an unrealistic figure for our net income, i.e. it was way too high. The result was a large tax bite from the State and from the feds.
This change also lowered total sales to $388,309 from the previously reported figure of over $400,000.
2009 seems to be on target for $400,000+ which is the low end of the range we need to be in to start accumulating funds for equipment repair or replacement, for expansion and for slowly increasing payroll.
Membership is now well over 400 and our target for this year is 500+. A great way to reach this would be if all our shoppers who are members of the Olympia Co-op would become members of our store.
Staffing
Keep our store open!
Food co-ops nationwide rely on volunteers to varying degrees for the store operations. The jobs include stockers, clean-up crews, cashiers, order processors and inventory takers. Some others perform data entry tasks or other admin functions; some help with advertising and publicity.
The YFC is no different except that we rely close to 90% on volunteers to keep us up and running. Only the Store Manager is on salary and the bookkeeper is paid by the hour. All others give of their time and energy freely. The only compensation is the 20% discount they receive on most purchases and the right to buy bulk items at cost. In addition, mileage to-and-from work is paid for the 2nd and additional shifts worked in any given week.
At present there are approximately 15 people working in the store, some of them working multiple shifts or performing other duties as well. Considering that we have 12 shifts per week to cover for just store operations, you can see how thin we are. As you have probably noticed, there are many times when there is only one person in the store and they have to do everything. Very often, late shift cashiers are still ringing up customer orders at 7:30 p.m., or later, even though we close at 7. And then there is the cash out procedure and the other tasks necessary to close the store.
This is something that clearly can not continue forever. The obvious danger is that, if one or two of these people were to quit, the load on the others would become unreasonable. A solution would then be to curtail our opening hours to perhaps afternoons only or by reducing the number of days we are open from 6 to 4 or 5.
This would help with the staffing problem but would make continued operation of your store unsustainable financially. So, our appeal to you is to find some time to help us as you can and/or find other people for a few hours per week to keep us up and running. I, for one, don't relish the thought of having to start driving to Olympia again to get the kind of food and other products I want.
Annual Owner/Member Meeting
Make your voice heard!
For all of you reading this who are owner/members of the Yelm Food Co-op, the annual meeting is the time for your to express your opinions, share your ideas and vote on issues of importance to your Co-op. If you are not an owner/member, you are also invited to attend as our meetings are open to the public.
An important point for this year's meeting will be the selection of Board members. The Board is the governing body for the Co-op and this would be your chance to step up and take an active role in the Co-op's future. As it is seen now, there will be openings for 3 new members, 2 of which will be company officer positions. In a future newsletter, the roles of the Board and the Officers will be discussed in more detail.
This years' meeting will be held on September 13th. The times and location will come in a later newsletter and will be posted in the store.
Online Store
YFC E-commerce site
We are in the process of setting up an e-commerce site in order to expand our offering and to expand the customer base. Since we have limited space in the store, we see this as a way to really increase the things we offer to our local customers. In addition, we want to offer a range of unique products that could be interesting to people anywhere within the US.
Initially, we may only offer products that we can drop ship from the vendors and/or products through affiliate links to other vendors. This will keep the product handling and shipping costs and efforts to a minimum until we really get established. Then we may begin to offer products that we will actually stock and re-ship to customers, either locally or nationwide.
Here is another area we could use help and expertise. If you have experience in running an e-commerce business and would be interested in helping us or if you have suggestions for products we could carry, please let us know by writing to yelmcoop@fairpoint.net, subject: online store.
Great Products
A shopping paradise
One of the great things about shopping at the store is always being surprised by new products. Your Store Manager, Florence Vincent, is constantly on the search for new and interesting taste treats, like the absolutely fabulous French Brie that melts in your mouth!! And it is $'s per pound cheaper than Safeway! There are great breads and pastries, a new honey selection, lots of bulk items and sprouting seeds, health and beauty products and the list goes on and on. If you haven't been in the sore for awhile, you don't know what you're missing!
Florence also found the delicious all natural, no preservative, fat free Angel Food Cake that Trader Joe's used to sell. Pick up one, some organic strawberries and organic or non-homogenized heavy cream for a Holiday Treat.
One thing many of you may be unaware of is that Florence checks all health and beauty products for toxicity against the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep list of toxic elements often found in these kinds of products. She has also begun shelf labels giving the ratings (0-3, low hazard;4-7, medium hazard; above 7, high hazard) for your information.
All a part of trying to make the Yelm Food Co-op a place we can all enjoy and be proud of.
Thanks to our wonderful customers!
We are in the beginning phases of the worst depression since the one we were given back in the last century and your Co-op is not immune to the effects of this. However, we continue to honor our mission of providing healthy foods and other products at prices that are sometimes way below the competition. On some products, however, our purchasing volume doesn't allow us to offer prices we would like to. In both cases, we need to generate the minimum margins necessary to cover operation expenses,
at least.
We appreciate all our customers who sometimes shop with us in spite of some prices being higher than at other store. Without this kind of commitment, we would
not still be operating today.
Thanks you so much for supporting the Co-op!!
Yelm Food Co-op
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Our Store
Located at:
404 First St SE
Yelm WA 98597
(360) 400-2210
Hours of Operation are:
Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm
food@yelmcoop.com
Mailing address:
PMB 92 PO Box 7530
Yelm, WA 98597 |
