|
|  |
| |
|
| | The Innovation Network Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Living Like a Business | Views: 381 | | Apr 17, 2009 4:29 am | | Living Like a Business | # | 
Ken Hilving | | I know a number of individuals here are searching for solutions during this economic meltdown, and have an innovative approach that might work for some.
The approach is to form a cooperative for specific aspects of life that can be shared. Let me give an example I am currently working with.
A group of individuals live in gated community. All are retired, most have their own cars, and few need that car more than a few hours each week. Giving up a car completely is not a choice they can deal with emotionally. It is a symbol of their continued independence. However, the economic meltdown is having a significant impact on their net worth, and paying full price for a car they rarely use is painful.
The solution, possibly, is an auto cooperative. Instead of each of them owning their own car, their cooperative owns or leases a vehicle they share. The ratio of members to vehicles is a matter of choice. We are working on a 5/1 ratio. Each has an assigned weekday that the car is theirs, and a sign up approach to weekends. The association bylaws allow members to trade days at will.
The cost for each member is 1/5 the cost of owning that vehicle on their own, plus about half the insurance costs they would pay. This covers both a vehicle lease with maintenance and an insurance policy issued to the cooperative rather than the individual. A zero deductible policy is the likely choice, although having the driver in an accident responsible for the deductible is still on the table. There is a contact in membership that links each member to the vehicle lease term. Also, a term life policy to cover their share of the lease if they die.
While this particular cooperative is looking at leased vehicles, it would work as well with a purchase. There are pluses and minuses with each approach.
_____
The cooperative has a long history, but most are so large that membership seems like a purchase rather than a join. My water and electricity are both provided by cooperatives, but most of us simply pay a bill without any thought to why we have an association instead of a corporate provider.
As a business, the cooperative allows members to work together without undue liability and with a set of rules that prevents personality conflicts becoming the focus of discussions. From a tax perspective, the cooperative can depreciate items that individuals have a harder time doing so. Yet as a membership association, the cooperative can gain some advantages over a business with customers.
_____
While each state and country has different laws on how a cooperative is regulated, most do allow these to exist. The Canadian government offers a handbook based on the work done in setting up food cooperatives in San Francisco, so the rules aren't substantially different across North America. Much of the law has ties back to English law, and cooperatives are at work there as well.
_____
Key obstacles are with member mindsets. Too many choices, too large a domain, and getting started becomes an endless round of debating every aspect.
In the case of the auto cooperative, it has become clear that we will move forward only if the membership choice is limited to joining or not joining at this point. Once established, the membership can change any aspect as appropriate going forward.
So keep the cooperative size small, its purpose narrow and focused. Minimize the risk in joining, and keep liability at the association level rather than the individual level. Don't make any aspect personal beyond the advantage of participating. Private Reply to Ken Hilving | | |
| |
| |
