By Lisa Hochgraf
I first learned about cooperatives as a child when my grandfather told me about being treasurer for a milk co-op in upstate New York. I first learned about financial cooperatives years later at a presentation by a World Council of Credit Unions staffer at an Oregon, Wis., Rotary Club meeting. And today, my husband loves being a member of the REI sporting goods cooperative. (It means we have to shop there every time we get back to Madison, Wis.). All pretty positive experiences with cooperatives notwithstanding my work as a CU industry editor. But is our opinion of cooperatives--and number of recognized experiences with them--higher than what most U.S. consumers have?
I'm not sure. But a new public opinion survey shows that the majority of our Canadian neighbors view cooperatives as trustworthy, well-run businesses that provide good customer service and create jobs that help support local communities.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of the Canadian Co-operative Association, sampled public opinion across Canada on a variety of issues related to cooperatives.
Some of the survey's key findings include:
• One in five respondents identified themselves as a member of a cooperative.
• Seven in 10 respondents agree that cooperatives keep money in the local economy, are an important part of their communities and create jobs that help support local communities.
• More than two-thirds of respondents agree that cooperatives are a trusted place to do business and save members money.
• The words most commonly associated with cooperatives are "local," "for all ages" and "about community."
• Two in five respondents consider themselves to be "very familiar" or "somewhat familiar" with cooperatives, while 18 percent say they are "not at all familiar" with co-ops.
• 49 percent of respondents thought COSTCO was a co-op; other organizations mistakenly identified as co-ops by some respondents included Westjet, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, TD Canada Trust and Hudson's Bay Company.
Here are the full survey findings.
This seems like good news overall. But it begs some questions. How can cooperatives get such positive public perception here in the United States? If we could achieve such high public opinion, how could we leverage it to promote credit unions specifically? What is your guess for what U.S. consumers currently think of cooperatives and haow far we'd have to go to boost their image to this level?
