no more coops?

i dont want to get anyone in trouble but....i got an email saying there may not be anymore coops on here....dave, the email said that this is what you had said, maybe no more coops?....i was just gonna ask if there were any in the works for spring...boy i sure hope we have some more..i got in on one coop and i want to get in on lots more..lol....please tell there will be more coops

cindy

You got it bad. lol

It would be a shame if there were not anymore co-ops at this site because the savings on plants more than covers what you pay for a subscription. Hopefully management will post here letting us know.

Jim, I heard you are always first in line whenever the Hooter's restaurant girls have a plant sale looking for a peacock plant! Now who has it bad??? LOL You left yourself open for this my dear friend, so I couldn't resist. I know Bobbie will get a good laugh from reading this too. :o)

Whoever sent you that message was mistaken, and I hope they will contact Dave to get their facts straight. Co-ops are still being offered, but:

a) because of some recent problems, Dave is currently pre-screening each co-op before it gets posted; and

b) to avoid any conflicts of interest or other ethical "gray areas" between co-op organizer and plant sellers, co-ops should be organized by someone who is not in the business of selling plants, or acting as an agent for a wholesaler.

We have some wonderful business-owner members here at DG; most of them understand the potential abuse for treating the DG membership like a direct marketing mailing list, and they don't tread into this area. Unfortunately, a few have crossed the line and mishaps have happened :(

That about sums it up, Terry. To everyone else, the Co-Op forum is still (carefully) open for business, but all co-ops must first be approved by me before they can proceed. This will stop most (and hopefully all) bad co-ops.

If you get an offer for a co-op that is not posted in the co-op forum, it is fraudulent and they are going against our acceptable use policy. ALL CO-OPS MUST GO THROUGH ME AND THEN THE CO-OP FORUM!

Dave

Dave,

Could you please post the procedure for getting a co-op approved at the top of the co-op forum? I think that would avoid some confusion. Wadda-u-think?

Cheri'

That's a good idea - I'll do that.

dave

Thanx, Dave!

Cheri'

I need some co-ops. Have cabin fever!!!!!

Yes, bring on the co-ops. By the time I see a co-op happening, it seems to be over. Or so many entries that it looks too confusing. Will have to keep the co-op forum on 'watch', and hop in before it is over.

I don't mean any dis-respect at all Dave,(or Terry) but why is it that people who own a business can't offer the group a co op?

The co op that I did was basically the same thing. Friends of ours own a feed store, and sell a few things in the spring. She let me order from one of her suppliers at her cost, if someone is willing to do that for us here even if they are a member, why is it wrong?

I know if I had been the business owner, I wouldn't have made any profit... I lost money on my co-op, but that was my own fault for not charging enough shipping, but, most of the co ops I've joined, the prices have been so low, I don't know how anyone could make a profit off of us, I guess I just don't understand why if someone has access to plants and is willing to save all of us a substantial amount of money why they can't?

Not trying to answer for Dave, but from what I've understood, the policy is in place to remove any chance for a conflict of interest.

There are a lot of commercial sites out there, and they want to make sure this a community of and for Gardeners. Let a fe commercial ventures in, and things can snow ball.

Some of these co-ops have seen thousands of plants sold. A difference of 10-15 cents per plant can net someone several hundred dollars. I don't think it's a concern amongst participants, because if they didn't feel they were getting a bargain, they wouldn't participate in the co-op.

I run into the same problem as you Melissa. There's a lot of times that I see co-ops going, or someone looking for a source of an item, that I have to bite my tongue. As a broker in the hort industry for many years, we have sources world wide. If I have a supplier that will sell direct, I forward the info on, but if it's a plant source that only sells through brokers, I keep it to my self because it would look like we're promoting our own company.

I was involved in a couple of co-ops towards the end of the "free posting", and I sincerely hope I wasn't partly to blame for the changes. If I was, my apologies to Dave and the community.

Chris

I guess I never looked at it that way, I was thinking in terms of my own co op... I guess if it was thousands of plants that a .10 profit could add up.

Chris has brought up the pertinent points. It just comes down to us trying to keep DG free from wholesalers buying a $15 membership and then using the membership list for a direct marketing campaign. Unfortunately, to avoid that scenario we have to curtail some otherwise good bargains for our members (or risk looking like we're playing favorites, letting a few members sell directly to the members, but preventing the Foster & Gallagher-type companies from spamming everyone with cheap stuff. Sorry to pick on them, but it's a name most gardeners are familiar with, and wary of.)

The other important aspect is that there isn't much we (as administrators) can do when a co-op goes bad. It's terrible enough when an individual takes on a small co-op and flubs it, but if a business enters into a quasi-co-op arrangement, a lot more orders (and $$$) are involved. Then it starts to get fuzzy: was it a co-op, and as site administrators we should try to intervene? Or was it a bad faith/fraudulent business transaction, and the BBB or USPS should be involved? Ugh. It's a lot of potential hassle that I'd prefer we avoid, even if it means fewer co-ops are offered.

Chris, I appreciate your concern and conscientiousness with the last co-op you did (and I still need to get the Watchdog feedback straightened out on this end :o)

Melissa, the wildflower/shrub co-op I did had ~ 1500 plants involved. Even a slight markup could have yielded a tidy profit. (But for the record, I didn't mark up anything, and there was definitely no profit. Especially after I refunded the box-that-went-astray, due to my bungled labeling...)

Thank you again Terry.
Like I said, it just didn't occur to me to mark things up, or that people would do that. I guess when I see a bargain I get so excited that I don't think of anything else. I guess too, that I haven't really thought about the actual number of plants/bulbs that pass through a co- op. I didn't even count mine as a sum total. I knew how many I had of each, but not the grand total of plants/bulbs. But... we don't know when we organize a co-op how many people are going to participate, so while the potential could be there for a dishonest person to make a profit, they don't know when they start out that they will? But, then too, those who watch the co ops closely would know what would "sell" and what wouldn't...
I agree with whatever you and Dave feel is best, you're the experts, and like I said, I hadn't thought of all the things that were mentioned, I personally just want to see a LOT of cheap Daylily co ops this spring! LOL
Thank you Terry, and you Dave, for everything you do to try to keep us all safe. :-)

I appreciate knowing where the plants are coming from, especially if the supplier has a website with descriptions and photos. When the origins are shrouded in the mists, it seems more likely to lead to problems down the road.

Too new here to be familiar with past problems, but with co-ops, this is one time when I'm glad to have a "Big Brother" (like Dave) watching over things.

DG is incorporated and subject to all sorts of laws and regulations most of us are unaware of. When it comes to anything that involves money, the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction. You don't want to run afoul of any of their laws, because they really come down hard. In their view, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Wouldn't want to see DG embroiled in any legal hassles, so co-ops subject to approval seems to be the best and safest way to go.

That said, I'm with brommom! Bring on the co-ops! Just saw rosebud caladiums on a mail order site 6 for 6.99. Sure doesn't compare to the 17 cents each price we got from Buddy's, does it!

I was involved in a co-op here in which a lot of people got burned, The person offering the co-op was also the owner of the plant nursery. I for one am glad Dave has made this rule. We cant contro; all the things that could go wrong but those we can control we should!