Food Coop

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film. This film is also available on our home streaming platform, OVID.tv.

FOOD COOP takes us deep into the belly of the Park Slope Food Coop, one of America's oldest cooperative food supermarkets, with a healthy dose of insight and wit.

Nestled deep in New York City, which, for many, exemplifies both the glory and the horrors of the capitalist spirit, you can find this highly prosperous institution, just as American and certainly more efficient than Wall Street, but whose objective is entirely non-profit. Working against everything that defines 'The American Way of Life,' the basic principles of the Park Slope Food Coop are simple: each of its 16,000 members work 2.75 hours per month to earn the right to buy the best food in New York at incredibly low prices. This Brooklyn coop founded in 1973 is probably the best implemented socialist experience in the United States.

Through FOOD COOP, you will see this institution come to life and witness how the enthusiasm that animates the Park Slope Food Coop demonstrates a potential for change; how the coop's mode of participation viscerally teaches democracy to those who take part in its activities.

'This work wonderfully presents the successes and challenges that cooperative organizations face...Park Slope Food Co-op is a shining example of how people can work collectively - literally - to access quality products at affordable prices. As an educator, I appreciated that the film focused Park Slope's value-driven business: if you can tap into people's common values, you can build something really special that fulfills our collective human propensity for support and cooperation. I hope I can use this film in my own classroom soon!' Keri L. Jacobs, Assistant Professor and Cooperatives Extension Economist, Department of Economics, Iowa State University

'Food Coop is a fabulous inside look at Park Slope, one of the most iconic food coops of the past half century. With some of the best footage of a cooperative I have seen, the filmmakers take us beyond the membership barriers to see how the coop functions on a day-to-day basis and to meet many of the personalities that make the coop so successful. Offering a vivid illustration of a cooperative economy at work, this film will be valuable both in and out of the classroom.' Craig Borowiak, Associate Professor and Chair, Political Science, Haverford College

'Food Co-op not only highlights a successful cooperative venture, but also addresses the urgent need for access to food in urban markets...The film does a great job of showing the value of cooperation by way of example...There are shining moments in this film that teach us that cooperation can be a balancing force when the market fails to provide what consumers need.' Dr. John Park, Roy B. Davis Professor of Agricultural Cooperation, Texas A&M University

'An amusing and enlightening food expose...Capture[s] the essence of this unique emporium with a blend of humor and pragmatism, underlining how a sustainable business needs to have more in mind than just the bottom line in order to survive.' Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

'This detailed examination of the Park Slope Food Co-op explores both the benefits and challenges associated with providing affordable high quality foods in urban neighborhoods...Particular attention is focused on the importance of the unpaid labor provided by the diverse membership that is a requirement for membership. The in-depth treatment of this unique cooperative venture will allow interested viewers to garner sufficient information to organize similar efforts that can address the problem of food deserts confronting many communities.' James Stewart, Professor Emeritus, Labor and Employment Relations, African and African American Studies, Management and Organization, Pennsylvania State University

'This film provides a very interesting behind the scenes look at a food cooperative...Help[s] students see the personal side of the cooperative story.' Phil Kenkel, Professor and Chair, Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University

'A truly thrilling film.' Celine Zug, Boite a Culture

'Food Co-op tells the story of Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn-a 44-year-old, highly successful food co-op...The film shows viewers the whole gamut of store operations - from committees, to stocking, to produce and dairy buying, to walking customers to the subway...This film is a fascinating study of how a community has organized itself to collectively govern and manage a very complex social enterprise.' Steve Dubb, Senior Editor, Nonprofit Quarterly

'A rare, candid look into the life of Park Slope Food Co-op, and the lives of the co-op's members. The film provides a glimpse into the methods and culture employed in this exceptionally successful co-op. An intriguing resource for instructors or organizers looking to explore the nuances of collective entrepreneurship through a real-world example that has been sustained at scale for several decades.' Tom Pierson, Co-op Educator

'A curious and benevolent stroll through...this unique store.' Jeremy Gallet, AVoir ALire

'A healthy place...Exceptional...Enthusiastic.' Basta!

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Boothe, Tom (filmmaker)
Pfohl, Christian (film producer)

Other credits

Camera, Greg Harriott; editing, Hélène Attali.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

supermarket, Brooklyn, park slope food coop, alternative economic system, new york city, capitalism, non-profit supermarket, best food, low prices, grocery store, socialist, cooperative, coop, co-op, enthusiasm, potential for change, teaching democracy; "Food Coop"; Bullfrog Films,doc,env,food; sociss

WEBVTT

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:15.000
[sil.]

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:43.000
[sil.]

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
Could I ask you a question? Yeah.

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
What do you do for living?
I teach preschool.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
[sil.]

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
Hi, what do you do for living?

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
I’m a designer and animator.

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
Could I ask you a question? Yeah.
What do you do for living?

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
I work in social services.
I work with the homeless.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
I’m a psychoanalyst.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
Hi, I can’t hear you. What do you
do for a living? We’re filmmakers.

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
Yeah, we’ve a little company here in
Brooklyn and do all sorts of stuff,

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
related video film. What… what
are some filmmakers do you like?

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
Szarkowski, huge fan. (inaudible).

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
Plus some Russian and your? Japanese. So
that kind obvious a result, you know.

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:08.000
[sil.]

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
If… if you’re doing a 30-second orientation

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
from about Coop, what would you show to somebody
like Andre, who’s just a visitor and not a member?

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
Uh… What the differences? Yeah, what’s the… what’s the principal
of the Coop? What’s the principal, okay? What you have to do?

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
If you really want good food… if you really
want good food and if really want Coop food

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
umm… you have to work here. (inaudible).

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
[sil.]

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
Good food, better food, okay. And
you will normally get. (inaudible).

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
Perhaps we should give the
perspective of a (inaudible)

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
travelling through this place and handle by a
bunch of people who work in the Coop, you know.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
No. Okay, that was… that was the thought.

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
(inaudible) broccoli. We’ll draw broccoli.

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
And a small candle

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
surrounded by (inaudible) sprinkler.

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
We could have like a macro of like people’s
mouths. Macro of people’s mouths. Eating.

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
And we put a brownie crump.

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
Or something… or banana.

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
Thus far to suggest that I think.
Okay, brownies. Better.

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
But the working you want like
people stocking and chopping and…

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
Well, ideally it would be like the
same person shopping and then working.

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
I mean, we still do a macro (inaudible) of the food. Yes.
They’re brilliant. Okay, I think that’s the concept.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
This is the cooperative supermarket.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
It is open only to its members, but anyone
can join. Everyone who’s shops here

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
must work here for two hours and
45 minutes every four weeks.

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
A staff of paid employees is hired
to coordinate member labor.

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
Because 75% of the work is done by
members, the prices are extremely low.

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
The food is very good.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
(inaudible) to repeat anything, okay.

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
Okay… (inaudible). This is
a cooperative supermarket.

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
Try that for fun (inaudible) you’re crazy.

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
This is… This is a cooperative supermarket.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:53.000
[sil.]

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:38.000
[sil.]

00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:03.000
[sil.]

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
Keep one going.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
Yeah, good, keep on going.

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
Two artichokes.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
Two (inaudible).

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
[sil.]

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
Oh, one non-organic (inaudible)

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000
curly came up, instead of plain.

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
I live nearby. When I go home
take a shower and then go to work

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
and, you know, it’s fun. I love it.

00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.000
[sil.]

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
I’m surprised you didn’t find the entire

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
like rice bin in my (inaudible). I know.

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
Okay. The best thing to do is just have kids. And you
never have to work again. You just keep them going…

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
Well, you also just get… you
get a year off. (inaudible).

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
Uh… A year of not working. Keep pooping
that. Yeah, we had twins and (inaudible)

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
You get two years or did you get one year?
Two years. You get two years…

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
Like not each, you get two year for a family. Yeah, for
the total. Hello! Hi, how you’re doing? (inaudible).

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
I’m doing well. Thank you for (inaudible).
My pleasure.

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
You may share it. Uh-huh take care.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:18.000
[sil.]

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
People don’t cook here. So if you cook,

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
you’re instantaneously put it, you’re… you’ve an
outsider status a little bit. Its changing now I think,

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
but 12 years ago it really it was people
really didn’t cook very much here.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
And if you did cook, you were stuck
shopping a key food or the Met

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
or the (inaudible), you know, and I did that
when I first got here for about six months

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
and I… it was… it’s depressing,
you know, I was… I was a single

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
and alone (inaudible) cooking for one out of a (inaudible) is kind
of (inaudible) so something about the Coop made it feel like,

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
’Oh, I could talk to people hear about food. I can
find food that I want like fine ideas of food

00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:00.000
that I want to cook and it became it just…
it just warmed my household in that way.

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:18.000
[sil.]

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
What is this? Oh, my Gosh! It’s called like a
dragon’s hand or something like that, it’s a citrus.

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
Citrus? Yeah, it’s super awesome and see
what is it called? You see it on that?

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
Buddha’s hands, that’s… that’s what it is.
Oh! That is so cool.

