Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.coop>]

Hello Wheatsville friends! 

This e-mail has Important News! about your Patronage Rebate.

Wheatsville was sufficiently profitable this year to return a patronage rebate to our member-owners.In order to be eligible for a rebate, you must be a current member of the co-op and in order to be current, we need a good mailing address. Please update your address with us by next Tuesday November 15th. If you have not yet received or don’t receive a Wheatsville Breeze in the mail in the next few days, we may not have a good address for you. PLEASE don’t miss out and update your address!

Patronage Rebate checks will be handed out in the store on Saturday Dec. 10th, Sunday Dec. 11th and Mon. Dec. 12th. Come on in and get your check (and save us some postage!) Any checks not claimed at that point will be mailed out. 

(please scroll down for more info about the patronage rebate) 


Holidays and food!

Thanksgiving is almost here and Wheatsville is here for you. Lots of great items on sale for the holiday and our deli is the place for delicious pies and sides! Please join the deli for Thanksgiving sampling again this Saturday!

Vegetarians should note that Wheatsville has the best deal in town on Turkey alternatives. We’ve got Tofurky and Unturkey this year at the screaming great deal of $16.99 (a store that shall remain nameless, but begins with Whole and ends with Foods is selling Tofurky for $19.99!!!)

My favorite is the Unturkey and I am pleased that they are on such good deal this month, too. The Great Unturkey is $25.99 and serves at least 8 hungry vegetarians or omnivores! (last year we had a dozen people for dinner and had leftovers!)  a lot of people like the Tofurky (and it is tasty) but I gotta go with the Unturkey!

Check out the meat department for Organic and natural free-range Mary’s Turkeys. Bryan is still taking preorders, so if you want a particular size, don’t wait!

Here is a link for all the great deals we have in store for November http://www.wheatsville.coop/pop_CAP%20specials.html

Third Thursday on Guadalupe is happening next Thursday the 17th. 
<x-tad-smaller>The </x-tad-smaller><x-tad-bigger>Austin Independent Business Alliance Silent Auction </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>will be held in conjunction with </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>Third Thursday on November 17</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> at the </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>Kid's Zone</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> at Third Thursday on Guadalupe in the parking lot between InStep & Wheatsville Co-op. Come out and bid on items (great for Holiday gifts!) donated by our members and enjoy all the entertainment Third Thursday has to offer. Don't miss it! </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>

</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>Activities include:</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>
</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> Auction will be held from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>

</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> Music from </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>The Lonesome Heroes</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. & the Polka-dilloes from 7:15 - 8:15 p.m.</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>

</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>For the kids we will have a performance from </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>Scottish Rites Childrens Theatre</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>, </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>Smarty Pants</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> with balloon fun for kids, face painting & a </x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>bounce house</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> from Magic 105.9!</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>
</x-tad-bigger>

Now is the time! It's not to late to join other co-op member-owners in investing in the co-op. We have raised over $480,000 as of today and we have many more people who are interested in investing. Our goal was at least $500,000 to be raised by Nov. 15th. We are certainly going to surpass this, but the more the better! So, if you still want to make a socially responsible investment (of at least $1,000) in your co-op that gives a 4% annual dividend, contact Maria or Dan soon! Or, check out the investment packet on-line! http://www.wheatsville.coop/invest.html

LAST CHANCE TO VOTE!!! Please vote in our board and Community Action ballot if you haven’t already! Do it on-line at http://www.wheatsville.coop/election 


Here is a little something more about this year’s Patronage Rebate at Wheatsville

Co-operative values in action or Holy Smokes! A patronage rebate!

Consumer Cooperatives like Wheatsville are a special kind of business as you know. We’re so special, that even the Federal Government and the IRS recognize us in a unique way. We are allowed to return a portion of our net savings to our members when we are sufficiently profitable. This year, the BEST EVER at Wheatsville was sufficiently profitable to return a rebate! For the third time in our history and the first time in 10 years, we have generated enough net income to return some of your patronage to you. The cool thing about co-ops is that the return isn’t based on your investment like it would be in a typical business, but it’s based on your purchases or patronage at the co-op. So, we’ll return your rebate based on your percentage of purchases at the co-op in the last fiscal year. Members who spent more will receive a larger rebate! Pretty cool!
In years past, we only included people who saved their receipts, but with the advent of new technology, we have been able to track each member’s sales through the year at the register. We’ll be using this data to determine your rebate, so no need to drag 50 pounds of receipts into the co-op. We’ve got it covered.
Our bylaws are not explicit in defining who ought to be eligible for patronage rebates, so we took the broadest view on the subject this year. We will be looking at our policies in the coming year to clarify this for future rebates. For this one, though all member-owners of the co-op who had patronage in the past fiscal year will be eligible to receive a patronage provided the purchases amounted enough to return a patronage check of at least $5. The full eligibility requirements are:
Current Active member-owner with qualifying purchases in Fiscal year ending 5/31/05
To be current, Wheatsville must have a good address as of November 15th, 2005.

Please be sure to update your mailing address with us before November 15th so that we can include you in our patronage rebate. If you haven’t already received or don’t get a Wheatsville Breeze in the next few days, we may not have a good address for you.
Wheatsville will be declaring a patronage rebate of $200,000 of which 20% will be returned to eligible member-owners. The other 80% will be retained in eligible member-owner’s names by the co-op to help fund our expansion and renovation project. This retained patronage will remain in the name of each individual indefinitely. Exact figures are not yet available, but preliminary analysis suggests that member-owners should receive a rebate that is approximately 1.3% of their total purchases in the past year. What other food store does that?!?
I am so pleased to be able to return a patronage rebate to our member-owners and I thank you for your strong support in helping Wheatsville to have such an incredible successful year! I am proud to be the general manager of your co-op! Thank you again for your support and enjoy your rebate!

Thank you and have a great week!

Dan 
Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy!