When is a Member not a Member?

The Co-op Group has a vast membership: 1.4 million "potentially active" members according to the 2004 accounts (I think that "potentially active" is a polite phrase for "not dead"). The cost of delivering membership magazines and ballot papers for elections to all of these would be huge, and so in practice these items are only sent to a rather small subset of these: the 63,865 members in the "Members' Network".

It must be said that this is the subject of some controversy within the society, but the main point is to ensure that you are in this Network if you are currently not! If you aren't, you still have the right to vote in elections - but you won't get told about them. You will have to spot an election poster in a store and write in to request a ballot paper.

Unless everybody who is interested in the membership side to the Co-op Group is on the Members' Network, we run the risk of accidentally disenfranchising potentially active (there's that phrase again!) members. To join the Network, go to the Co-op Group Membership pages, pick your region and look for contact details. If you are in the Central and Eastern region, the contact page is here.