In short: Families are making significant savings on their grocery bills by forming small shopping co-ops.
Cooperative business structures account for less than 1 per cent of the supermarket sector in Australia.
What’s next? The peak body for co-ops is calling for more government support for the business model.
Do it. I don’t understand why more people don’t join credit unions / mutual banking. There’s literally no downsides, they have all the same services, protections, minus the fees. It’s a no brainer.
Knowledge/Recognition I’d say.
Most people could tell you the names of the Big 4, doubt they know any CUs. Let alone if they even know what they are.
Fees have almost entirely gone away for most banks these days (at least the ones I’ve used), so I get the inertia. It certainly didn’t make sense when people would stay on the likes of CBA back when they had monthly fees and a savings rate much lower than third party banks and some credit unions.