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FAQs for You

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General FAQs

“A worker cooperative is a cooperative that is owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote.”
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rainbow operates as a non-hierarchical cooperative. This means that all higher level decision making is done by either: 1) democratically-elected members of specific committees, or 2) direct membership participation in decision making processes at the department and store wide level. All of these follow a majority process, not a consensus process.

The Americans with Disability Act requires businesses like Rainbow to allow our customers to be accompanied by a service animal. These animals are specifically trained to do work or perform a task. Sometimes these tasks are obvious, such as a guide dog for a person with a visual impairment. There are times when tasks are less obvious, such as a seizure-alert dog that is trained to respond when their companion is having a seizure. Visitors to our store are not required to provide proof or identification that their animal is a service animal. We are allowed to ask, which we do, but if they answer that it is a service animal, we are required to allow them access. It is illegal to present a pet as a service animal but we are unable to enforce that beyond asking.

If however, an animal is not housebroken or is not under the control of its companion, we can ask that the animal be removed. It’s a tricky situation and unfortunately, there are some that take advantage of the situation to bring in animals that otherwise should not be permitted. We do feel it is important to ensure that we provide access for all of our customers including those that use a service animal and will continue to ensure that we remain a place welcome to people of all abilities.

As our bulk section shows, we’re committed to doing everything that we can to support a zero-waste world. Unfortunately, there are some products that we simply can’t provide safely or of a quality we feel comfortable with in bulk, and water is one of them. We have done extensive research and testing into different systems and have not found one that we feel comfortable with. Overall, the ones that provide the best filtered water—a reverse-osmosis system—has a major drawback that it requires one gallon of water to be “wasted” in order to produce one gallon of filtered water. In an environment that is so susceptible to drought and water shortages, we have been reluctant to adopt such a system. Other filtration systems do not produce the clean water that we feel would be appropriate for our customers. We are continually looking at options and if one becomes available that meets our needs, we would be happy to provide it.
We’re thrilled when customers bring their own bags and are happy to provide a bag credit for each re-usable bag that you use. Unfortunately some customers have used their own bags as a means of taking products out of the store without paying for them. In order to reduce theft and avoid confusion, we ask that customers use the baskets or carts that we provide while they’re shopping and their own bags after purchasing their groceries.
While we would love to be able open a location in the East Bay, the particular nature of our business’s structure makes such expansions very challenging. We would be very hesitant to open another location if it couldn’t meet the same level of service for our customers, our community, and our workers. At this point, we believe the best way to use our resources is to work hard towards making our store here in San Francisco the best it can be, while finding other ways to support communities establishing their own cooperatives.
Being a singular retail business, Rainbow is unable to take on the enormous infrastructure that would be required to create an internal system for shipping products to our Bay Area customers and beyond.
The best way to request a refund or exchange is to bring your receipt and product—within 60 days of purchase—into the store and speak directly with a worker at our Customer Service kiosk. If you do not have a receipt, the Customer Service worker can try finding it in our system. If there is any reason you are unable to do this, then please use this form to contact the store.

Frequently Asked Questions about
Rainbow’s GreenBacks e-Coupon Promotion

You can sign up in the store by going to our Customer Service kiosk or speaking to a Cashier. Once your information has been entered into our system, you account will be immediately available.

You can also sign up online. It will take 3 to 5 days before your account will be active due to our needing to manually enter your information into our register system.

As soon as your account is activated, you’ll be able to use it immediately.

We use your information to keep track of any promotions we have for Rewards Community members. We will never sell your personal information. For more, here is our Privacy Policy.

Due to this process requiring some manual entry, it will take 3 to 5 days before your account will be active. We thank you for your patience while we continue to streamline this process. If you haven’t been able to use your account after the fifth day, please reach out here and select “Rewards Community” from the Subject menu.

There may have been an error when entering your information. When next in the store, go to our Customer Service kiosk and ask a worker to verify your information. Your account can be searched by phone number, first name, or last name.

If there are still issues, please reach out here and select “Rewards Community” from the Subject menu.

Rainbow Grocery's Rewards Community

Frequently Asked Questions about
Rainbow's Rewards Community

GreenBacks is the name of Rainbow Grocery’s latest customer incentive program for our Rewards Community members.

Our system will automatically attach the corresponding e-coupon to your Rewards Community account. If you’ve signed up to receive marketing emails from Rainbow, you will also be sent an email notification.

The Earning Period is a three-month term, occurring four (4) times per year, during which you accrue Co-op Coins. At the end of the Earning Period, your Co-op Coin balance is tallied and, if it has passed specific thresholds, a GreenBacks e-Coupon will be issued on the Awards Date.

The Award Date refers to the date a customer’s Co-op Coins are automatically exchanged, and the corresponding GreenBacks e-Coupon is attached to the customer’s Community account.

You can ask a Cashier to apply your GreenBacks e-Coupon to a future purchase.

Yes. You have sixty (60) days from the Award Date to use any GreenBacks e-Coupon you have on your Rewards Community account.

No, it’s automatically attached to your Rewards Community account, and the e-coupon is non-transferable

You must be a Rewards Community member to be eligible. If you already have an account, you’re automatically participating. If you’d like to sign up for a Rewards Community account, you can do so in-person at our Customer Service kiosk or online here.

Number of CoinsGreenBacks e-Coupon
500 Co-op Coins$5 off GreenBacks e-Coupon
1,000 Co-op Coins$10 off GreenBacks e-Coupon
1,500 Co-op Coins$15 off GreenBacks e-Coupon
2,000 Co-op Coins$20 off GreenBacks e-Coupon
2,500 Co-op Coins$25 off GreenBacks e-Coupon
3,000 Co-op Coins$30 off GreenBacks e-Coupon

Frequently Asked Questions about
Rainbow’s Co-op Coins

Co-op Coins are essentially Rainbow’s “point system.” They accrue at a rate of one (1) Co-op Coin per dollar spent, before taxes and after discounts. Spend $350, collect 350 Coins!

For a purchase to be eligible for Coins, a customer must have a Rewards Community account before the transaction is completed.

The Co-op Coin promotion ends on December 31st, 2022 at 11:59pm, after which no more Coins will be issued. Any remaining balance of Coins will be available for redemption at a rate of 500 Coins per 15% off e-coupon.

Any unused balance of Co-op Coins will expire on June 30th, 2023.

Yes. We allow customers who receive one of our Every Day Discounts to be eligible for the Rewards Community’s promotions. Just inform the Cashier when making a purchase of your qualifications and they will apply the correct discount, if necessary.

Please note that you will only accrue Co-op Coins equal to your total purchase before taxes and after discounts are applied.

When at a register or the Customer Service kiosk, the worker can search for your account in our system.

There are currently no other promotions to increase the rate or frequency of Co-op Coin accrual.

No.

Co-op Coins are not legal tender and have no cash value.

Co-op Coins are not legal tender and have no cash value.No. You must have a Rewards Community account to be eligible for the Co-op Coin promotion.

After making a purchase, the register system may take up to five minutes to update your Co-0p Coin balance.

Currently, there is no way to receive Co-op Coins without a purchase.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of transactions, we are unable to add Coins to accounts after a transaction is complete.

Please make sure to sign in before the transaction is complete in order to receive your Co-op Coins. Double check with the cashier to make sure your account has been properly entered.

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