Our Co-op: Powered By People
by Leah Scates
Lately, I have been thinking about how much beauty lies in imperfection. What I tell my team is that every obstacle is a learning opportunity. We are all human, and mistakes and missteps happen—and that is okay! It only makes us stronger. The fact that our Co-op is powered by people is one of the things that makes us unique.
The Co-op doesn’t have AI systems that interpret which products are “best” to suit your needs—it’s our people who are passionate about quality and values making these decisions. While our staff do use product movement and trends reports to make decisions on the items we carry in store, ultimately, the products you see on our shelves are a reflection of the people who are doing the work of interpreting those reports while also listening to your feedback and suggestions. Our buyers sample these products with their own families before they make it into your shopping carts. I personally love knowing this and will often lean into our staff before making a purchase.
I know that before I buy some snacks for my toddler I can ask Estrella, our Category Manager, what her little one’s current favorites are. If I am going to a dinner party, I will ask Kristian in Beer & Wine which new Washington wine I should bring. And if I’m not sure what to cook for dinner, I’ll ask Clay in Produce what local produce we might have in store today.
Knowing the Co-op is run by people, you can imagine that as humans we too have off-days, we struggle, and we make mistakes. And knowing that we humans at the Co-op work hard to prioritize working with other humans and businesses that put people first, there are even more individuals up and down the supply chain living out this wild and wonderful human experience. And so, the beauty and the burden of a cooperative supply chain is our humanness, including the imperfection inherent with the many moving pieces of a human-powered machine.
I recently overheard someone say “I love how analog the Co-op is.”
Hear, hear!
A little crunchy, a lot old school, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We still use filing cabinets and paper, albeit sparingly. You are even reading a paper now, written by talented staff and community members and edited by a small, but mighty marketing team of three.
We count product with our fingers, eyes, and the calculators in our brains. We make food by hand, and a whole lot of it! We show up every-dang-day to the Co-op with purpose and personhood, usually with a smile, but on occasion a nod and a yawn. We wake at dawn to open the doors at seven o’clock, after all. We are not cogs in a wheel nor bots on the rise, we are the real deal doing our best to support our own livelihoods while simultaneously serving our community with our many unique talents, perspectives, and quirks, too.
All that humanity, may not matter, or come to mind, when a shelf is empty, a favorite is sold out, or a checkout line is long. But, one might consider what could have possibly gone wrong along the livelong way: a flat tire or a delayed ferry, a child’s illness or a spouse’s surgery, a shipping snafu or some sort of weather event in a prime growing region. The logistics are legion. Or, on second thought, one might let out a sigh of acceptance: ah yes, the Co-op is human too, and that is what I love about it.
As we wrap up this year and start peering into the crystal ball for 2027, it’s not clear to see every challenge that will come up, but what I hope is that we will continue to extend grace to one another as we navigate this human life and participate in this beautiful community-owned and people-operated grocery store.