From the newspaper Rabochny Potrebitel, January 1, 1925.
A pickup bonus or a dividend on the share? What our readers say.
A lively discussion has flared up around the question of how to reward consumers. The editorial office has received many letters from readers who have taken a keen interest in this issue.
Most of those who sent in their opinions speak in favor of a pickup bonus.
Comrade A. P. writes:
“It is not enough to be a shareholder of a cooperative; one must also be an active member, i.e., take an interest in its affairs and buy goods only from one’s own cooperative. To reward both a mere shareholder and a conscientious member of the cooperative in the same amount is entirely unfounded.”
“I believe that the bonus should be issued on the basis of the entire pickup— the larger the pickup, the larger the bonus.”
A. A. Oidnenko, a regular reader of “Rabochny Potrebitel,” did not doubt in the least that Tserabkoop would choose the pickup-bonus system. Comrade Lyubitov’s article, proposing to establish a dividend on the share and, in Comrade Vidmenko’s view, bearing “the character of something final,” prompted him to immediately express his thoughts on this question.
“After all, if a housewife-wife knows that for the purchases she has made, say totaling 10 rubles, she will get the right to take whatever she wants for 30–40 kopeks, she will not only not lose those one-kopeck or two-kopeck coupons—she will save them in a way that even Tserabkoop itself will not save them in its iron cashboxes. For her, those coupons will turn into money. And besides, only active members of the cooperative—those who truly and consciously support it—will be rewarded, not the ballast that got into the cooperative by misunderstanding.”
Both Comrade A. P. and Comrade Vidmenko equally believe that what matters to a cooperative is not so much shareholders in general as devoted members who take their purchases only from their own cooperative. Therefore, they support the pickup-bonus system and believe that this system is not so complicated that it should be abandoned because of it. They propose to record pickup by means of duplicate receipts or special stamps.
There is, however, an opposing point of view.
T. Davidovich believes that issuing pickup bonuses “will increase overhead expenses and will not be able to satisfy the consumer due to incomplete coverage of his pickup.” Comrade Alivkon is against bonuses altogether. Rewarding 50,000 members of the cooperative “will entail such expenses that it will significantly increase the cost of goods, as a result of which the bonuses will be reduced to zero. Out of profits, goods should be improved and made cheaper, and on the other hand, assistance should be organized for the members of the cooperative who are most in need.”
The question of a system for rewarding members has been ripe for a long time. Numerous responses from consumers themselves speak to this. The issue must be resolved as soon as possible.
From the newspaper Rabochny Potrebitel, June 11, 1925.
What the KhTsRK is doing to improve the operation of canteens.
The Organizational Department of the KhTsRK conducted an inspection of the work of the public catering department. In total, the KhTsRK has 16 canteens: 4 open and 12 closed, located at factories and plants.
The closed canteens incurred a loss of 16,000 rubles in April. This is explained by the fact that while meat prices, compared with those in the autumn, rose twofold, the prices for lunches in workers’ canteens remained the old ones. For example, in the 4th canteen (VEK), revenue from lunches in April amounted to 10,663 rubles, while raw ingredients alone cost 11,592 rubles. In the 7th canteen (Serp i Molot), revenue was 5,920 rubles, while raw ingredients alone cost 6,420 rubles. Together with overhead expenses, the loss for the 4th canteen in April was 3,794 rubles, and for the 7th, 1,736 rubles. The total loss for all canteens was 16,000 rubles.
All canteens purchase the highest-grade meat. The public catering department has been instructed to pay greater attention to purely economic matters. In order to improve the operation of canteens and further develop public catering, it was decided to bring in women worker-delegates as permanent responsible staff in canteens (buffet attendants, storekeepers, controllers). In the near future it has been decided to involve at least 10–15 delegates. The canteens purchased meat from different organizations, and as a result there are fluctuations in prices for the same raw ingredients. A special comrade has now been assigned who, within the Public Catering Department, will be responsible for organizing all procurement of raw ingredients. This will make it possible to reduce the cost of raw ingredients and thereby partially reduce the losses of the closed canteens.
It is impossible to eliminate the loss entirely, because otherwise it would be necessary either to raise lunch prices or to reduce the amount of fats. Since this would weigh heavily on the worker’s budget, it has been decided for now not to resort to such measures. It was decided to pay attention to the development of professional and political work among the staff, since most canteen workers are barely literate and poorly developed. To bring the entire staff closer to the work and increase participation, it was decided to begin holding production meetings within the canteens and monthly meetings of canteen managers and head cooks.
For the further development of public catering, it was decided to replenish the cooking staff with youth—apprentices—paying attention to involving Komsomol members in this work. It was decided to improve bookkeeping by developing a unified format for internal canteen accounting (storekeeper’s ledger, buffet attendant’s ledger, cashier’s reporting). Taking into account that the first canteen (Moskovskaya St.) and the third canteen (K. Liebknecht St.) are located in unsuitable premises, it was decided to take urgent measures to find suitable premises where consumers could be served normally. In addition, it was decided to speed up work on mechanizing kitchens across all canteens.