Co-op and bees

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All round good eggs the Co-op! Have unilaterally banned use of neonicotinoids on the produce they sell, and on their own farms, amongst other initiatives to help bees :cheers2:
Hadn't visited their site for awhile, and had a quick read -they give the number of beekeepers in the UK as 44,000, which means the British Beekillers' Ass. have circa only a third of them as members...............
 
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Brighton & Lewes got £1000 grant from the Co-op towards our new out apiary.

Have to say- on the programme today, BBC1, the London bee keeper they spoke to set a poor example of hive care- looked a tatty scrambled mess.
 
I see that they have link to the BBKA wonder if they are aware of the link with the pesticide companys.
 
All round good eggs the Co-op!

Not sure I agree on that, yes they have damn good press ppl, but they shaft farmers and in turn manipulate market prices just as much as the next food chain.

They have an agenda, just like you :) and just like me lol

JD
 
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Have to say- on the programme today, BBC1, the London bee keeper they spoke to set a poor example of hive care- looked a tatty scrambled mess.

Was he the main man from London Bekeepers?
I got the impression he was saying to the co-op,dont organise this on your own just give the whole budget to the BBKA to dish out:(
 
if you read the piece on the BBc news website, apparently the co-op has decided to provide a further £225,000 towards encouraging 300 new beekeepers in towns - London, Manchester & Inverness. You go on a 2 day course and if interested, you get.....


,,,,,


....

wait for it....


A BEEHAUS !!!!! <WHOOP> <WHOOP>


All in all, Omlet will be quids in, but, sarcasm aside, I hope that the investment pays off and we get another 300 beeks across the country.

At least someone in Big Business is putting their money where their mouth is !!

Hats off to the Co-Op - but a shame the BBKA seem to have got their mits on this too...

regards

S
 
Hat's off to Omlet for the clever marketing more like.
 
wait for it....


A BEEHAUS !!!!! <WHOOP> <WHOOP>


I was just about to go home thinking good old CO OP until I read that now I am going to be grumpy all the way home 250,000 taken from their advertising budget more like.
 
Hi

So who's going to be the first to send a mail to the co-op and tell them they could have provided double the number of standard type hives.:svengo:


Regards Ian
 
2 days training and a beehaus? sounds that the coop know exactly what they are doing.

Maybe they are using the same team of experts to formulate this plan as their credit card division. They trusted me with a 10,000 quid credit limit for the best part of a decade, with a usual spend of around 1500-2500 per month, paid on the dot. Then overnight they reduced my limit to 500 quid (yes five hundred) then tried to sting me with a charge for breaking my credit limit as at the point of credit limit reduction I had 1500 quid on the card.

Despite being abroad at the time on business they told me that their systems were correct and 500 quid was an appropriate credit limit despite it being about the same as I had as a bloody student decades ago!

I suppose having been a long term customer, in the same property for 20+ years, having no other debts, and with a mortgage paid off I dropped right into the category of a fly by night scam artist who would run up a huge debt and do a runner.

The only time I now go near a coop is when I have to go to the post office, bugger their ethical policy, and their sham of care for the environment, they are just as bad as Tesco etc.

I hope all their bees swarm and their beehauses distort in the sun.

:puke:Coop
 
I don't think they want your business because you pay up each month, as do I.

They WANT you in debt so they can make money.

Makes me want to :puke::puke:
 
oh well Martin. but you have to think of it from their point of view - they were making absolutely no money from you as a customer yet extending £2500 per month free credit to you (in effect a free overdraft). If I had a customer who cost me money every month then I'd also have to say enough is enough - that's commerce I'm afraid, but I agree, it does sting when it happens and the issue with the limit when they did the change is bad practice (an opportunity for a letter to the FSA I would have thought)

BUT....the Co-Op, unlike any of the big 4 supermarkets, is actually Britains biggest farmer - it therefore has a vested interest in the countryside and if I was to choose one of the supermarkets for their ethical stance, then Co-Op would beat them all, hands down - even lofty Waitrose (who also farm incidentally - a dairy herd, top fruit, herbage seed and a mushroom farm in Hampshire in case anyone was interested).

Having worked for one of the big 4 in the past, I have to say, much of the hot air generated is just that and in the case of charitable donations, they often choose the biggest bang for their buck - what'll get the best headline rather than who could do with it most.

That's commerce for you.

regards

S
 
So who's going to be the first to send a mail to the co-op and tell them they could have provided double the number of standard type hives.

Yes! - and how many members on this site- go for it- you never know- chain rattling makes a noise when from many
 
The simple answer is because they wanted the beehaus...end of.

They know what is out there, they are not daft in any of this they are doing.

Pity no other people or companies could be bothered to get off their back-sides and do something!

And this also boils down to individual beekeepers.:boxing_smiley:
 
they were making absolutely no money from you as a customer

Maybe none from me in interest, but from my spending, and the commission from the retailer they were still making a few hundred quid a year for providing a bit of plastic and a statement through the post once a month. Call it around 15% return for covering what was essentially a 2500 quid rolling credit facility without carrying any real risk.

Because I believed in their ethical stance and other principles they also had, until they started playing silly buggers, considerable sums in savings accounts and investment bonds, but not any more. I even had a quite comical discussion with one of their representatives on the phone a few months later trying to sell me a 'new credit card' because i wasn't using my existing one. When I mentioned the reduction in the credit limit and how utterly useless a 500 quid credit limit was they were lost for words - obviously they hadn't been trained in dealing with a long term customer who had been treated like something brought in on a shoe from the exercise area at Crufts.

On the subject of supermarkets, in my experience they all without exception treat the customer with contempt and it must be sheer hell being a supplier. The whole supply chain is so biased in favour of the middlemen and the retailer rather than an equitable share for all, milk prices are a case in point. It's a pity they can't all say stuff the existing processors and retailers, blockade the ports to stop all cheap imports and ensure they all get a sensible, sustainable long term deal. It's not protectionism, its just common sense.
 
So who's going to be the first to send a mail to the co-op and tell them they could have provided double the number of standard type hives.

Yes! - and how many members on this site- go for it- you never know- chain rattling makes a noise when from many

I have sent an email to the coop giving my opinion that although a good idea how can they claim environmental farming practises and also promote the omlet when better options for the bees and the enviroment exist.
 
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