A WORTHWHILE APPROACH TO EFFECT POSITIVE CHANGE

Th’Store ™ is a co-op very much like a farmers co-op, a project to help heal much of the world from the outside-in is an idealistic project to help people survive in an attractive cooperative that saves by cutting out the middlemen owners such as mega corporations whose purpose is profit at all costs i.e. all costs passed to their other product: the customer. Some potential barriers to the concept are greedy opportunists, selfish con artists, internal dishonesty, sabotage, banker power and government over-reach; these are solvable.

Th’Store:

It is for the sharing of costs and profits, and providing of daily living goods at better prices than corporate retail outlets and is FOR and results in the betterment of society in general.

It provides:
• Bargaining power: buy volume and securing suppliers of food, clothing, furniture, seeds, fuel, fertilizer, animal feed, tools, hardware, used items(either bought or donated),etc. at better prices.
• Sales: operate retail sales outlet where all employees are employee-owners(EO’s)
• Services: shared accounting, transportation, insurance, or technical support costs.
• Risk sharing: spread costs and market swings among all EO’s.
• Marketing: advertising and promotion
Th’Store differs from a farmers co-op in that it is for securing the benefits of ordinary people which includes EO’s and the buying public.
Th’Store is a chain corporation centralized in a way that ensures cohesion to the Th’Store co-op principles of every franchise.

The corporate charter of Th’Store must include the legalese to prevent greed and grift and to prevent government strangulation by grants, subsidies and unreasonable regulations.

Th’Store concept may seem communistic and by some definitions it may be seen that way and it may also similarly be seen as socialistic or free enterprise(not capitalistic); people love to label everything so whatever “istic” you like is fine. The boxing of the idea with labels is actually a waste of thought, but is also potentially destructive. Naming and categorizing the idea does nothing to the idea itself.

The product lines are anything people need to live healthy and safe lives and cover basic necessities: water, food, supplements, clothing, shelters, energy generation and storage equipment, basic medical supplies, bedding, tools, cleaning supplies, pet food and care, farm supplies where appropriate, labor(yes, some referral service), used goods, homemade products of practical value(clothes, furniture), and hardware. A true general store. All food products sold must be storeable foods: canned, frozen, dehydrated foods, pastas, bulk grains, dehydrated meats, dehydrated eggs and dairy, etc. Foods that require special handling such as fresh produce and refrigerated foods would need to be carefully thought out before implementing.

Th’Store cannot provide any services beyond referral services; No salons, restaurants, auto repair, legal, sports, you name it. Services involve personal liability and so are beyond the scope of Th’Store corporation.

Corporation? This needs to be thoroughly studied before such a commitment so that it does not conflict with the employee-owner business model. An AI program can do the research for you and even layout a business plan that will make sure all legal, and other bases are covered. Since Th’Store is not for sale to stockholders then it does not have the “profit for shareholders” requirement. The corporate model is possibly the safest legal structure so that, (as all good and evil corporations do) the corporation is liable for insurance claims and such. The legal role and responsibility of each employee-owner must be clearly established in the charter or articles. Everything must be done within the legal requirements of the locale of each Th’Store.

I hate the idea of corporations; not the concept of them but the monstrosities they become under modern allowances given to them. Th’Store does not sell stocks or dividends and also cannot be owned by any single entity, be that entity another corporation, an NGO, an investment group, a billionaire, a foundation, a bank, etc. A government? Heaven forbid.

Build Build first with investment. This requires outlay of fiat so somebody has to come up with a lot of money to make the first store happen and they won’t(generally) do this without high confidence of a return on investment(ROI). A multi-billionaire could easily spare a hundred million but that would require some degree of altruism in their character and how many of those are there? A crowd-sourcing project would be good but who has the time, energy and money for transportation and other logistical hurdles to devote themselves to this novel project? Any takers?

A possible incentive to investors whereby they make a limited profit IS that they make a profit. Originally, corporations were created as a means of acquiring capital in order to accomplish a singular task: e.g. to build a railroad, bridge, dam and so on. Once the task was complete the corporation was dissolved. Along the way the laws were changed to allow corporations to continue into infinity and grow into the monolithic monsters who control our lives and our governments.

For the first and for each new Th’Store a limited-life corporation should be formed, set to dissolve when x percentage of profit is made. Hence, products sold need to have an initial markup of say 30% over cost of goods + overhead and when the investors have achieved their profit level the corporation terminates and the 30% is dropped to a lesser percentage. From this point on the profit accumulates in the new store fund. The owner operators(employees) know that sales prices will decrease once the store initiation is paid off and this is a great incentive for them and is a selling point for customers to buy and buy so that at a point their purchases will result in lower prices in the future.

New Th’Store locations can be set up by new limited corporations with investors or by the new store fund or in conjunction with the fund.

I am not giving the Th’Store idea out in order to enrich myself. I have no desire to do or get more than to propose the model. The project is bigger than I can handle(at least at this time in my life). Maybe later :). I only own the name and the name is free to use and I will be proud to see the first store opening.

