DUCK SOUP COOP
Board Minutes
February 10, 2005
Present: Peggy James, John Naples, Cynthia Nelson, Tania Nezrick, Ruth Peterson, Mary Helen Polensky, Kathy Stelford
Absent: Jim Neale
President Stelford called the meeting to order at 5:37 p.m..
The next meeting dates were established. There will be no meeting in March. The next meetings will be April 7 and May 5.
Polensky moved and Nelson seconded that the minutes be approved as distributed. Motion carried.
2004 tax files have gone to the accountant.
A gift certificate has been awarded to Elizabeth Bass for winning the slogan contest.
Duck Soup experienced a 16% increase in sales over 2004 while holding a margin of 33%. We realized a net income of $13,100.64. This does not include the $5,000 targeted donation that was not deposited until after the first of the year. Member Equity Contributions have been frozen as of the end of 2003.
Over 1/3 of sales are currently made by credit/debit card transactions. There has been an increase in card usage coincidental with the beginning of the use of the new and improved equipment.
We had more bad debt this year than in years previous. The uncollected bad debt on the books is just at $50.00.
Wage expenses are up. We paid more overtime this year than any time in James’ tenure. Assistant Manager Stravers is an hourly employee. She is now working a 40-hour week. More hours were worked by higher paid employees (all are at the top of the wage ladder) and we also paid accumulated paid time off (the employee with the least seniority has 2 years tenure) so there is a fair amount of paid time accumulated now.
The current equipment and fixtures are almost fully depreciated.
Membership dues, not budgeted last year, are associated with the cooperative grocer associations that we joined. However, it appears that we will regain those monies from vendor discounts negotiated by the associations for group members. We also incurred some unbudgeted travel expense related to meetings and the expo attendance.
Advertising was a bit over budget. It is difficult to tell if some of our work in this area was profitable, but it seems important to try various means of advertising.
Active member comparisons for the past five years shows
2000 with 173 members
2001 with 176 members
2002 with 173 members
2003 with 166 members
2004 with 160 members.
Margins were particularly strong 4th quarter at .35. Stravers did an excellent job of shopping sales and shopping responsibly.
This is the first time in 10 years that we had an operating profit, i.e. we did not rely on member fees, dividends or other non-sales income to make a profit.
Frontier is the only company now that pays a dividend. This year they gave us a deferred dividend but no current dividend.
Nelson moved that a tentative budget of $10,000 be used for the Spring Spruce Up and should come from our current funds. This would be used to purchase and install new cooler doors, to repair floor tile in front of the cooler and freezer, secure new signage, outdoor awnings and perhaps a bench. Seconded by Polensky, the motion passed. James remarked that we could spend this amount and still have a cushion with which to operate.
The board informally supported looking toward a reset in the fall. Nelson suggested that we need to have a board discussion on fund raising and /or call for donations for the reset. Maybe a goal should be set. Stelford suggested contacting those who volunteered loans before.
Areas of criticism that have come to light have included friendliness of the clerks, need for more variety in the store, lack of knowledge by non-members of what was available and the fact that there is not more bustle/noise in the store.
The NIU Black Student Center Health Fair ( NIU Ballroom, 2-15-05 from 10 – 3 p.m) and the Sycamore High School Health Fair (2-18-05, morning) will be staffed by James. Nelson suggested volunteering to staff phones for WNIJ/U fundraiser for some “free “ publicity.
Stelford suggested that at the next meeting we should talk about board support such as covering some tasks when Stravers or James are gone. James agreed to think about such possibilities.
Naples moved and Polensky seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed at 7:52 p.m.
Ruth Peterson, Secretary