If it’s one thing that we take seriously as members of the Outpost Board of Directors, it’s that we are required to be focused on strategic issues – big picture stuff, as opposed to day-to-day operational issues. In other words, we’re supposed to focus on things like whether to add a new store, and not on micromanaging what types of products to carry on our shelves.

But recently the Board has been thinking about how its duty of oversight intersects with its role as intermediary between owners and management. We’ve been considering how concerns about products and services available at Outpost can easily become a strategic issue. Put simply, if we’re not providing the right mix of products and services which owners and other customers want, they’ll go elsewhere.

Because we’re living in a world of seemingly endless choices, it’s important that Outpost is in tune with its owners and customers. Outpost maintains two systems to solicit owner and customer feedback – our annual Owner Survey, and our Customer Loyalty system, available in the stores and online here: www.outpost.coop/graze/contact

But there’s another way owners can provide feedback, and that’s directly to the Board. In fact, one of the Board’s most important jobs – oversight as to how management is performing – simply involves listening. In order to facilitate that, the Board is constantly looking for new ways to engage with owners.

This Fall we will be posting signage in the stores reminding owners that we want to hear from them. We encourage you to stop us to talk in the stores, email us at board@outpost.coop, and of course you’re welcome to attend one of our monthly meetings. Our meetings are held at the Bay View store, and usually take place in the evening on the last Monday of the month.

This is more than just an issue of consumer satisfaction. Democracy is a participation sport, and nowhere is that truer than at a co-op. This is your co-op, a microcosm of our larger world, and we can’t do business without you. Whether you’re satisfied, unsatisfied, or want to know more about your co-op and why it operates the way it does, we want to hear from you.

Jan Pierce

Board Treasurer