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:48.000
[sil.]

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
Oh, I love these little (inaudible)
so much. Yeah, it’s so good…

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
It is (inaudible)?

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
(inaudible) under… I think they are in the
(inaudible) menu. They are in the (inaudible) menu

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
and with Christmas shopping today
so we’ll focus. Sometimes…

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
It’s not bank alert are so sensitive. Yes.

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
My bank knows I never spend money. I don’t
spend more than a $100. I think that…

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
Yeah, I gonna get one of those try today.
Okay, how many bags do you have?

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
Oh My God! That four, five, six bags.
I broke the record. Six bags.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:58.000
[sil.]

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
Okay, so this week we bought
about $293 worth of food

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
umm… that will cover us for about two
weeks. This is just a portion of it.

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
Umm… So we got some bread,
some pink grapefruit,

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
some dish soap, cider, flower.

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
Okay, well, it’s two weeks later
and we did another shopping

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
and look what’s happened? We
got a lot of the same things,

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
not everything we could find at Whole Foods that they
have at the Coop. But a lot of the same products

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
and there was some price differences.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
Umm… For instances bread, we got the
exact same loaf at the Coop for

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
$4.30 for the loaf and at
Whole Foods it was $6.99.

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
Umm… These tomatoes at the Coop were $2.31,

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
at Whole Foods it wasn’t
that big of a difference,

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
it was just two $2.50.
Whereas with the cheese,

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
uh… we got (inaudible) at the
Coop it was $14.41 a pound.

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
At Whole Foods it was $21.99 a pound.

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Umm… The pepper at the
Coop is $2.43 a pound,

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
at Whole Foods it was $4.99 a pound.

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
And the chocolate bar at the Coop is $1.65,

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
it makes me want to get it and umm…
at Whole Foods that was $2.50.

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
So overall we saved about forty 40%

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
umm… by shopping at the Coop
uh… which doing the math

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
is about $126.03 every two weeks

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
in savings from shopping at Whole Foods
and every month that’s a little bit

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
over $250 in savings. Annually
that’s a savings of over

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
$3,000.

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
And over a 10-year period
that would be $30,000 savings

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
which is considerable. And if we were to do it over a
thousand years, we would have saved over $3 million

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
so that’s pretty cool.

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:48.000
[music]

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
The… the these are… these
are recycled cartons,

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
so the old barcodes that for
a different brand of eggs.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
So we putting the new barcodes
on that these whatever printed

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
these… the… the farmer is
using recycled cartons.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.000
[music]

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
I’m a public librarian and I
work two Saturday a month

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
and thus get a day off during the
week on the days when I do Saturdays,

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
so I… my regular shift is actually on Sundays
and I’m here doing two make ups for some shift

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
switching that happened. Childcare
is my normal shift here. I’m just…

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
I’m covering someone right now. You have to take a
course and that course counts as… as one of your shifts,

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
so you go to just the regular two-hour
course when they train you in childcare

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
and then your childcare certified so.
And what did they teach you?

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
The… the roles. How many kids per people? How many
people can be in there to make sure you lock the door,

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
to make sure the children’s parents are always in the building? So
if mom is down you’re working it has to put money in the meter.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
She’s supposed to come up and get the child out and put (inaudible) in the meter
and then bring the child back. We’re never supposed to have the kids there

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
by themselves, like, what we can feed the kids.
Can we do a diaper change that kinda thing?

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
[sil.]

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
If you’re making a film about the (inaudible)
Food Coop, what would you call it?

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
How to own a grocery store.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
I would call it Attention Coop Shoppers.
Attention Coop Members, you know,

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
anything to do with the intercom. Something
about the intercom is the soul of the Coop.

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
I’ve met people. I’ve met friends. My husband’s gotten
work through somebody through that I chatted with,

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
like, today I’m chatty
because I had coffee.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
Other times I would go stand in the corner and I
just want a bag and don’t want to talk to anyone.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:00.521
It depends on what you wanna do and everyone’s here doing… They have
everyone’s nodding. You can be as social or as antisocial as you are.

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
There would be no jackfruit in my basket.
Coop is really a great place,

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
you know, it’s… it’s an
entire community and it…

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
it’s actually represents a new
economic system in this country.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
Do you think (inaudible)?

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
It’s gonna have to because
this country is not gonna…

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
It’s gonna collapse one day.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
If this type of system doesn’t
catch on, this county can’t last.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:48.000
[sil.]

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
My name is Kate Zukerman and I’ve been
a chef since I graduated from college.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
First a savory Chef and then I
added pastry to my repertoire.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
I started cooking one summer in New York City, my hometown
and then after college I cooked in Boston and San Francisco.

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
When I finally came back to New York, I became
the pastry chef at a beloved high-end restaurant

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
in New York called Joan Tarlow which started
in SoHo on Green Street in the late 70s.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
I’ve spent a lot of time in my life working with
ingredients and sourcing the best available product.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
Eighty percent of the groceries
I buy are from the Coop.

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
One of the most important reasons of the food is so good
at the Coop, is the turnover on every product is so high.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
Nothing sits on the shelf, I rarely check the
date and anything at the Coop before buying it.

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
Food stores in the States sell so many products
made with linseed oil and linseed nuts,

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
and people have no idea. You
just don’t get that at the Coop.

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
So what’s really great? The produce. A lot of
people join the Food Coop just for the produce.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
The buyers worked directly with some family farms
and cooperatives upstate and in Pennsylvania,

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
and they have great relationships with those farmers.
I have heard that the Coop’s biggest farmer supplier

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
Amy Hepworth from Hepworth Farms,
it doesn’t even put prices

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
on the invoices when they ship the produce. They
just trust the Coop so much that they let Allen,

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
the Coop’s produce buyer fill in the
prices because they know he’ll be fair.

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
In the summer, I would say 80% of the produce
is from local farms, that is within 500 miles.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
And in the winter, it’s obviously lesser. The
Coop only marks up its product 20% over cost.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
No other retail it could do that with
these kinds of perishable items.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
They want to sell as much organic
food as possible and if the organic

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
is just exorbitantly expensive, they
will also have umm… a non-organic

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
uh… better or non-organic broccoli or whatever next
to it because if it’s the price isn’t that much more

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
they might just carry just the organic.
Umm… But,

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
you know, in the case of like
hazelnuts for example, you know,

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
they carry organic hazelnuts they only have so much space
for hazelnuts. They don’t have the best organic hazelnuts

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
because they have… they also were concerned about
price. They want to sell something that’s affordable.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
The bulk items are great. The buyer Ron
does a great job sourcing. I use the flours

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
which come from Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
The dried beans are good. The oats are excellent.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
And again it’s always fresh because none of it
stays in the Coop for more than a few days.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
There are a bunch of different types of eggs. The Coop has
a great chart explaining the differences and egg labels;

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
pastured, free-range, organic,
cage-free, omega3, local.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
It’s very complicated and it’s not as simple
as the organic ones are the highest quality.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
A little more disappointing for me is the chocolate.
The Coop sells Brooklyn based Mast Brothers Chocolate,

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
an excellent quality but super expensive chocolate, and it’s
great. I mean, probably one of the best chocolates I’ve had.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
But for many Coop shoppers it’s
too expensive to purchase.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
The other chocolate choices are just mostly big brand
organic chocolate and the quality is not too high.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
Chocolate is grown all along the
equator and all these countries

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
uh… around the world that, you know, and
uh… it’s usually grown on small farms

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
and they just the people have, I mean,
there are some huge plantations,

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
but it’s not it’s… it’s often like, you know,
these trucks drives through these villages

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
and people, you know, have coupled trees or
15 trees and they cut the fruits off the tree

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
and they ferment and they sell it to
these trucks they just go through

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
and they’re way too poor to buy
all kinds of harmful pesticides

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
to put on that… on the trees and… and they
just don’t. Then, once the beans are dry,

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
they get shipped all over the world and to be made
into chocolate and how they’re fermented is hugely

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
umm… important, I mean, it… it
makes… it makes or breaks a flavor,

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
how they’re dry is… is a major component.
And I mean, are they dried in the sun,

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
or they not dried properly, do they get moldy, you
know, you can cover up moldy chocolate really well

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
with lots of sugar and you can make
it safe to eat with lots of sugar.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
Uh… And then it gets ground and processed
into chocolate umm… you know, very far away

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
from where it’s grown and so the organic label
really means nothing in terms of quality.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
Hi! Hi! I’m good, thank. How are you?
Good. Thank you.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
I just… I’m suspended my (inaudible)
period until the 10th. Okay (inaudible).

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
Josh, right? Yes. Okay, yeah, so
you… It’s possible if I’m wrong.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
(inaudible) your grace period…

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
So umm… if you go down stairs and swipe in,

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
it will activate your grace period or I can give you
extension which will give you until your next shift.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Oh, that will be great. (inaudible).

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
Excellent, thank you. And I can still sign in a visitor,
right? Absolutely. Okay, great. Yeah, absolutely.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Oh, can I get that? Yeah, thanks.
(inaudible).

