So I started a new job yesterday... Yes another one. Another look into another part of the world that lives around us. This time I am working at a farmers market. Not a typical one, but one that more or less acts as a Sunday organic market. It has a pretty unsound business model, but the absolute best of intentions. It is part of a workers cooperative, or at least will be some day. The building is designed as such for the long term, but not wholly there yet. Anyway, it is very interesting to see the world that exists there.
The business itself is a bit of a mess. It is retail sales of a mostly perishable food supply, that only opens once a week, thus making the p in perishable capital. They are losing money hand over foot in an endeavor designed to make money for the workers co-op. They are working on tweaking it into a collective kitchen project. There are some remnants of occupy style endeavors. People with the warmest of hearts and best of intentions, trying to do something that they only partially know how to. Like occupiers trying to organize people or labor without talking to labor organizers or having experience at it, trying to run a retail produce business with knowledge of produce but no experience with retail business is tough, ambitious, comendable... but lacking in efficiency and know how.
All the same I think they are evolving and working to really do good things. The co-op set up is great, and if they add a kitchen that serves food daily they could end up with an outlet for food bought for a Sunday that won't last till the next one. There also is a very strong personality coming with it that on first glimpse seems to be maybe too strong and independent. Not that there is not tremendous need to respect both this person and the project as they are doing it. They've done good things, but there is always more to it all than that. We shall see, but another job, another day, another way. Cooperative worker owned structures are great, I am excited to be a part of the beginning stages of something like this, and to have more work...
The business itself is a bit of a mess. It is retail sales of a mostly perishable food supply, that only opens once a week, thus making the p in perishable capital. They are losing money hand over foot in an endeavor designed to make money for the workers co-op. They are working on tweaking it into a collective kitchen project. There are some remnants of occupy style endeavors. People with the warmest of hearts and best of intentions, trying to do something that they only partially know how to. Like occupiers trying to organize people or labor without talking to labor organizers or having experience at it, trying to run a retail produce business with knowledge of produce but no experience with retail business is tough, ambitious, comendable... but lacking in efficiency and know how.
All the same I think they are evolving and working to really do good things. The co-op set up is great, and if they add a kitchen that serves food daily they could end up with an outlet for food bought for a Sunday that won't last till the next one. There also is a very strong personality coming with it that on first glimpse seems to be maybe too strong and independent. Not that there is not tremendous need to respect both this person and the project as they are doing it. They've done good things, but there is always more to it all than that. We shall see, but another job, another day, another way. Cooperative worker owned structures are great, I am excited to be a part of the beginning stages of something like this, and to have more work...
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