vivekmgeorge

If you are into unionization and tech, it's worth exploring the platform co-op (worker co-ops) world a bit. An essential link list via their Facebook group page https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL5-Q-uPgg1qGtxrKEYOXdsn...

Kroger profits are at record highs. Its stock is up 36% in a year. Its CEO got a 45% raise to $22M and makes 909x the median worker.

75% of its workers are food insecure. 63% can't pay their bills. Many are on food stamps.

[@DanPriceSeattle's comment from Twitter]

Yes. Not new, but for some the mental exercise to put this idea together seems too hard. The general narrative is that criminals are just random bad ppl!

I hadn't thought about network capabilities. If multiple, small pods could be sent every few minutes that's a game changer for sure!

From my related research I believe this a major underlying problem facing much of the world (especially the West). If compressed airways (and related issues) are causing humans not to get proper sleep, the downstream effects on society could be huge.

The irony. The bride of capitalism basks in welfare benefits. All the while paying minimal taxes and working tirelessly to turn workers basically into machines ;)

A smarter move by politicians would be use these same dollars to support worker owned co-ops in a greater way. They have proven to be more efficient as a businesses model and better at shifting money to more hands. Plus, good jobs for the workers :)

Only for so long. Their stock price will suffer at a certain point. Not to mention the bad PR that come with it. The more of these that we see globally the harder it would be for them to run at a loss. As a CO-OP they can take growth slowly. They don't have the same investor pressure

Kind of wondering why hemp isn't being more explored. Hemp for material manufacturing and fuel purposes seems incredibly powerful.

Any idea why this was flagged?

This conversation was interesting bc in America socialism is portrayed as the devil. This clip details just one example, women's right, how socialism actually benefited society.

Hard to resist because it's baked into our DNA a bit, but in reality it's an illusion when you consider concept of the 1%. That said, if can be pulled off, which has been proven to be done countless times, the workers (maybe not founder) are generally better off financially.

It's exciting to see co-ops popping up in different sectors to provide a better service and greater financial reward/stability to the worker.

I'd love to see YC support CO-OPs!

I'm very sorry. We didn't expect this level of response (thank you). If you want to keep touch please fill out this Google Form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhUEMiZnaWbHAhhioC...

But if you aren't interested, I get it. Once again, I apologize.

That's the goal! I hear you about the packaging...uff :(

Yeh the plastic industry seems to have sold the world on a lie.

Thank you! Exactly :)

Thank you!

You're right! To be honest we got a bit overwhelmed by response and took down the free tickets. It would have been just too many folks for a zoom call. A mistake on my part :(

That said, if you want to stay in touch we created a google form to stay in the loop. Thank you for the feedback and sorry for inconvenience. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhUEMiZnaWbHAhhioC...

Hey everyone! The response to this post has been really great and encouraging. Unfortunately we had to close our general admission bc the response was too much for a zoom call...oops! If you want to stay in touch or interested, but can't buy a ticket at this point please check out our google form. Thank you!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhUEMiZnaWbHAhhioC...

Unfortunately the response was a bit more than we imaged for a zoom call. So we closed the free tickets at this point. That said, if you want to keep touch, check out this survey form here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhUEMiZnaWbHAhhioC...

Yep. This meeting is to first organize a team and get everyone on the same page. From there we can start working out the details of building.

Totally agree and that's partly why we are building it this way.

Gotcha. You might have point on the marketing stuff. This is literally our first meeting to organize so we need determine all of that as team in the coming weeks and months. Thanks for the input :)

Please RSVP. Perhaps we can chat after or sometime over the next few weeks.

REI is a "co-op" but a consumer co-op. This is VERY different unfortunately...yeh a bit confusing I know.

They aren't a worker owned co-op so that means they face the same economic pressures as any traditional investor owned business. They lack most of the amazing aspects of a worker owned co-op that I mentioned.

Idea + splash page. This is to bring together interested people to begin organizing a co-op.

Grove is great. We need honestly need more companies like them!

B corps are cool and we consider it, but they aren't really well regulated. What it means to be a B Corp is a bit vague. Being a CO-OP basically bakes into our DNA being "evil"(not exactly, but there are additional measures that will allow for it, ie. being a multi-stakeholder co-op for example which is our plan).

Thank you! This is for our first general event to begin organizing the co-op. If you want to financially support, you can buy a ticket for the meeting tonight via the link.

Thank you for the feedback! I agree and also humbly disagree. Let me please explain.

So the product and service is #1. We have various ideas how to execute this. This doesn't mean we believe we can "beat" Amazon. That isn't our goal at all, nor does it need to be. Our goal is to make it easy and convenient for the average American to shop sustainable friendly products.

That said, because it's worker owned co-op vs an investor owned business there is potential to actually build "a customer centric company" ;) This is bc unlike Amazon we aren't under same economic pressures as a typical VC or investor owned company.

Plus, there is growing concern around income inequality, job security and general democracy both in the work place and in society. Consumers are looking for alternatives. By building this as a worker owned co-op we address all these things and more.

Yes "content" or product/service is king, but by building it as a worker owned co-op we may actually have a market advantage that consumers will be able to see.

I appreciate the feedback! I guess I was hesitate to put too much attention on me because it's a worker owned co-op but perhaps to kick this project off it would have been okay. If interested, here is my blog https://medium.com/@vivekmgeorge and Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivekmgeorge/.

Thanks again :)

*UPDATE*

Hey everyone! The response to this post has been really great and encouraging. Unfortunately we had to close our general admission bc the response was too much for a zoom call...oops! If you want to stay in touch or interested, but can't buy a ticket at this point please check out our google form. Thank you!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhUEMiZnaWbHAhhioC...

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Hey folks, I'm Vivek! I'm excited to share my vision for ending the plastic epidemic and The Sustainable CO-OP Store.

Our vision is to create an Amazon-like online store, along with a physical location, but only for sustainable friendly products.

Instead of building this startup as a traditional investor-backed company, we have decided to create it as a worked-own cooperative. There are many reasons why worker-owned co-ops are amazing. Greater financial equality between all workers, increased business stability, a democratic workplace, community-centric and much more. Still, the thing that I believe is most powerful about a worker-owned co-op is that it's mission-driven over financially driven.

When we complain about how farms use various chemicals in our food or how social media companies are continually trying to get us to use their apps, it's because these companies are under pressure to grow their profits--quarter after quarter, year after year. They have investors who demand growth, which often forces them to compromise their products and services to meet these demands.

Worker-owned co-ops generally don't have those same pressures because the workers, not the investors, own the business. And because the workers get paid a salary or wages, they aren't stressed whether the company grows or not. They instead can focus on whatever they determine is most important, whether that be job security, profitability, the product, or something else.

We have our first general meeting tonight, and we're looking for folks who are passionate about the environment and may be interested in getting involved (it isn't a full-time thing yet). For this idea to succeed, having a few enthusiastic software developers will be essential. If this sounds like you, this meeting will be of interest.

I hope to see you tonight! Thank you

PS. If you want to learn more clearly about the difference between a startup and a co-op, I made a video on YouTube. Enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNJupnV6SgA&t=6s

Personally, I think this is the fairly useless move by Apple. Being able to build apps easier will not change this dead ecosystem. Easier ways to market apps, get them into the hands of users, and remind ppl to use the apps they downloaded is what's needed. Facebook, Google and Apple consume all free of users.