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Yeah, that’s you know, the grace period then activates, so
(inaudible) all right and they’re gonna tell you (inaudible).

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
Thank you so much. You’re welcome.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
No, it means that you’re umm…

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
You can’t shop after Friday because
I see the grace period unless,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
you know, you do (inaudible). You know, the cops want to see
that, you know, numbers are trying to produce the (inaudible).

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
Then, do you think you could come in on
the Friday night or Saturday morning?

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
The member that calls umm… is a teacher

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
and her schedule is not the one that
allows her during the week to make…

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
make a shift. And whatever happened
she missed her last shift and so

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
when you miss a shift, you have to make up the
shift that you missed in addition to another one,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
so that’s the deterrent is that
you get a second shift owed

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
and so umm… what ends up happening
is that if I go into alert

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
because you owe a shift, you
then activate a grace period

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
uh… when you come in to shop,

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
so she did that whenever in the last month that happened.
And so as a result her grace period it is gonna expire

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
before her next shift. Sometimes someone
would work a shift for someone,

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
but then that other person
wouldn’t work their shaft

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
and so the whole credit would be an issue like
who gets credit for what and when that happens,

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
the person who missed the shift then owes to make
ups and then so that they’ve already been credited

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
the shift as though they didn’t miss it, so that
would be like a really difficult call to deal with.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
Umm… Also when the people call at
the beginning of a shift to cancel

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
uh… and not come in umm… a lot of times people think
it’s gonna be a lot more of a hassle than it really is

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
or are expecting someone to be
angry about them not coming,

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
and, you know, they don’t work
for me, we all are members

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
and, you know, they’re not showing up for
the thing that they are part owner of,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
so I don’t have a particular stake in it, but
there’s very much this sort of transference of like

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
you are the employer who I’m calling
to say, ‘I’m not coming in, ’

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
so that can be a little odd to manage.
Umm… But, yeah,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
I mean some people are clearly trying to, you know, pull one over
and the fact that they feel they need to do is sort of unfortunate.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
What do you do for living?
Oh! I’m a psychologist.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
I’m not rich, none of us are, you
know, but that’s not important to me.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Umm… It’s important I’m paying my bills

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
and I have great benefits
and I’m… I’m a pension.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
And I have 401K and I have…

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
I feel like, you know, I had to think
of my children, I had to think

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
if I have to work on real jobs
in this country what, you know,

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
what matters to me, I applied a
few times here. Umm… I feel like

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
I won the lottery. When people have family
issues, they go. They deal with it.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
They feel supported as a person. So I
feel constantly and I know, you know,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
it’s not like I’m not trying to make
it something, you know, unbelievable,

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
but here in this country right now it is.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
I think it’s the greatest social experiment
in this country. Nobody wants to really

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
write nice things about it because for a capitalist
culture (inaudible) have this egalitarian little nugget

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
really succeed is not good news, you know,
it’s not good news in this country.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Do you feel up to the challenge? yes, I do.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Okay. Umm… You can… you can sit here
and do it if you want to. Yeah.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:50.000
Okay, thank you…

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
This is a relic of the old Coop.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
Umm… These are our attendance cards,
so up until three years ago in

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
2009. We… we took attendance on 3x5 cards,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
you know, we had to do a
lot of simple arithmetic

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
because every time they did a makeup, we
would subtract one. They were absent,

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
again we’d have to add one. So a
typical note is… is like this.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
On April… in April of 2008, we told her she may
not rejoin one for one until she gets down to 3,

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
half of what it was when fell off. She may
get a pass and she’s trying at least.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
I wrote that note… I wrote
that note umm… five years ago.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
This whole coil has been called for already

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
and they’ve been around for a month, so they’re
just going to go to a recycling center

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
after I take off all the decorative stuff.
This one I’ll make…

00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:00.000
make a call to see if
we can find the owner.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
I don’t, listen, I’m not saying that
this is the thing people should do, but…

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
It’s nice. I think it’s nice. I think it’s nice. I think
this is what this is about, like it’s… it’s harder,

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
it’s like if someone worked for you (inaudible)
And in my shift I did the work already…

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
I’m gonna make (inaudible) poncho like this one
and she’s going to give me some bank shifts…

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
For the time that she used to
make it, I’ll give her the yarn.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
I think in some way shape (inaudible) benefits.
I think you should makes (inaudible)

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
to keep her mouth shut. The other way.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
You guys are gonna model your French Coop after this
one or (inaudible)? Yeah. Cool stuff. Where in France?

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
Paris. Reciprocal membership.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
You’re open for it. (inaudible)? Yes.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
That would be pretty cool. (inaudible) something. I
will call it opens up there, sure, a good reason to go.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
I know we should even exchange program.
I mean too. Yeah.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
I would get totally into it.
Look at the (inaudible).

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
Bye!

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Bye, you too. This is an organic lemon.
You can see.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
It looks grey. There’s no
bruises or any mold on it.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
It’s about ¢31 and it’s organic. You go to these other supermarkets
you won’t get a lemon that looks this great for the same price.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
You just (inaudible).

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
It took me years to join the Coop, not
because I don’t share their values, I do.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
It just felt excessive to take two buses
and two trains to get to a grocery store

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
when there are several supermarkets in my
own neighborhood that needed to do better.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
That’s essentially what I do for a living. I work in the Food Justice
Movement, working to create better food systems for communities like my own.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
[sil.]

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
It’s important for people to know that the Coop
is not the norm in America, it’s the exception.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
People living in rural areas across the country
are often reduced to shopping for groceries

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and liquor stores, Walmarts, convenience stores,
and food pantries. In many parts of New York City

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
like my own neighborhood Bed-Stuy, a
very diverse African-American community,

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
you find upwards of 10 bodegas
for every supermarket

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
and the unfortunate reality is that many of these supermarkets
are just glorified bodegas selling lots of process junk food

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
and poor quality produce, that’s
if they’re selling produce at all.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
Let’s try to find a lemon in a bodega.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
So we’re recording them
and they’re recording us.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:53.000
[sil.]

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
This is supposed to be a place where you
start to pick up something you forgot;

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
sugar, a can of cat food, a can of soup,
but when there’s nothing else around

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
these bodegas become peoples
main source of getting food.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
At first glance you can see there’s lots
of processed food but nothing fresh.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
You really have to dig. Oh, that one
is no good. Yeah… We found some onions

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
but even the nice guy who works here
sees he can’t really sell them.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
Are those limes or lemon in… in there
because it’s hard to tell. (inaudible).

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Ahh… How much is this? For you, ¢50.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
¢50. I’ll take it. Thank you.
You’re welcome.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
The bodegas use this and the liquor stores use
this also. Some of the Chinese restaurants

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
that are open really late at night
will use this also and so they…

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
they lock the door, so you can’t get
in for fear of robberies or whatever,

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
and you have to pay for this, you
have to tell them what you want.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
I want a stick of gum or I want you
know, a soda and you put your money

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
in and then you turn this, they take the money out and
then they put your item back in here with the thing.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Umm… So it doesn’t… it doesn’t help
to create a culture of a place

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
where you can get a lemon or you want
to buy like good a quality item.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
And if you’re lucky enough to live near one

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
of the rare supermarkets in my neighborhood,
the situation is not much better.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
[sil.]

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
We can smell it, it clearly rotten

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
and all of them are, you can
see and the entire box.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
They’re all completely rotten
and they’re still selling it.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
This one is clearly rotten.
The floor is dirty.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
Some of these shelves don’t look like
they’ve been cleaned at all, like,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
you see dried milk on them and I mean,
its sad, you know, it breaks your heart.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
The same south supermarket
will have, you know,

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
in a community that needs
good quality products, right.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
That needs good prices,
affordable food for folks,

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
you know, to walk into a supermarket and they smelled the
things that you smell, it doesn’t smell good in here.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
Abundant in many forms.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
Umm… No, this is… These
bags are clearly leaking,

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
who knows what.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
There is garbage in here and hair.
Who’s gonna eat this.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
The irony is that despite

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
the poor conditions of supermarkets like this, the
prices are actually higher than in supermarkets

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
in richer neighborhoods because they
know that people have no other options.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Food access is one place where
you can see America’s racial

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
and economic caste system at work.
So that lemon was ¢50,

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
¢50 for a moldy lemon.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
The product suggestion book is how

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
the Coop gets suggestions from the members.
It’s here at the entrance desk.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
It’s broken down into different categories. Every
buyer that has item that they order or things

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
that they order will get past
this sheet every couple weeks

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
hopefully and we’ll go through.
People will leave their phone number,

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
the item that they want to see in the store and
then we’ll respond to them here with one of these

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
prewritten responses or we’ll usually
give them a call if we have time.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
In a lot of parts of Europe and…
and New York cheese is something

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
that you eat by itself whereas in the rest of
the country something you put on a hamburger,

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
or nachos or it goes on something umm…
and I think the experience of learning

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
that cheese is something that you can eat in and of itself
was that was a kind of a mind opening experience for me,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
you know, having gone to France
and having gone to Europe

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
and moved to New York and like learning about cheese
as a… as a food group, rather than as a condiments

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
or an additive. I learned on the job.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
I… I took over from the previous
cheese buyer who moved to Chicago

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
and I was really the only non-vegan that
was available to take the position.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
No Provolone for you, as common though,
don’t worry. You said, you promised.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
I did promise, it’s common. There’s two shelves
of cheeses of the week that we go through.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
I’ve the European shelves and
then American. Come on, Tony…

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
What do you have? You have the (inaudible).

