Survey results: public shows strong preference
for doing business with cooperatives
By Patrick Duffey, writer-editor
USDA Rural Development
eople prefer to do business
with cooperatives and
rate them higher than
investor-owned. They
also view the nation’s
more than 40,000 cooperatives as more
democratic and trustworthy than
investor-owned businesses. Those were
among the findings of a major survey
conducted by one of the nation’s major
polling organizations at the behest of the
National Cooperative Business Association
(NCBA), Consumer Federation
of America and a coalition of national
cooperative organizations.
Of particular interest to farmers is
that 69 percent of survey respondents
said they would be more likely to buy
food if they knew it had been produced
by a farmer-owned cooperative. Likewise,
67 percent said they would be
more likely to buy their electricity or
telecommunications services from a
locally owned utility cooperative.
The results were presented by
NCBA President Paul Hazen at a press
conference in Washington, D.C., October
1 to kick off the annual observance
of National Cooperative Month. Other
survey participants included Cooperative
Union National Association
(CUNA), National Association of Federal
Credit Unions, National Cooperative
Bank, National Milk Producers
Federation, National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association, National Rural
Telecommunications Cooperative,
National Rural Utilities Finance Corp.,
and National Telecommunications
Cooperative Association.
The survey results support the findings
of similar surveys undertaken during
the past decade. But the new survey
found that that there is now
a much stronger climate of
distrust of major corporations
due to the numerous
stock and bookkeeping
manipulation scandals that
have been in the news during
the past two years. Federal
regulators are scrutinizing
corporate governance
and director election practices.
Less than half of those
surveyed felt investor-owned
companies were ethically
governed.
Hazen said more than 75
percent of the 2,031 adults
surveyed agreed that cooperatives
operate their businesses
in a trustworthy manner,
compared with just 53 percent who rated
investor-owned firms as trustworthy. A
majority also found that businesses such
as cooperatives that allow customers to
democratically elect the board of directors
and are locally owned and controlled
are more trustworthy. These are common
traits found in many U.S. cooperatives,
but particularly among those serving
agriculture. More than half of U.S.
adults say they are cooperative members.
A whopping 77 percent of those
surveyed said cooperatives have the
best interests of customers in mind,
but less than half attributed that trait
to investor-owned companies. Cooperatives
also rated higher than
investor-owned firms by wide margins
on questions of value, quality, price
and commitment to their communities.
Agricultural cooperatives are
often major employers in rural communities
in which they operate.
Asked whether they would be more
or less likely to buy products and services
from a business if they knew it
was a cooperative:
- 73 percent were more likely to
buy products from a food cooperative;
- 71 percent were more likely to use
a credit union;
- 69 percent were more likely to
patronize independent local businesses
that belonged to a buying cooperative;
- 55 percent said they would prefer
securing health care services offered by
a consumer-owned provider, while 56
percent said they would prefer to use
day care services provided by a parentowned
cooperative.
- More than 80 percent agreed that
cooperatives strengthen rural communities and help farmers succeed;
- 64 percent said that food products
produced by farmer-owned cooperatives
were of higher quality than those
produced by other types of companies.
“The survey demonstrates that consumers
know cooperatives by their reputations
for quality service and products,”
Hazen said. “And those who are
already members of cooperatives have
an even stronger loyalty to, and preference
for them. Regardless of how you
measure it,” Hazen said, “in terms of
cost savings, value or satisfaction, consumers
can get more for their money
from cooperatives.”
The challenge, he said, “is in raising
consumer awareness of, and
access to, cooperatives and to make
more information about cooperatives
available to consumers.”
When asked how familiar they were
with the details of cooperative organization
and philosophy, 47 percent said
they were familiar with cooperatives,
30 percent were not very familiar and
22 percent were not familiar at all.
Familiarity was higher among men in
the 45 to 64 age range and among
adults in households earning more than
$35,000 annually.
When asked to rate cooperatives for
10 possible business attributes, cooperatives
outscored investor-owned companies
on eight of ten attributes and
by wide margins in some cases.
- 81 percent said cooperatives can
be counted on to meet customer’s needs
- 79 percent said cooperatives were
committed to providing the highest
quality of service to their customers
- 78 percent said cooperatives are
committed to, and involved in, their
communities
Cooperatives in the United States
serve 120 million members and operate
in nearly every industry. They
range in size from those listed among
the Fortune 500 companies to single,
small local storefronts. About 30 percent
of farm products in the U.S. are
marketed through 3,200 farmer-owned
cooperatives. More than 30 cooperatives
have annual revenue of more than
$1 billion,while the top 100 co-ops
generate combined revenue of about
$120 billion.
Electricity is provided to 36 million
people by about 1,000 rural electric
cooperatives which own and maintain
nearly half of the electrical distribution
lines in the nation and cover 75 percent
of the land mass.
