Comment by davidw

That's a good question and it seems like it's difficult to separate from people's ideological ideas about whether they are good or bad.

My hometown in Oregon had a cooperative, Burley, that made bike stuff like trailers and tandems and some clothing. Word was that it was kind of dysfunctional because of how democratic it was even if all the people cared deeply. I think they finally ended up selling out to some outfit who scrapped everything but the trailers.