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
So a lot of (inaudible) like
getting great things from America

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
is that you can… you can have amazing
things that are, you know, kind of unique.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
So this cheese (inaudible) is from a
very small producer called (inaudible)

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
which is just north of the city, just north
of Yonkers and they make this amazing

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
(inaudible) cheese that, I
mean, I would consider it

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
as good as any of the, you know, French or
German (inaudible) cheeses and Mirabelle is

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
a similar style thing from Indiana, so we’re able… we’re
able to like, you know, offer the members a choice

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
and unavailability of things that they… they
wouldn’t otherwise know about or if they did,

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
they wouldn’t be able to afford it at other stores. I think
there’s also a lot of the dairies and cheese makers here

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
more willing to experiments
umm… and, you know,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
put strange things on their cheese.
There’s a farm in Utah umm… that does.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
They have coffee and lavender on their cheese. They… they put
all kinds of stuff on it, just, hey, let’s give it a shot.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
What do we have to lose? I think there
is that sort of like spirit of,

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
you know, what do we have to lose here, whereas I
think that Europe is more steeped in tradition.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Umm…

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
So this is really where we put most of the like
pre-wrapped commodity cheese as you know these are things

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
that kids are going to get in their
lunches for school. Organic Valley

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
and Philadelphia are kind of like the big brands
of cream cheese. They taste about the same,

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
they’re kinda just like
(inaudible) gelatinous goo.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Umm… Yeah, this is kind of. This is a good
description of what it’s like right there.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:43.000
[sil.]

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Which way, my dear? This way. All right.
We’re going to the (inaudible).

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Well that’s a long walk, really. That’s fine by me.
All right, good. So yeah, when I always find people,

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
you know, teachers, writers, lots
of dancers, you know… Really?

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
(inaudible) I don’t know, four
or five dance (inaudible)

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
I thought that was a lot. What kind of work do
you do? I (inaudible) I work for the (inaudible)

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
so I do like cultural planning and stuff.
(inaudible) whatever the (inaudible) institute.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
(inaudible) yeah, I worked
for the (inaudible). Right.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
And what do you do? (inaudible). I
work in politics actually. Okay.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
I work for the Do you vote.
(inaudible) but I vote in Iowa.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
Uh-huh, so you don’t vote here. So you don’t… I don’t vote here.
(inaudible) something called the Working Families Party. Yeah.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
So I’m the director of that.
Shall we go this way? Yeah.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
So what does that mean for you? It means uh…
you know, we got a staff of about… Careful.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
They got light. Okay. Umm…

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
you know, we’ve (inaudible)
who run for office,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
usually we work inside the Democratic Party and kind
of make the Democrats a little bit more progressive

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
that’s our… that’s our goal. Where in Iowa?

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
I don’t often meet many lowans here.
(inaudible).

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
You got a brother who is (inaudible).
(inaudible). Brother-in-law.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
So my parents are (inaudible),

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
so they didn’t care (inaudible). I got it.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Let’s see what’s going on here?
(inaudible) guessing.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
(inaudible). (inaudible) that
many years ago. (inaudible).

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
Yeah. (inaudible).

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Okay. Thank you, so much. Take
care, good luck. Take care. Bye!

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:58.000
[non-English narration]

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
I haven’t ever told anyone this
but I look at this as kind of a…

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
a quasi military exercise, the object of
which is to keep everyone doing something.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Umm… so as you efficiently finish your work

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
before ending time of 11 o’clock
and my own goal is to finish

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
as early as possible, thereby gaining the undying
loyalty of the workers. I just finished.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
So let’s see how it goes tonight, in spite of
having worked with some of these people for years

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
I suddenly refreshers
on some of their names.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
I hope you edit that. Just kidding.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
Sear, okay; Jim, Tony… Tony.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
We sign it at the end
is part of our culture.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
Can… can we all agree
to respect our culture.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Yes. (inaudible) things
aren’t like super (inaudible)

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
like she’s just talking
shelf is fine but like…

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Could you do… could you do
produce, if it’s on waist level.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
Yes. (inaudible). So yeah, please
do not lift up any boxes just any…

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
any produce its on the waist level that would be
great. Good, I can do that. If you missed your shift

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
you’re supposed to be assigned to make us.
I have a policy

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
whereby if you call before or during
the shift, I’ll give you one absence

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
provided you don’t abuse… abuse
the privilege. You know,

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Frank umm… take out the eggs and starts
stocking them and I’ll do this (inaudible).

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
Okay. (inaudible). No… no,
Frank, take the whole. Okay.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
Yeah, whole thing. (inaudible).

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
[sil.]

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
The jobs dictate the culture a little
bit then even receiving squads

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
because I’ve been on a lot of receiving squads
have different cultures unto themselves.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
So I say the… I was a walker for awhile.
Like the people walk-in people home

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
and as you might imagine (inaudible) very solitary.
You’re constantly walking people home and you (inaudible)

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
for like five minutes with them, but there’s no sort of as (inaudible)
within the squad because it’s a lot of people doing make ups

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and like you just don’t get a chance
to have a conversation like this.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
On this squad you get, you know, I might have
a conversation with somebody for an hour

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
and then later on I have another half hour conversation
with the same person and you see month after month,

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
so you actually sort of develop friendship
is a funny word it’s sort of… Shift… shift…

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Shift (inaudible) You know like I don’t see I haven’t…
I don’t see any of these people outside of the Coop,

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
but it’s kind of fun to come to the Coop once a month and I get
to catch up with these guys that I see once a month, you know.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
And (inaudible) harvests
cracker (inaudible).

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
Triumphal return.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Uh… My job is to direct

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
all the workers in carrying out different
tasks over the course of the evening

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
which includes stocking, cleaning… stocking

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and cleaning mainly. Umm… Yeah.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
It’s that you’re… you’re paid staff?
Oh, no… no, I’m not pain. No… no.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
Uh… I’m… I’m a volunteer like
everyone else, but as a squad leader

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
I lead the squad and I do give
directions, but I’m… I’m not paid.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
So what you choose to do that shift?
To do that job, do you mean? Yes.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
Umm… Why… why did I choose to do it?
I… I… I like it.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
Umm… I… I enjoy the challenge

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
of telling people to do things in a
way that doesn’t make them angry.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Some people don’t like to
hear orders that much.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
They have they send signals saying
that you…lf I tell someone put away…

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
Could you please put away eggs? They don’t
always respond at a very gracious way,

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
now this rarely happens. I need to stipulate. But
they make it clear that they… they are here to work,

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
but they don’t necessarily
want to follow my orders.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
So that stress… that can be stressful.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
I think you have to have a certain amount of experience. You
have to have been to the Coop for a certain amount of time. Umm…

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
hey, Dan… Dan (inaudible)
dairy cool a person,

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
we need someone in the dairy cooler
(inaudible). Okay. Thank you.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
Can we put this up later because, okay? This… this is one of those
assigning someone to the dairy cooler that… that requires diplomacy.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Okay, let’s watch it naturally. Okay.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
All right. Oh, I (inaudible).
How is it going Michael?

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Oh, it’s okay.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Yeah, thank you so much. (inaudible).

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
(inaudible).

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
Yeah. Can I… I need to ask you to work
in the dairy cooler for awhile. Sure.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
Thanks. Have you done that before?
Uh… No, I think.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
Okay, I can show you how to do it.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:08.000
[sil.]

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
Where would it usually be? Right here. Yes, it’s
usually up here. Oh, there it goes. Thank you.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
(inaudible).

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
And since we’re here
(inaudible) put them all in.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
[sil.]

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
I want to get more on…

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:43.000
[sil.]

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
Someone’s gotta do this.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
[sil.]

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
The devil’s in the details.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:08.000
[sil.]

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
Excuse me! Bread bin cleaners. (inaudible) in
gratitude as your work has been brilliant,

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
but uh… some of you could just clean up that
Hollywood cart upon which you’re working, thank you.

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
Done. Yeah, almost done. All right.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
This is the last thing we have to do is uh…
the few remaining beauty products. Okay.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
So working together and all that.
(inaudible).

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
No, every square,

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
centimeter of the store has been
swept, everything has been put away.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
Things couldn’t possibly we better.
Everyone worked quite hard tonight

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
and I do regret once again
that weren’t able to shop

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
that is something that normally I’m able to arrange
for everyone whether you’re a makeup worker

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
or regularly assigned to the shift. I’m sorry
I wasn’t able to make that happen tonight.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
We were missing a number of regular members

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
and I think that was the proximate cause for
me having to say no shopping this evening.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
This is the first time that’s
happened in many years

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
and I hope it never has to happen again because
you guys worked hard I can’t offer many perks.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
So next time uh… we’ll work
to make that happen again.

