an economics professor once told us of the potency of countervailing power. an individual buyer is powerless against a monopolistic company, but as a consumer bloc which could organize boycotts, or lobby in congress could pressure such giant companies, or force these companies to face class-suit action. an individual worker cannot hope to have his voice heard, yet as a union, he can cause management to listen to his demands.
in our case, a cooperative has made lending companies and small retailers here to re-think their business strategies and start seriously improving their services and quality of goods to woo back their customers who have since started patronizing the cooperatives.
the greatest come-on for members is that aside from a much lower interest charged on loans (cash or commodities), they get to receive a portion of what the cooperative earns in a year according to both the patronage and the share capital he has put into the cooperative. many have since stopped borrowing from private moneylenders and commercial banks, and have purchased some of the commodities from the cooperative.
an ideal countervailing power for the small consumer.
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