It Pays To Be A Co-op Owner

When the Co-op's most recent fiscal year ended on September 30, 2012 current Sacramento Natural Foods Cooperative owners had earned $385,552 in discounts on the $1,750,465 that they had invested in their refundable Co-op Fair Share accounts. Here's how the discounts were earned:

• Owner Appreciation and Owner Dividend Month Discounts: $119,436
• Seasonal Owner Bonuses: $108,891
• Case Purchase Discounts: $75,996
• Monthly Category Discounts:$69,259
• Community Learning Center Class Discounts: $11,970

The average amount invested in Fair Share accounts by SNFC owners was $235.18 per owner, and the average discount earned was $51.80 per owner (equal to a 22.03% return on the Fair Share investment). For the sake of comparison, the same $235.18 invested in a bank money market savings account for the same amount of time would have earned about 25 cents.

In addition, together owners received a $150,000 patronage refund – a return of a portion of the Co-op’s profits based one each owner’s purchases. The average refund was $20.42. Combining the patronage refund with their discounts, owners each earned an average of $72.22 last year – a 30.59 % return on their financial investment in the Co-op.