DoomsdaysCWRE: https://kolektiva.social/@firestorm/116346370857505543
#FirestormBooks needs our help! Thinking about buying a book? Buy it from them!
Firestorm BooksLike a lot of small businesses in our region, Firestorm has been in financial distress for the last year. Hurricane Helene was our tipping point, but local cost of living increases, inflation, and higher occupancy costs are huge contributors. In simple language: our sales are down, our costs are (way) up, and capitalism is the worst.
With less than $15k in financial buffer left, we've projected that our co-op will no longer have the resources needed for normal operations by the end of July.
⚠️ What We're Doing
Over recent months, we've analyzed our situation and explored possible interventions. We're planning to modestly increase store hours, refresh our Sustainers Program, explore new advertising opportunities, better promote our bulk / B2B sales, research grants for unfunded work done by our members, and look for new pop-up gigs. More immediately, we're planning a big sale for mid-April and we've requested and received a temporary reduction to our mortgage.
Our hope is that a handful of short-term measures will buy us time to pursue the longer-term shift in revenue needed to stabilize Firestorm. If we don't succeed, our nuclear option is a cut to pay. As a horizontal co-op we set a payrate democratically, so no changes take place without buy-in from our whole team, but moving away from a living wage runs counter to our collective health.
⚠️ What You Can Do!
If Firestorm surviving and thriving is important to you, we welcome your support. Here are a few ways to pitch in:
🌈 Buy your next book from us, or tell someone who buys books about us! Not a physical media person? We also sell audiobooks through Libro.fm.
🌈 Join our Sustainers Program, starting at $10/mo! Members receive discounts on books and can access free shipping, a monthly book subscription, and other great perks.
🌈 If you work in an organization that coordinates book-related programs, reach out to us about bulk purchasing (we offer discounts!)
We extend our huge appreciation to everyone who is already supporting our co-op financially, or otherwise! We've only made it this far because of you.
KawaiiPunkBeen working on my website for my new side project co-op.
Pls share with anyone who might need a bit of compassionate tech support and can afford a decent rate. It's not aimed at folks who are highly technically skilled.
Let me know if you spot any errors in the site. I'm doing it in my spare time often when sleepy.
Tech Care Co-operativeHey folks, it seems we may be able to offer our hardware in the U.S. now. Possibly also Canada too.
If you would like a fully configured #grapheneos phone or #linux laptop shipped directly to you with compassionate paid support going forward, get in touch via Signal or email
https://signal.me/#eu/HHCMQ620MXZP_fr8ts1LumyAD3ESQSD6lXvqrcze-AqjZseqPMpHZ5mhn8OjUKRX
We currently favour second hand Pixel 8a and the Thinkpad T480s as our target hardware of choice for a nice balance of affordability and features.
Grassroots Economic OrganizingThis week's newsletter features an interview with a the People's Plumbing #WorkerCoop about gift economics, and memories of a founding member of GEO, Len Krimerman.
We talked to People's Plumbing of Cleveland, who are running their #WorkerCoop on a #GiftEconomy model!
How to Run a Business on Unconditional Love | Interview with People's Pluming Worker Co-op
TRADUCOOPEmprender no tiene que ser un camino solitario. En las cooperativas, el esfuerzo individual se transforma en éxito compartido. En nuestra comunidad de traductores, cooperativismo significa:
🤝 Transparencia: comunicación clara y sin burocracia
👍 Sinergia: apoyo y colaboración en proyectos de gran volumen o complejidad
🙌 Respaldo: estabilidad y crecimiento con riesgos distribuidos
👏 Dignidad: tarifas justas y remuneraciones a tiempo, independientemente del ciclo de pago del cliente
🤙 Libertad: flexibilidad y confianza fundamentadas en la responsabilidad mutua
📲 Sigue a @traducoop para ver más sobre traducción, interpretación y cooperativismo.
#WorkerCoop #Translators #Interpreters #T9N #1NT #L10N #LSP #Solidaridad #Cooperativas #PuertoRico #MastodonPR
How five foodie journalists revived a famous magazine as a #WorkerCoop
Stephen Dioxide @susankayequinn I think (and sometimes write) about this a lot. I'm the founder of a #workercoop, and I actively promote the idea to others. The difficulty is that worker co-ops tend to be small, and the most problematic corporations, almost by definition, are large. Replacing them with a network of small and medium-sized worker co-ops is easier said than done. Teaming up with #unions is a big step in the right direction, but there are still some large hurdles to clear.
J Lou@the_moep pool your resources and start a #WorkerCoop