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
Umm… Thank you so much and I’ll
say everyone in the New Year.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:40.000
Michael, see you in the New Year.
Happy New Year! Yeah, you as well.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
Hey, good night. Alex! (inaudible) we’ll make it up in next
(inaudible). Well, I’m Ellen Barker. Okay. Who are you?

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
I’m… I’ Dan (inaudible).

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
And I’m an elementary school teacher.
I teach… I teach music at a school

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
that’s right down the streets and in April

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
I will have been teaching 25 years. And I…

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
I just made a job transition. I
was working as a chef instructor,

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
educator for Social Service Agency and
then recently I went back to fundraising.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
And I… I went back because of money.
I stayed away from the court

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
because of its reputation as being a
(inaudible) place or as being a place

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
where people were that sort of difficult, you
know, radical like I’m not gonna fit in,

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
I’m not gonna, it’s not gonna work.
We immediately went in there

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
and it was like being at home, I mean, we felt comfortable and
to walk into a store where there was everything you wanted

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
and you could actually afford it pretty
much afford most things was really…

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
Yeah, agree or disagree. I… I’d say
it’s not our day to day expenses

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
that take the biggest bit of our budget.
Its school fees, camp fees…

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
Student loans for colleges.
Student and debt.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
I mean, I still been paying of
college and culinary school

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
and Dan had graduate school loans… Right.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
And that some significant portion of our monthly
income. I would say, ‘Well, now it’s down to

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
we pay about $600 a month
and student loan fees.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
And before it was even more
we were carrying dance alone,

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
we were paying about $800 a month. We
were close to retiring my undergrad,

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
so we’ll be down to just a couple $100 a
month, but that will go for another 10 years.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
I mean it’s really tough if you want to get a
higher education here, the additional expense.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
And now we’re getting ready
to pay for Hannah’s college,

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
you know, we’re talking
$30,000, $40,000 a year if even

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
if she goes to a state school,
it’s $25,000 a year, so

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
umm… I… I don’t know. Yeah.
We’ll figure it out.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
We’ll we do, but it’s… it’s a challenge.
Are you working?

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
I’m refilling this. Oh! (inaudible).

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
…just ice (inaudible) yeah, I’m gonna go (inaudible).
Okay. Yeah, I’ll be back (inaudible). Thank you.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:28.000
[sil.]

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
I’ve no idea where the toast (inaudible)

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
it has to be somewhere else. Uh…

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
[sil.]

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
Hey, you guys (inaudible) it happen to know
where they keep (inaudible) would you?

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
Which (inaudible)? I think before it should be like (inaudible)
or we has a Coop should be (inaudible) in starting other Coops

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
in other neighborhoods that, you
know, they help… they help…

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
Hey, sorry. Do you guys know where the (inaudible)? do you know… do
you know where they keep that like that big stuff… Oh, here they are.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
(inaudible).

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
Do you know where the green (inaudible)?
Excuse me!

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:23.000
[sil.]

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
Excuse me! Sorry.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:38.000
[sil.]

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:58.000
[music]

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:18.000
[music]

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
I was that Coop member,

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
who would come into the Coop and would think
very carefully about an organic apple

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
I was going to buy or the best
kind of meat or bread to purchase,

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
but not how I was gonna carry the food out
of the Coop, so my ‘shopping practice’s’

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
are not really as mindful as what I was gonna put into
my body. So I was that member that we’re addressing.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
From what I understand
high-density polyethylene

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
umm… is… is made from non-renewable
resources, from fracked natural gas,

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
from oils, from huge corporations
that are damaging our planet.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
Then you add in some chemicals which are completely
undisclosed. There are trade secret laws that prevent

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
us from knowing what is in our plastic.
And then

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
uh… so that in itself just that
background is like, I don’t think so,

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
but let’s say let’s make it lighter weight, umm… so
we’ll make it lighter weight so having a plastic

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
that does photo degrade, so plastic bag doesn’t
biodegrade as, you know, as paper does.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
If photo degrade which means it turns up in… into tiny…
tiny little particles that we see floating in the ocean

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
that’s being consumed by all manner of creatures and it’s having a
huge effect on our own bodies because then we consume those creatures.

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
The current proposal by the
Environmental Committee

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
is that umm… we retain the plastic what
we call produce bags or roll bags,

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
I mean, they used in the
produce aisle primarily

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
but also on the bulk aisle. We retain them

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
but we charge the members per a bag.
Umm… There’s suggestion is

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
¢20 per bag at the… at a minimum
¢20, it could go higher than that.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
So not a… not a huge amount,
but enough to be like,

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
’Oh! You know, if I buy, you know, if I’m taking off the line
here like 20 bags umm… that might have some effect on my budget.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
These bags cannot be paid
for with your snap benefit.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
So now someone who is
joined the Coop perhaps

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
and is trying to utilize the bulk aisle or utilize the produce
aisle they get the most out of their food stamp benefits,

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
they would have to use
some of their own money

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
to buy some sort of bag to take their product
home. Umm… We don’t think that’s fair.

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
What we’re trying to do through the
Environmental Committee is encourage reuse

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
and be creative about it and… and so I
have often made my own bags, right.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
So if you really need a bag, you can
take an old umm… anything, right?

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
You can take plastic bags, there’s no shortage of plastic bags in New
York City, so put a few in your bag and come in and shop with them.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
The decks, the carts of grocery stores
are not the most hygiene of surfaces.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
Umm… We have no guarantee that someone
couldn’t put something on a deck

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
to checkout deck that would
a leaky chicken something

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
that could contaminate someone else’s
products, so if we take away the bag

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
and the person can put their chicken in the bag
or the person who comes after them can put

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
their broccoli head in a bag
that they would choose,

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
we… we can’t guarantee that the surface is clean and that you won’t
carry contaminant home. We think that’s important to some people.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
Our food is grown in… in soil,
it’s full of microorganisms

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
and wonderful little creatures that are
here on the planet to help us fight

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
umm… illness. Uh… So then to take that thing
that’s been grown in soil and then put it in a bag

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
is somehow like, ‘Ok, now it’s clean.’ Like we’ve been
trained to think that it’s I think it’s fascinating.

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
Right so then let the members speak about
how much inconvenienced they want to have.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
I think that the members, every
individual has to way that out.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
Umm… I don’t really see why if
you’re an owner of a business

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
which every member is the owner of the Food
Coop, why you… you will have a stated goal

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
to make being an owner member a more
difficult thing. The general coordinators

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
do have this great umm… influence
on the ability to communicate.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
We are the environmental committee is we’re just doing our 2.5
hour to 40 minutes work slot, but we’d do way more than that,

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
for me that was an eye-opener
is two when… when…

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
when there is a conflict of
opinion about a proposal

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
and the general coordinators were
not supportive of that proposal,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
they have a… they have a lot of will
and ability to change people’s mind.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
I guess something I’ve always wanted
for an Environmental Committee

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
and we never (inaudible) them is why not start off
just with a very robust educational campaign.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
Why don’t you just instead of saying,
‘We’re just gonna get rid of them.’

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
Why don’t you start with a campaign
to say, ‘How can we reduce our use?’

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
What are the many ways we could reduce
our use, as individuals and as a Coop’

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
and let’s see how through voluntarily participating we can
reduce and then let’s see where we are and let’s discuss

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
what the next phase would be. They
never wanted to approach it that way.

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
And originally when I brought
forward the… this idea

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
umm… I was like I don’t use bags, this is a great idea, so
it’s sort of interesting. Or she wasn’t like for it… for it

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
but she was more open to it than she is now which
sort of to me is like (inaudible) that she’s there’s

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
that wave of fear kind of enveloped… Oh, I bet you
could interview any of the general coordinators,

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
you’d find out that they don’t use a lot
of plastic. Most of us them don’t use…

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
They probably all really great shoppers and have really low impact.
They do actually. We would hope that if this passes, people would go,

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
’Okay, let me think about this. What
do I have in my house? What can I do?’

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
Not I will never be able to buy flour again
from the Coop. You know, you would hope.

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
[sil.]

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
There is no CEO,

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
there is no Board of Directors, there
is no shareholders to report to.

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
We don’t have to finance corporate jet. We don’t have to, you
know, we don’t have to finance, you know, the corporate junkets

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
and bonuses like that. We are
the owners and as the owners,

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
we umm… you know, we run the place

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
all $16,000 (inaudible). This is where I’m gonna
draw your attention to the language (inaudible)

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
this is the news paper that’s
published by the Coop on a bi-weekly

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
uh… basis. And if you turn to page…

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
page eight,

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
you’ll see the calendar
events of the Coop is running

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
and it runs from lectures
to films to cooking

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
uh… kids variety show, all sorts of things,

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
music. On December 27th is a cheese class.

