In short: Families are making significant savings on their grocery bills by forming small shopping co-ops.
Cooperative business structures account for less than 1 per cent of the supermarket sector in Australia.
What’s next? The peak body for co-ops is calling for more government support for the business model.
Do it. I don’t understand why more people don’t join credit unions / mutual banking. There’s literally no downsides, they have all the same services, protections, minus the fees. It’s a no brainer.
Fees have almost entirely gone away for most banks these days (at least the ones I’ve used), so I get the inertia. It certainly didn’t make sense when people would stay on the likes of CBA back when they had monthly fees and a savings rate much lower than third party banks and some credit unions.
Knowledge/Recognition I’d say.
Most people could tell you the names of the Big 4, doubt they know any CUs. Let alone if they even know what they are.