Coastal Reflections

Co-op... blessing or nightmare?

I'm wondering if the co-op is going to continue to be a blessing (one of many ways we can buy organics cheaper) or if it's just going to be one headache after another each week.

I still haven't seen a catalog, but had figured out what some of the items listed online were and signed up for the quantity I wanted.  The lady finally made an annoucement last evening that she was raising the % surcharge.  A new person to the group questioned it and then a couple of old members spoke out in favor of it.  I checked the orders again, thankfully, and found that 3 people had erased their orders since the announcement and that left me scrambling to re-do all of mine (everyone signs up for what they want and it gets ordered if case quantity gets met).  People deleting things really messed me up on a couple of things, especially something I really want and now I most likely won't get.  What still has me scratching my head is the person who spoke out the loudest in support of the lady raising the surcharge then went and deleted every single one of her items (and thus affected me).  I just hate being at the mercy of other people when it comes to something like this and not knowing if my order is going to end up being placed or not.  I have learned that the produce order each week goes about the same way.  You never know what others have ordered so if not enough is wanted then it doesn't get ordered.  You don't find out until you arrive to pick it up.  Too frustrating.  It's making meal planning and stockpile planning quite difficult.

Dh and I have checked into purchasing opportunties (at co-op prices) for us as an individual family and they don't exist unless we lie about some things, which is the wrong thing to do.  Still waiting to see what the Lord's lesson for us in all of this is or where He's trying to lead us.......