Comments on: Profile of the (surprisingly lucrative) university co-op business in Japan

By: Mashu

Mashu — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:09 +0000

Really interesting post, I enjoyed it tremendously. In my time living here, I’ve studied at two very different Universities, but one thing that remained unwaveringly consistent was the quality of the cafeteria experience. I still eat there every single day, and love all the educational posters about how much to chew and how to properly balance the components of your lunch.

By: treblekickeresq

treblekickeresq — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:57:12 +0000

@Mbone. At my uni we can buy anywhere we want and they don’t care about comparing prices. The only problem is you wait literally months some times (depending how busy the person doing the paperwork in the office is) before you get reimbursed.

@Jade Oc. To be honest I hate shopping for anything that isn’t hiking or jogging gear so I’m not really sure if the coop is a gouge for electronics or not. I’ll have to look into the procedures at some of the big electronics stores. Difficult to beat the convenience of strolling over to the coop the day before the research money has to be used up with catalog in hand and tell the coop lady I’ll order one of these, these, and these.

For all the worries about declining students and losing endowments in the financial meltdown universities seem to have a lot to learn about how to dole out research money effectively.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:08:51 +0000

Actually the Coop at my Japanese uni was a bit of a gouge too for electronics, if I remember rightly. In Japan places like Yamada Denki specifically note they have procedures for academic buying (using uni funds).

By: M-Bone

M-Bone — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:45:33 +0000

My non-Japanese uni has a similar tie-up with its computer store for gear purchases from research funding. The big dif is that the store is not a co-op and is a bit of a gouge.

If don’t want to buy gear from the co-op, do you have that option? We’re pretty much stuck buying in house unless we do rounds of paperwork to prove that we can get items cheaper elsewhere (as far as I know, even for something like a USB cable).

By: treblekickeresq

treblekickeresq — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:14:42 +0000

Another great thing about Japanese university co-op’s (from the profs point of view) is that many let you buy things directly through your research budget. Normally, I have to pay cash or with a credit card, hand in the receipts and paperwork, and get my money back. With coop I pick the gear out of a catalog, they order it and do the paperwork to get the cash from my research budget themselves.

I get a catalog of various electronic gear in my office mailbox every month. It is most helpful at the end of the school year when I’m desperately trying to spend the last of the research funds.

By: ToastR

ToastR — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:55:52 +0000

At least at the University of Chicago, there’s a Co-op bookstore (the Seminary Co-op, actually in the basement of neighboring Chicago Theological Seminary). Three shares (costing $30) gets a member a 10% discount. Lots of UofC faculty arrange their textbooks and reading material through the Co-op, rather than the college bookstore (which, like many in the US, is run by Barnes and Noble College Booksellers). No student co-ops, though, at least not on the scale described.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:32:00 +0000

I never got my 20,000 yen back. Perhaps as by the time I finally left, 12 years after joining, I had not the slighest idea where my Coop card was. I did like the 10% off books though.

I was also told by several profs that my university coop was in dire financial straits, thanks to competition from Jusco and konbini, and general operational malaise.

By: Roy Berman

Roy Berman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:40:33 +0000

One point that you didn’t make entirely clear. The “membership fee” is not just a cash payment that you get back-you’re actually buying a SHARE of the Co-op. The “Co-op” isn’t just a name, it’s actually the legal structure of the organization. The members are all technically share-holders, and when you don’t need it anymore you can sell the share back.

Benefits to members are generally discounts on products and an electronic stored value card that makes frequent small purchases at the store or cafeteria far more convenient, and access to the Co-op credit card, which is kind of a big deal since credit cards are generally far more difficult to get than in other countries, particularly for a student.

Co-ops include a pretty wide range of service, and apartment finding services and travel agencies are also common. The apartment finding service has lower fees than real estate companies, and charges less for the guarantor service, but they also have a more limited range of listings and usually pretty much only have those crappy one room apartments.

Kyoto University has loads of Co-op stuff, but also has one Lawson branch on campus. All of the official Kyodai gear is also sold in Co-op shops (it was the same in Ritsumeikan), and for someone coming from America, where alcohol is pretty much banned on most campuses outside of private dorm rooms of students 21 or older, they sell alcohol at the Co-op stores, and even have beer for sale in some cafeterias.

By: M-Bone

M-Bone — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:17:06 +0000

I have very fond memories of university caf and co-op. Don’t remember the middle aged ladies though.