Word: coops
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Employee training is another area where increased efficiency would help cut expenses. Although 40 per cent of the Coop's employees are considered permanent, the other 60 per cent turn over every three months. Many students work only part-time or take a sales job to pay for holiday or seasonal expenses. Giving these short-term employees adequate training is extremely difficult. Inadequate training accounts for part of the Coop's shortage rate. Each year the Coop loses 2 1/2 per cent of its sales--about $4,000,000--in shortages. These losses include not only customer and employee stealing...
UNLIKE most college cooperatives, the Coop pays a rebate on every item in the store, from drugs to texts to cigarettes. The mark-up on cigarettes and records is so low that after the Coop pays a rebate on them, it ends up at times losing money. The Yale Co-op, for instance, only offers a rebate on those items with a high mark-up. The Coop's policy has always been to pay its members a dividend on every item they purchase...
...There are only two ways to keep the Coop profitable enough to continue paying rebates," Brown says. "Either we get the margin up or the expenses down. If we get the margin up, people will cut our throats because prices are higher. If we get expenses down, we have to cut services. For instance, we could have a lot of money if we cut back or eliminated our charge account business or our Saturday check-cashing department, but we consider these important services for our members and ones they would not want to see eliminated...
...EVOLUTION of Harvard Square has also hurt the Coop. The traffic maze and the shortage of convenient parking has discouraged many regular customers from coming into the Square to shop anymore, Brown believes. Moreover, the "hippy milieu" of the Square in the fall and spring keeps Harvard wives from shopping the Coop. "These attitudes may very will be misconceptions," Brown says, "but the simple fact is that a lot of housewives are a little scared to shop in the Square...
Brown admits that some areas of the Coop's merchandising are due for a re-evaluation. Last fall the Coop's stock of certain novelty items, such as the "Peanuts" and Harvardiana items on the first floor, came under fire from the alternate slate. These items do sell well and have a reasonable mark-up, Brown claims. Areas needing scrutiny, however, include such merchandise as men's clothing. "Students are just not buying suits and hats any more. Perhaps we ought to see if we can't use that space to offer clothing more in tune with current tastes," Brown...