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
Most of the time, you know, the… the general meetings are
very poorly attended. I mean, it’s like successful democracy,

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
nobody shows up until things go wrong.
Umm… And like,

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
you know, (inaudible) we are 16,000 members
rarely do more than 200 people show up.

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
I don’t know if you remember a few couple of
years ago there was this rumpus about the Coop

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
wanted to ban Israeli products.
That she goes

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
on The Daily Show it’s embracing. Umm… But
so many people express interest in thatx,

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
we had to find indifferent on much larger
space to have a meeting to vote on.

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
I’m having the same issue with plastic bags
as a move we want to ban the plastic bags,

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
but a lot of people don’t want to ban plastic bags because they
want, so that’s the big debate that’s ongoing at the moment.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
Umm… The last meeting, General
Meeting they had about that

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
too many people showed up to the space, so they had to postpone
it because not everybody would have been able to vote on it.

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
So that’s… that’s how these
decisions gonna made.

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
Yes! Do you have an idea for a
new committee to process down…

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
Yes, you go to the Annual Meeting, you place your idea
on your agenda and it gets discussed and voted on.

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
Do you have an idea? Really.

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
Yeah, great. I’ve an idea. I
wanted to create a Toll Committee

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
because I keep getting asked by smaller people if I
can reach things that are up on the high shelves.

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:45.200
I said what a great idea we can have tall people posted around,
they can rush to the aid of these little, you know, little people.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
A lot of paperwork.

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
I know… I know, but this is really the worst of it. In our family
there’s two of us, we need to pay at the same time (inaudible)

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
we pay like $100 and then a
few weeks later pay $100.

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
Yeah, you each have uh… the first
month you pay your joining fee. Okay.

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
And then the next month to pay
your investment. Cool. Okay.

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
[sil.]

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
Hi, there. You work in
(inaudible) shift? I am.

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
Okay. Umm… You have a day of the week work time. Honestly I think that I could
probably do well with something from like 8:00 to 10:45 Monday through Friday.

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
I don’t know if that’s
super popular or… Morning.

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
Umm… Actually usually days go… Okay, great.
Let me grab the dayshift and see…

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
Umm… Oh, this is doing
inventory for both items…

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
Oh, with this soup preparation that
starts at 07:00, I could do that.

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
I’m probably pretty exciting like kinda
fun. Anything that we don’t compost

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
that’s still usable goes into like the super
kitchen bin and then people will prep it.

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
(inaudible) that’s when you’re just that’s the people that meet
the (inaudible) outside and then made stocks off down stairs.

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
So we had a Monday… So the only thing… so there’s
this is available at 08:30 on Fridays. Mm-hmm.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
And there’s nothing else except that Monday
maintenance or something else. Right.

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
Is that the last shift in this emptied I
take up the last one. In for Monday… Okay.

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
But it’s always it rotates all the time. Okay,
cool. You know, I (inaudible) preparing the food

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
to go over to chips, the food pantry… Okay.
It’s like a soup kitchen.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
Working in a Food Coop, I get people
call me all the time uh… in the office

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
and they give me their numbers, so I
always make it a mental game to figure out

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
when they were uh… in… initiated

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
and this guy just called… So let’s play
the game. So what would you say if…

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
if a number was 32,520.
What would you guess?

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
Well, 32,520 that’s an interesting
number because around the thirty 30,000

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
it seemed to be pretty steady flow of
people, so it was a linear more or less.

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
Uh… After that it went crazy
between 30,000 and 60,000.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
I would say 30,000 is about
we can verify that in fact

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
uh… around 2006, 2007.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
What about 63,566? Oh, that was yesterday.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
That was 66,000, yeah, that’s pretty close
that’s harder to tell, but you said 60…

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
Sixty-three thousand five hundred.
Sixty-three thousand,

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
you know, I think they’re up to 65 or 67,
I would say within the last two years.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
When… when… when did you do that Laura?
Uh… A little over two years ago.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
Year ago. In the system there was somebody called
number one, I think her name is Mini (inaudible)

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
and Mini (inaudible) was a fictitious
member of the Food Coop, it’s what comes up

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
when you first start the system.
So umm… What’s the oldest…

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
what’s the lowest number you’ve ever encountered
in your work here? I think I sold 300 for sure

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
and that’s about it. And those are 1973

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
so the whole batch, the initial batch
when the Food Coop is started circa

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
73, 74 it’s… the official year is 73.

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
Umm… They’re probably about 1,000 members
or 1,500 members at first if that.

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
And… and does that uh… does a low number
have any kind of power or prestige?

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
Uh… In real life, no. Prestige, yes.
Prestigious,

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
oh, you’ve been here this long year. Yeah.

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
So what…what was a very prestigious number?
Oh, anything, probably anything below 2,000.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
Even 3,000 something, 3,000 something
he’s just an old guy or an old gal,

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
but below that you’re Dumbledore.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
[sil.]

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
So I have this number 83B because this is the
second card I ever had, but I have a number 83

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
when there are hundreds of thousands of numbers
because I was a member when they made numbers

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
and my last name starts with a B, so I
was at the beginning of the alphabet

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
and I guess at that point I was the third person who got
a card, but when I walk-in with it and how people think

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.999
I might be a fossil or a dinosaur or
something because it’s such an early number.

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:33.000
[sil.]

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:39.999
There were four of us living together and Danny came home one day and
said, Joe, I met someone I knew and there’s going to be meeting next week

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:44.999
about starting this Food Coop and… and… and
he said, ‘You want to go?’ And I said,

01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:49.999
’Absolutely let’s go.’ But
that’s the short answer.

01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:54.999
The long answer is what was
happening in America, I think.

01:06:55.000 --> 01:06:59.999
The context was very much this
was part of the late 60s,

01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:04.999
early 70s umm… which the feminism, the
rise of a strong antiwar movement,

01:07:05.000 --> 01:07:09.999
umm… the idea an anti-capitalist movement that
was had many different sort of aspects to it,

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:14.999
but clearly was against at that point,
it was called Monopoly Capital,

01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:19.999
which and… and the idea that allies
with more and more controlled by fewer

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:24.999
and fewer large institutions.

01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.999
We instinctively knew that we should cooperate together
as best we could and that that will help lower the price.

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
We didn’t really think of it that intellectually
or we didn’t take it as an economics book,

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:39.999
but I didn’t know at the time that the biggest
expense of running a supermarket is paid labor,

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:44.999
I didn’t know that. But we knew
that once we started learning

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.999
what the wholesale price was of
things and we knew that gee,

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:58.000
we could really save money on food, on… on good food that
we… that we did, you know, we avoiding the bad food.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
And we were avowedly anti-capitalist. Yes, totally…
I mean, the idea of profit going somewhere else

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
and being extracted from
our surplus buying or end

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.999
or labor was clearly a part of it.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:19.999
We really didn’t have a membership concept. We knew we’d
have members, but we didn’t really we kind of thought

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.999
that everybody in the world was a member of the Coop
and… And they… they work whenever… whenever they work…

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:29.999
And that since we thought it was such a great thing that
obviously other people would think it was a great thing too

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:34.999
and they… they realized it would be fun to
work at the Coop, which we already knew that,

01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:39.999
so we figured everybody would sign up and
there will be easy to fill the work chart

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.999
and we didn’t have to worry too much about
whether it was totally equal or not

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
or whether someone didn’t sign up
as much as someone else signed up,

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.999
it’s okay, it’ll all work out. It didn’t.
It didn’t work out.

01:08:55.000 --> 01:08:59.999
And I would say that… that the
Coop turned an amazing corner

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
when the first-person and the second person
and the third person were turned away

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
because we were actually going to do it.
We’re going to say, ‘Yes,

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
we’re about cooperation and you didn’t… you
didn’t do your part of the cooperation,

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
you’re not a bad person, just you’re gonna have
to somehow make that up before I let you shop.

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:24.999
By the time I went to (inaudible) conference,
I think it was 80 or 81 in New England.

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
I went, I walked into this
room, it was beautiful

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.999
New England Conference Center, it was a Friday
night, the real conference started in the morning

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
on Saturday morning and… and… and I walked into
his living room there were five people there,

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
they said, ‘Oh, what Coop you’re from?’ I
said, ‘I’m from the Park Slope Food Coop.’

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
And… and they said, ‘Oh, you’re from
that Coop that excludes people,

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
who don’t want to work.’ And I really
didn’t miss a beat, I’m amazed,

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:59.999
but I didn’t miss a beat. I said, ‘Oh, and what Coop, you’re
from?’ And they said, ‘I’m from such and such, ’ and I said,

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
’Oh, you’re one of those people who form a Coop
that excludes people who don’t have enough money

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
to afford the good food you’re selling.’ I said, so
you could pick your exclusion and we’ll pick ours.

