This article represents an appeal to compromise and conscience.  It provides alternative reasons for raising debt, and hopes to encourage reflection upon member needs.  It is not a banner of protest or a platform for insurrection.  There will be no flyers printed or attempts to save us from the fabrication of impending doom.  The author voted for the purchase of 100 Watervliet Ave. and will vote for the necessary capital to remodel.  I do, however, seek to make our future debt service more palatable by calling for an equitable distribution of capital funds between our people, product/purpose, and property.

Honest Weight Food Co-op, in particular its board members, dedicated considerable energies to effect due diligence as it labored to find a suitable site.  Patient, prudent and wise, the various members proved resolute as frustration mounted  during our five-year search.  Clearly, they have been vindicated and assuredly, our best interests are foremost in their efforts.

Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon us to realize we will eventually require capital contracts that place property before people and purpose.  Anxious though we are to forge ahead, I am concerned we may ultimately surrender our two greatest assets to the insatiable appetite of corporate economics.  Given that outside creditors cannot, and will not, be moved by Honest Weight principles, I suggest we avoid the anguish often associated with choosing between that which is cherished and what which has worth.  We can accomplish such through compromise, and by understanding that, in our big picture, people and product are more germane than property.  This is a reasonable analysis of future equations not a whimsical traipse down utopia lane.  Any sane, lower-volume, grocer would assess the intrinsic importance of people and purpose when preparing to increase market presence.  Indeed, absent property, what other possible conclusions could we infer for excelling to date?

Presently, employees and member workers are Honest Weight’s greatest asset.  Their significant contribution to our success cannot be overstated, but could, calamitously, be undervalued.  Similarly, product is central and crucial to legitimizing and leveraging our philosophy and principles; and therefore, its value rests above and beyond commodity status.  Property, although important, is basically the means to achieving a more compatible end.  We should be cautious and measured when assigning worth to it, and scrupulously avoid placing the inanimate before that which lives and that which nourishes.

Honest Weight customers patronize our present location in spite of its deficiencies.  We may trust they do so because of who we are, the choices we make, and the values we practice.  Their patronage has nothing to do with property and everything to do with people and purpose.  To vacillate, and not internalize this point, risks us becoming a corporation with pods instead of remaining a cooperative with a philosophy.  Frankly, the business models of our competitors are considered successful on their terms, not ours.

Regardless the organization, great people have options they are free to explore.  Should we try to compensate dedicated employees with wages that further endear them to our purpose?  Yes, because a devoted staff is the surest guardian against the coming onslaught of corporate aggression.  Their knowledge, skills and abilities will be coveted by companies whose deeper pockets afford higher wages.  Therefore, it is right and just for Honest Weight to hedge its future by substantially raising the salaries of all employees.

Anyone paying attention to energy and food systems has concluded that local, organic, and seasonal product will someday dominate.  Accordingly, competitors will try to starve our niche by establishing exclusive contracts with local producers.  We, cannot, because of future debt service, chance that relationships cultivated today will be affordable tomorrow.  As with personnel, we must consider the lofty compensation of farmers as a basic ingredient of Honest Weight’s business model.

Space limitations prevent the presentation of supporting facts and figures.  Time permitting, the author will lobby to influence our budget accordingly, and I will also discuss the details of achieving equity with anyone so inclined.