Forum Post: Cooperative Corporations: EVERYBODY gets a share of the profits
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 12, 2011, 10:32 a.m. EST by AMH
(123)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Cooperative corporations are corporations owned by their customers. Whenever a profit is made, every single customer gets their cut. The money goes back into the hands of the people, not those of a greedy billionaire. And the customers are the ones in control, too, because their shareholder votes determine the course of the company. This whole mess was created because corporations act like funnels, taking money from many hands & putting it in a few. To make sure we're never in this situation again, we've got to break from that pattern. Boycott the uncooperative corporations. Become a member of every cooperative corporation you can, do your business only with them, and reap the benefits when YOU get paid by the company, instead of some jerk with a personal jet.
Here is another example of worker owned restaurant after 911
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7582&updaterx=2011-11-11+11%3A41%3A23
Good Job.
thanks!
There are some cooperatives that have worked out well - as far as I know - one is an employee owned industry of over 70,000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
Loon bat! If I'm the best customer do I get more than you? Yet another slippery slope for Marxists. Your simplistic solutions are not ever going to get any traction. give it up
They already exist, and already work. Yes, you do get a bigger dividend if you spend more with the company. And it's not crazy. It's just like any other corporation, but with different owners -- us.
Do you know that the investment banks on Wall Street give out money in bonuses to every single employee? From the janitor to the commodities trader everyone participates - even stockholders in terms of dividends.
Are they all equal? Of course not, but everyone does profit from the corporations profit.
I was in sales all my life and generally made more money than any bosses I ever worked for, and quite frankly feel that is how it should be.
I brought in the business that paid the salaries and for the buildings and upkeep and new product innovations and on and on.
In companies where sales people are not making money like that,the company is losing out.
I had worked for a boss or two at companies that felt sales could be handled by anyone, what they called phone monkeys.
They would watch sales go in the toilet because talent deserves to be rewarded and if I am going to do the job I was hired to do, I expect to be well compensated for it - as long as I am successful. I don't sell, I don't earn.
In a co-op of everyone being equal, your company will never grow, meaning your employees compensation will never grow. People do not by their very nature want to willingly under value themselves for long.
Your ideas though are great by me as long as it is all voluntary. You try to make all corps go out of business so you can have the co-op dream will never ever work.
Another grand utopian idea that doesn't work well. Why? because business requires INVESTMENT of CAPITAL. Some businesses are not successful and can not invest capital. I have tried this cooperative with other industry people for buying materials in bulk and it always breaks down, because other businesses can not hold up their end of the bargain.
When you make a purchase, the margin on that sale is CAPITAL. But I'm also working on a slightly modified form of cooperative, which gives an incentive for INVESTMENT from it's members in the form of a temporarily increased dividend, until the investment is paid back plus a non-compounding interest percentage. Google the Cooperative Group, or Rochdale, and you'll see one that hasn't failed. It's been around since the 1800s. It can be made to work, if you won't be so pessimistic.
Should do your homework on that organization. It has only been saved by merging or being acquired by a bigger group. Fraud was prevalent. Ive been a business owner of multiple businesses for 20 years, things are never that simple. If you want a cooperative in America just look at the Mafia.
They had a rough patch, yes. But apparently it worked out. They are still owned by their customers and they're doing better than ever. And shareholder voting is inherently democratic. Ask the mafia if they'll even consider your vote. Or pay you a dividend. lol