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
Now that was a war, you know, that was like a
really nasty thing. I just walked into the room,

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
I just got into the conference. And… and
when I talk to people starting Coops,

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
I say, ‘Well, you wanted to be a lot
excited about your Coop when you started,

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
but what you’re really doing is you’re building a connection,
you’re building… you’re building an organization

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
that people will feel connected to and if you
succeed in getting people to feel connected

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
to their Coop that they own, ’ if you actually
the stronger you can make that connection,

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
the stronger your Coop will be

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
and the stronger you will be the more
chances are you’re gonna make it.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
So how do you build a connection? If you ask someone
for one of the most precious things in their life,

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
in fact the most precious thing which is a little bit of
their time on earth… time on earth that’s most precious.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
Not your money in your
bank, it’s time on earth,

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
that’s all we’ve got in my
opinion, so we’re asking

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
for part of that how outrage is that.
So if you’re gonna give that,

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
if you make a connection, I
think it can be duplicated,

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.999
but it’s like umm… you have to get
it, you have to get the culture,

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
you have to study it… you have to study
it and learn it and I think it is doable,

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
but it’s not as easy as some Coop saying,
‘Well, let’s have a second location

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
and let’s just put up a sign and…
and maybe people will shop here

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
and we did a market study and this and that,
when people talk to me about market study,

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
my eyes glaze over, I said, ‘If people are eating, if
there are people there who have stomachs and mouths,

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
then they need food and they probably need to
be able to have better food more affordable,

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
and they probably are human beings who
like cooperating with other human beings

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
since most human beings are like that, we’re social
beings and so therefore our Coop is a good idea.

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
One two, three, four, five, thanks.

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
[sil.]

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.999
I’m going to (inaudible) new plaza. Okay.

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.999
[sil.]

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
No, I never did (inaudible).

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:38.000
[sil.]

01:13:05.000 --> 01:13:09.999
I usually…Oh, no… no… no.

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:18.000
[sil.]

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
Oh, my God!

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
Exerting. Even I think…

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
When I can’t face it, I’ll call the car
service, but I… I don’t do that often.

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:43.000
[sil.]

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
So this is where I
(inaudible) supper usually.

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
Uh… Go ahead and have supper for a second…

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:18.000
[sil.]

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
Hey, (inaudible) thank you (inaudible)
because I’ll take the bag.

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:38.000
[sil.]

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
so… here we are.

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
I’ll get my suitcase. These are my
painting. They’re older paintings

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
but they’re quite big and heavy,
so I’m use to big and heavy.

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
Oh, here I’m home from the
Park Slope Food Coop.

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
My… one of my 10 to 12

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
shopping (inaudible)
with the Coop per year.

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:28.000
[sil.]

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
All right coming up in the front there is
one U-boat of peace and one U-boat of love.

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
Is there any (inaudible) down stairs.

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
Hey, you know it, we’re cutting it. We’re cutting the
(inaudible), it will be as soon as it possibly can.

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:49.999
Gray hat! If you’d lost your gray hat?

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.999
It’s here by the ice cream. It’s nice,

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
it has a little button in the top, it looks
like your gray hat is near the ice cream.

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
Do you have any fresh horseradish

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
uh… fresh horseradish…

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
We can’t find the cashew cream nut cheese

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
uh… if anyone knows where it is here by the cheese
(inaudible) I would be Oh! Great thank you.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
(inaudible), Coop shoppers we need uh…
a trained childcare worker right now.

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
We have no childcare worker,
so if nobody comes to work,

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
we’ll have to ask the parents
to collect their kids.

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
I would like to say that that 12 o’clock
shift works until 02:45 that’s 02:45,

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
it’s not 02:30, it’s not 02:20, 02:45,

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
we get a lot of produce. You
guys are looking (inaudible),

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
don’t look at my face, look at produce.
Whoever has their dog out front,

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
they need you. (inaudible) shoppers,

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
the measuring cups that we’re fell in
aisle four are for your buying pleasure,

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
they are not to be used to you bulk items, (inaudible)
we then left on the shelf with bulk aisle.

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
One more tip about shopping right
now because it’s pretty busy

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
is that the last person on the line has a
sign, so when you’re looking to get go on

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
the line keep going until you see the person
with that sign and then they’ll hand it to you.

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
Please only shop for the items that
your passing while you’re on line,

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:34.999
please do not park your cart on the
line and walk all over the store.

01:18:35.000 --> 01:18:39.999
Maintenance, please do not put the chemical

01:18:40.000 --> 01:18:44.999
in the paper towel on
the bananas, thank you.

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:49.999
Okay, Coop members, Coop
now closed, its 05:01.

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:54.999
Uh… You now have 40 minutes to be on line.

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
I just wanna say to be uh… my friend there,
as you say, we only have a few minutes left,

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
(inaudible) I don’t think I gonna make it because, you know, it’s
so many people here I hope we can get another five attendance,

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
great I appreciate it.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
Hi, I am looking for the vegan (inaudible).

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
Receiving (inaudible)
everybody shopping receiving.

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
We’re good to go. Thank you everybody for helping us close
out. It was a very busy and chaotic ending to the day

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
and have a good holiday
that you’re celebrating.

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:34.999
My name is Karen and I’ve been working at the
Disciplinary Committee since about the mid 90s.

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:39.999
Since we’re talking about bad behavior at
the Coop including hearings and crimes,

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:44.999
let’s do it with some
sketches and reenactments.

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:49.999
[sil.]

01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.999
Oh, my God! Most of what we deal with in the Disciplinary
Committee is just bad manners or uncooperative behavior.

01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:59.999
Somebody will ram a cart into somebody else and
that person thinks they did it on purpose.

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.999
A member shows up a few minutes after the
Coop closes, enters through the exit door

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:09.999
and starts yelling at whoever is
around because they won’t let him in.

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.999
It’s people being rude of noxious shoving
a little, maybe pushing a little,

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
screaming at someone that’s
about 99% of what we deal with

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
and to understand that you’ve got to
understand that we’ve got 16,000 people

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:29.999
in a very small space with busy lives and so
people sometimes get angry, nerves get frayed,

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:34.999
so it’s really a kind of incubator for bad
behavior. Hey, you’re blocking the door.

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
You gonna have to wait
like… like two minutes.

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
More serious but more rare

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
is theft that the Coop. Theft
of product and theft of time.

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
Theft of time means, people who do not work there two and
three quarter hours, but still put in for the shift.

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
They just don’t work. You can be
kicked out of the Coop for that now

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
because for us it’s the same thing as stealing
product. You’re stealing labor from the Coop.

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
Then you’ve got theft of product.

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
I can show it and I can’t talk much about it because they
don’t want to give anybody ideas about how to do it.

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
Basically though somebody
walks into the Coop,

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
something happens and then they walk out with more
product than they paid for. If it happens once,

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
we give the benefit of the doubt.
It could have been a mistake.

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
The second time, if it’s a mistake, it’s too
bad because you’re getting a (inaudible).

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.999
Hello! Tom! Speaking.
Yeah, I’m Karen Kramer.

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.999
I’m calling from uh… the Food Coop. Hi, what’s up? So I’m on the
Disciplinary Committee. Do you know what the Disciplinary Committee does?

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.999
I heard of it, but I’m
not exactly sure I know.

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.999
Okay, we kind of umm… contact
people who we believe have done

01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.999
something against the good of the Coop
and it’s been brought to my attention

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:04.999
that you’ve been stealing from the Coop.

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.999
What you have to say about that?
Oh, that’s not true.

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
Okay, so it would not be
true that on December 1st,

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
you took several different portions of meat

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
and stuffed it into your knapsack.

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
I’m… I’m not even sure if I
was here on December 1st.

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
Right. And if I told you I had a video of your doing
that and that as a result of my seeing that video,

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
I then went and looked at
videos from your prior shops

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:44.999
and I saw that you did the same
thing, you kept putting products

01:22:45.000 --> 01:22:49.999
into your backpack and not
paying for them at checkout.

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.999
I mean, there’s a lot of people in the Coop that, you know,
I mean… Yeah, this was you because when you checked out

01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:59.999
umm… we saw you taking the meat and
putting it into… I have this on video,

01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.999
putting it into your backpack and
we have you at the checkout counter

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
and I have your receipt and
there’s no meat on the receipt

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:14.999
and you didn’t pay for it, which you know

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.999
if it was on only one occasion
I would think possibly you,

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:24.999
you know, made a mistake. You forgot
that you put it in your backpack,

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:29.999
but the fact that we have you doing it umm… the day
before Thanksgiving and the week before that indicates

01:23:30.000 --> 01:23:34.999
that this is a pattern of
ongoing criminal behavior,

01:23:35.000 --> 01:23:39.999
and what do you say about that? When I call that’s been
the end of it, no one is ever decided to have a hearing

01:23:40.000 --> 01:23:44.999
when I’ve called them. But they can.

01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:49.999
Members have the right to have their case
heard before their peers, other members.

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:54.999
Very quickly here’s what happens. We the Disciplinary
Committee present our case against the accused.

01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:59.999
The accused presents their case,

01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.999
a group of 15 randomly chosen Coop members, can
ask any questions they want if the accused

01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:09.999
or of us the Disciplinary Committee.
We then have closing arguments

01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:14.999
and 9 randomly chosen people from the
group of 15 discuss the case and decide.

