Even when I was living in a very liberal area, there were only a small handful of stores that advertised as worker co-ops. It’s funny too because those co-op stores were all incredibly popular and successful, so I don’t understand why they are so comparatively rare? The organizational structure seems simple to maintain, and has a high incentive for regular workers to go above and beyond since they directly benefit from the business being successful, so what’s the deal? I am speaking from a US centric view, so maybe things are different in Europe, but even with my limited knowledge I feel like they are relatively unpopular there too, but maybe not? I dunno.

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Survivor bias. The only ones that make it are the extraordinarily well run ones. I worked for one that feel apart. All it takes is one period where for whatever personal reasons there aren’t enough committed core members to manage the business.

    • oiez@lemmy.fmhy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      True, but small businesses fail all the time for all kinds of reasons. Lack of core members is like the co-op equivalent of the trope where the original owner of a small business sells it to some idiot who makes awful decisions and it all goes down the tubes. It doesn’t really explain why for every 100+ traditional businesses that are started, only like 1 co-op is started (numbers made up, obviously, but it feels that way).

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You’re right that businesses fail all the time. I just think far fewer coops even start, and they have more ways to fail.