Old post but yes, exactly. It's a classic strat and exactly what happened to the farmer's coop where I grew up. Greasy executive types just see community built infrastructure as free for the taking and they aren't wrong in a strictly practical sense. Without vigilance and widespread participation (not just shopping) there's huge potential for abuse and REI hasn't been a strong coop for a long time. Have you ever put in hours there? Ours is still going, now as a very successful farm supply/fuel depot. A director just kinda slowly stopped organizing members, kept the fee the same so long it became irrelevant, raised prices, you know. Ran it like a business until it became one