The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

Question of the Week for January 23: What is the most effective way for you to receive important member information from the Co-op?

A Sampling of Member Answers

• email is the best form of communication for me.

• The mail. I get so many e-mails every day that it is impossible to go through them all on most days. A lot of them I never bother to read – just too many – hundreds every day. I want to be green, but there is just too much e-mail coming in to really go through them all to weed out the important ones – especially on days when I have appointments all over the state causing me to be on the road for over twelve or more hours.

• E mail is best for me.

• When I read this question, the two words ”effective” and “important” immediately jump to the forefront and therefore must be defined by the Co-op before the overall question can be answered. My Co-op definition of the word “Important” is a decision or direction that would change the current operation, business model or Co-op ends. Purchasing/Closing/Leasing a store or facility, changing the ends focus or modifying one of the seven principles of operation would be, in my opinion important. Product selection, margins, staffing, new capital equipment etc would not be considered “Important” in terms of this question. After defining my opinion of important, I would conclude that the most effective way to communicate this is via letter to home address. Any letters I would receive at home from the Co-op, I would open, read and make decisions based on the content. If it is important enough to send to thousands of members, I need to read and understand. I would also point out that that this certainly not the most efficient way to distribute the information nor is it the most cost effective. The question remains what is the most effective way? not efficient way. I do understand that to send this type of letter to all members would be a very costly endeavor and therefore reinforces the need to fully understand and define the word important. If the need truly is important, then the cost associated with the distribution of information would be of value. If I were to receive the same letter via email, I may not take the time to fully read and understand the letter.

• Most liely to reach me via e-mails….not Facebook, not Twitter…just plain, old-fashioned e-mail.

• I like email – seems to work very well. Keep it up.

• Internet. Thanks for the updates.

• E-mail is the best for me, second being through the mail. My schedule is constantly changing and I am not able to take calls at work. When I get printed material through the mail I am able to check it out at my leisure, sort of, such as my lunch break the next day.