These stores function as non profit and thus are able to cut out middlepersons and investors who take profits and do nothing but live off of other peoples’ work. The term “non profit” is NOT for some government status or meaning. It means literal non profit with the exception that profits are accrued but are inserted into the New Store Fund.

Since Th’Store sells things that everyone needs regularly then employees need less fiat and the necessaries are so much cheaper then that is equivalent to high wages.

Because we still need fiat “money” to pay for many things then employee-owners will need limited work schedules, say 10 to 30 hours per week. This way you can run your small business or work at a wage job while having the advantages of Th’Store.

Employee owned only. Pay for labor is in money and cost-of-goods goods: includes food and water, clothing, labor exchange, etc. Pay can be in tCred(Th’Store exchange script), or national fiat(cash only), silver, gold, crypto and commodities. Prices are in tCred. How to set the value of 1 tCred needs to be well thought out so that it is stable and of equal value across all Th’Store franchises. A tCred has no relation to bank credit nor fiat currency. It is not money. It is simply a convenient medium of exchange within the system and has no intrinsic value outside of the Th’Store system.

One need not work for Th’Store to shop there and there is no membership structure. There is the cost of the goods plus overhead added to the base prices. Employee Owners and their families get all products at “cost plus overhead”. Overhead varies depending on product and must be set in the charter with specific product category overhead criteria clearly demarked.

Shoppers can buy with products too. This “barter” is done by “donations” in exchange for Creds. One who is not an Employee Owner who “sells” their goods to a franchise is paid in bCreds(barter Creds) which can be used in any Th’Store and one need not be an Employee Owner.

Employee Owner status is not limited to one geographical store. If you are employed by Th’Store and move to a different store location you retain all rights.

Employee Owners must do actual work within the corporation. Minimum standards per employee must be met. If one gets fired what happens to their Creds?

And what of government regulation and legalese unreasonable requirements?

Creds can only be used by Employee Owners. If you sell them to a non-owner you will lose them since that individual cannot spend them(unless they get employed by Th’Store at some point) . Since grift and graft seem to be a common human temptation there will always be those finding ways to game any system so the management team must set up strict and specific safeguards for themselves as well as the laborers.

Standard workweek depends on number of employees able to do every type of work required on any given day. Department managers can be fired by a unanimous vote and a replacement will be by unanimous vote.

The store manager is subject to replacement by unanimous voting if they violate common courtesy and fairness.

Fiat and other forms of profit go into the ‘Build a Th’Store’ fund to open a new franchise. Each Th’Store must have an auditable fund. This fund is the centralized tether between stores. There is one fund and it is used to build one single new Th’Store at a time until the company it is able to expand into building more than one store at a time.

There is no profit-sharing program. There is no stock creation or sale of ownership.

You investors are saying “Why would I put any money into this ridiculous project?” Good. The whole idea of Th’Store is for the benefit of the people who work for and co-own the store, not for the hoarding of fiat wealth or some market manipulation schemes done by outsiders with no skin in the game other than capital.

The Th’Store model can be adapted and applied to other industries such as home builders.

The gaping hole you are looking to drive your truck through is the amassing of Creds to gain power. Why would anyone want to buy “Creds”? ***

Every system is corruptible. Seems that no matter what one does to prevent corruption it always seems to seep under the cracks and like flowing water, wherever it can flow, it will flow.

One hurdle to overcome is corporate powers who will spend millions to try to limit or prevent suppliers from selling products to you. Some sellers will be glad and proud to supply you with their goods while others will be paid off to NOT sell to you.

I do not want to seem too idealistic or simplistic about Th’Store. It will take MUCH work and planning by competent, honest people. It will require the selling of the idea to others. It will take some sacrifice by the people who work to get the first one financed, built, stocked and marketed to as many individuals as possible.

I could sit here and think of many reasons to not do this project but the more I try the more reasons I find TO do this project. Some losses will happen as is with any business but we learn and adapt and refine. If I myself were younger and connected with many people I would do it myself. The problem is that I never thought of this until a few days ago and it was not something I planned. I woke in the morning and the idea just came into my head so I started writing it down in crude form before putting any real thought into it and the more I do apply thought to it the more amazing the idea is.

Th’Store uniqueness is that it is where you go to buy things necessary to live a relatively comfortable life without enriching people who have no stake nor interest in your life. It is basically a one-stop-shop. An employee-owned enterprise that directly benefits them and theirs and everyone who participates AND provides quality goods at much cheaper prices to all customers.

The store has to conform to local laws such as fire safety regulations, plumbing, lighting, parking and so forth. Buying a building that has all of these things basically done already by a defunct retail establishment would be the way to go.

At the time of this writing Th’Store is a economic concept that can be applied to other businesses. I am only laying out the first practical and viable idea applied to goods people need. Use your imagination as to how other permutations may be initiated.