Coop Membership Rebate Decreases to 7 Percent

This year's membership rebate from the Harvard Cooperative Society was on more than 10 percent from last year's figure, falling to 7 percent, Coop officials announced this week.

Coop President James A. Argeros attributed the rebate decline to increased costs, particularly in health insurance and payroll.

"In the past four years, out health insurance has gone up form $400,000 to $900,000," Argeros said, "and minimum pay has gone form $4 per hour to $5 per hour." He added that the Coop's expenses this year had risen faster than its sales.

Argeros noted that the rebate from the Yale University Cooperative Society is 4.8 percent this year.

According to Argeros, this year's rebate totals $1.5 million. In 1987, he said, there was a total rebate of $3.2 million, or 9.8 percent of total sales. Last year's rebate was 7.8 percent.

The Coop, which houses the nation's largest textbook department, made $64 million in sales and netted a profit of nearly $4 million last fiscal year, Argeros said. It employs 600 people and has about 115,000 members.

Student reaction to the announcement was mixed. Many interviewed said they had hoped the rebate would recover to its 1987 level.

"I spent $800 at the Coop last year, so the .8 percent only means a miniscule difference of $6.40," said David C. Bear '92. "However, the principle of it is disturbing because they're supposed to be efficient, but this makes the Coop seem less efficient."

"I think the Coop is overpriced and should givea bigger rebate to students because we are theirmain business," said Saba Nazar '91.

But not all students were outraged by theplunge.

"I didn't even know about the reduction," saidDaniel C. Wilkins '92. "I wouldn't notice thedifference between a 5 percent rebate and a 10percent rebate.