January 12
February 9 March 9
April 13
May 11
June 8
July 13
August 10
September 14
October 12
November 9
December 7

SAVE:

5% on purchases under $25
7% on purchases $25 to $70
10% on purchases over $70

In the past, owners saved...

$56,000 in 2006
$96,948 in 2007
$123,644 in 2008

By participating in these sale days, you can essentially pay yourself back for the price of your owner share in less than one year. How does that work, you ask? If you spend at least $70.00 on each Owner Appreciation Sale Day, thereby saving 10% off your bill, you will save a minimum of $7.00 each month and in ten months you will have put at least $70.00 back into your pocket. After that, the savings on Owner Appreciation Sale Day are the icing on the cake!

Why We Have Owner Sale Days on the 2nd Tuesday of Each Month
by Michele Adams, General Manager, July 2009

The day chosen for the Owner Sale Day is Tuesday. The reasons for this day are:

1. There is a delivery the day before and the day after this day so we can stock up for the sale and replenish quickly afterward so that there are not a lot of out-of-stock items for shoppers. There is no other double delivery with a day inbetween.

2. Having it on a day that is not already a busy day to boost sales on those days was a consideration. Saturday and Sunday are already very busy days with parking issues. We don’t want to increase parking problems with encouraging more shopping on busy days.

3. The decision to have Owner Sale Day on the same day each month was made because owners could then plan in advance and always know when the sale day would occur. We felt it is easier for shoppers to remember if it is the same day each time rather than a rotation.

4. Having the increased staffing needed is easier on weekdays.

What about a coupon?

We have discussed giving out 12 coupons for owners to use any day they like during the year for a percentage off and have decided this is not a good idea for First Alternative Cooperative. There are several reasons for this decision:

1. Owners could come in on any day of the week and clear out a product on the shelf so that for days after we would be out of stock on it and other shoppers would not be able to buy it. Since Saturday and Sunday are our busiest days, we could potentially be out of stock on in-demand products when the most customers are in the stores.

2. Many people would use the coupon on our already busy days and product would be low or out because we would not know when the days were going to happen that many people would use their coupon.

3. Currently we plan for the day and make more room for special orders and if we didn’t know what days we were going to get a lot of orders that area would be crowded more often and perhaps for longer periods of time.

4. We would not be able to anticipate needing more staff on the days that happen to be busy so customer service would be sacrificed and staff would be more stressed.

5. Other cooperatives who do use a coupon don’t have the success that First Alternative Cooperative has with our owner sale day.