01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:19.999
If guilty, hearing officers a separate Coop
Committee decide the actual punishment.

01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.999
This can range from
suspension to expulsion.

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.999
My background was umm… in
criminal justice law enforcement.

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
Umm… I was a prosecutor for awhile. I
investigated corrupt city officials

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
and corrupt city employees for awhile,

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
so, you know, I… I… I… I have no problem calling
up people and saying kind of awful things to them.

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:49.999
[sil.]

01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.999
This one smells especially bad.

01:24:55.000 --> 01:24:59.999
This one is really heavy. Okay…

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:08.000
[sil.]

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:19.999
You got it? Yep.

01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:28.000
[sil.]

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:44.999
That’s… that’s really (inaudible).

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:53.000
[sil.]

01:25:55.000 --> 01:25:59.999
One, two, three. One, two, three.
I don’t wanna (inaudible).

01:26:00.000 --> 01:26:08.000
[sil.]

01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:14.999
All right. All right, one, two.

01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:23.000
[sil.]

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:34.999
I will agree the last crew

01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:39.999
didn’t clean up the buckets. Hurray!

01:26:40.000 --> 01:26:48.000
[sil.]

01:26:55.000 --> 01:26:59.999
This one is heavy and it smells bad.

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:08.000
[sil.]

01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:19.999
You’re chopping up.

01:27:20.000 --> 01:27:28.000
[sil.]

01:27:30.000 --> 01:27:34.999
Uh… For us its nice

01:27:35.000 --> 01:27:39.999
because we… we don’t get to spend a lot of
time together even though we’re married

01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:44.999
so… so one of the nice things about having this shaft
is we usually spend the time just talking about stuff

01:27:45.000 --> 01:27:49.999
that we need to talk about so… And
enforced couple of hours, you know,

01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:54.999
two to three hours of no one bugging us and
we’re just (inaudible) out and do those things.

01:27:55.000 --> 01:27:59.999
… chop up vegetables and talk about stuff.
Yeah… yeah. (inaudible). Yeah.

01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:04.999
What should the title be? Uh…
Hmm… That’s a good question.

01:28:05.000 --> 01:28:09.999
Oh, I don’t know. Excuse me!

01:28:10.000 --> 01:28:14.999
Right… right its pretty good.
Pardon me, you know.

01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:23.000
[sil.]

01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:29.999
I don’t think Brooklyn is gonna
be able to nurture a creative

01:28:30.000 --> 01:28:34.999
bunch of artists much longer. I guess is what I would say and
also a lot of that cache of Brooklyn came from it being black

01:28:35.000 --> 01:28:39.999
and came from African-American culture and
the fact that people who were stuck here

01:28:40.000 --> 01:28:44.999
for decades because they were
basically quarantined in the city

01:28:45.000 --> 01:28:49.999
while everybody else was going out
to the suburbs, umm… you know,

01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:54.999
out of that umm… necessity and out of those conditions
a lot of really interesting things were born

01:28:55.000 --> 01:28:59.999
culturally including Hip Hop, you know,
and I just don’t see that happening now.

01:29:00.000 --> 01:29:04.999
My perspective is that gentrification
is a complex combination of things.

01:29:05.000 --> 01:29:09.999
Umm… To some extent it’s a process of people moving
into an area because there’s good housing stock and

01:29:10.000 --> 01:29:14.999
umm… they can live here more
cheaply and that, you know,

01:29:15.000 --> 01:29:19.999
creates a kind of upward umm…
escalation of real-estate values

01:29:20.000 --> 01:29:24.999
and a lot of good things happen because of
that. I think what we’ve seen under Bloomberg

01:29:25.000 --> 01:29:29.999
and under Giuliani actually in New York City
though is public policy reshaping the city

01:29:30.000 --> 01:29:34.999
and really encouraging a certain
kind of umm… attraction of

01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:39.999
more upscale people to the city, wealthier people and
also a reshaping of the physical space of the city

01:29:40.000 --> 01:29:44.999
in ways that has really promoted
inequalities, so basically we created

01:29:45.000 --> 01:29:49.999
a ton of luxury housing along Fourth Avenue. It’s
ugly, but that’s sort of beside my point right here.

01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:54.999
Umm… And… and we lost affordable housing,

01:29:55.000 --> 01:29:59.999
so I would say that there’s been umm…
an… an increase in the segregation

01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:04.999
in the city and the inequality in the city
because of some of these ownings and there were

01:30:05.000 --> 01:30:09.999
a huge number of (inaudible) in the city and so
what happened was certain areas were up sound

01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:14.999
and a lot of them were areas where there was
more renters, more poor people of color,

01:30:15.000 --> 01:30:19.999
working class people, and then neighborhoods like Park Slope
got what’s called a Contextually Zoning, which meant that,

01:30:20.000 --> 01:30:24.999
it was to… to maintain the neighborhood character
and the feeling of a village in the small scale.

01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:29.999
You know, when people complain about

01:30:30.000 --> 01:30:34.999
the Food Coop as being some sort of, you know, result of gentrification,
I look at them and I’m like, ‘Have you been to the Food Coop.

01:30:35.000 --> 01:30:39.999
The Food Coop is one of the only racially and
economically diverse places left in Park Slope.

01:30:40.000 --> 01:30:44.999
Honestly, I mean, I don’t even think the public
schools are as diverse as the Food Coop is.

01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:49.999
I see people come in there from far away to shop,
you know. So to me it’s just it’s… it’s a…

01:30:50.000 --> 01:30:54.999
it’s a place that was founded out of, you know,
some early values that I really think are important

01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:59.999
and it’s managed to hang on because it earns its
space. If it didn’t earn its space, it would be gone.

01:31:00.000 --> 01:31:08.000
[sil.]

01:31:15.000 --> 01:31:19.999
I’ve come to depend on the
quality of the food here. Yeah.

01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:24.999
And when I… I am in another city and there’s
not a coop and then when I’m in this city

01:31:25.000 --> 01:31:29.999
and I can’t get to the Coop, umm… I have a
little bit of a panic attack eating the food

01:31:30.000 --> 01:31:34.999
or even thinking or buying food from another
place. Because I trust… trust food here so…

01:31:35.000 --> 01:31:39.999
Can you give… can you give concrete examples of things
that you have… that freak you out at other stores?

01:31:40.000 --> 01:31:44.999
Just everything, I mean, first of all everything
seems… If you go to a kind of Gourmet Grocery Store

01:31:45.000 --> 01:31:49.999
umm… where they have similar
food that they have here,

01:31:50.000 --> 01:31:54.999
its unbelievably expensive,
it’s like shocking.

01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:59.999
I think there’s something really nauseating
for some Americans about capitalism

01:32:00.000 --> 01:32:04.999
and just how powerful it
is in our… in our society,

01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:09.999
and I think here in Park Slope
in Brooklyn in New York

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:14.999
and I’m sure in other communities as well it
just says, ‘People are becoming ill with it, ’

01:32:15.000 --> 01:32:19.999
so here you don’t have to see a lot of signage
and stuff they’re saying, ‘Oh, this is natural

01:32:20.000 --> 01:32:24.999
or this is organic, ’ and you don’t trust that it actually
is natural or organic, you know, it all seems like…

01:32:25.000 --> 01:32:29.999
When I walk into a (inaudible) after being a member
of the Coop, I feel like I’m walking into Disneyland.

01:32:30.000 --> 01:32:34.999
It feels so fake.

01:32:35.000 --> 01:32:39.999
I mean, everyone who’s a member of the Coop
is totally passionate about it, it’s funny.

01:32:40.000 --> 01:32:44.999
Yeah. It’s almost freaky. It’s almost freaky,
yeah. I always said this place is a Coop

01:32:45.000 --> 01:32:49.999
and then now I speak the words like it’s just… I know
its… its true. Because you really can’t go back.

01:32:50.000 --> 01:32:54.999
(inaudible) cranky about it personally (inaudible) I’ve
been a member for 11 years and I’m just (inaudible).

01:32:55.000 --> 01:32:59.999
Oh, I hate it one day and then I love the next. Okay,
so you’re talking about (inaudible). You never hate it?

01:33:00.000 --> 01:33:04.999
I mean, I… I hate it if I’m suspended because I
haven’t done my shifts (inaudible) earn my way back.

01:33:05.000 --> 01:33:09.999
I just can’t fall behind. I’m behind now…

01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:18.000
[sil.]

01:34:35.000 --> 01:34:39.999
This is my favorite though.

01:34:40.000 --> 01:34:44.999
My favorite is like turn
around (inaudible).

01:34:45.000 --> 01:34:53.000
[sil.]

01:35:25.000 --> 01:35:29.999
It’s all about the details.

01:35:30.000 --> 01:35:38.000
[sil.]

01:37:15.000 --> 01:37:20.000
[sil.]

Main content

Food Coop

Citation

Main credits

Other credits

Docuseek subjects

Distributor subjects

Keywords