‘When is this going to stop?’

Co-op members, former employees speak out after retail store closures announced

Two weeks after the Dec. 4 announcement that the Big Horn Co-op would be ceasing retail operations in Greybull, Basin, Powell, Worland and Buffalo, Co-op members are speaking out.

Amid mounting public frustration, both online and in-person, a former board member, past employee, and current shareholders and members came forward and agreed to speak to The Standard on the record about what they have witnessed and experienced at the Co-op.

What emerged from these conversations were allegations of workplace malpractice and abuse, and accusations that the board and its managers acted in secret, limiting shareholder and member access to financial information and the internal decision-making process. Many said they felt the Co-op had been mismanaged and lost their trust. All expressed their disappointment in the decision to cease retail operations. Some hoped it was still possible to save their Co-op and preserve their farm stores.

A copy of the Big Horn Co-op’s annual audit report, obtained by The Standard’s reporters, revealed the Co-op lost $6.2 million in 2024 and $2.9 million in 2023.

How did we get here?

Darrel Horton joined the Co-op board in 1982. At that time, Greybull operated a filling station; Lovell had a mill and fertilizer station; Basin had filling and fertilizer stations as well as a bean handling facility; and Powell had beans and feed.

“When I started, the Co-op was losing money,” said Horton. “Louis Pistulka came in around 1985 and several years after Louis got there, we started making money. We made money every year after that until Mike Hanser quit.”

Between 1982 and 2023, the Co-op’s gross revenue grew from $6 million to $88 million. Horton explained that agronomy, fertilizer and fuel have always been the key components in the Co-op’s bottom line. 

Roughly seven years ago, the Co-op hired Jerry Thorstad as CEO, who Horton described as a great salesman, but “not so good about making sure you are making money off what’s sold.”

“There’s a world of difference between those two things,” he noted.  “You can be a great salesman, but if you can’t control costs, you will start losing money.”

Two of the key projects begun during Thorstad’s tenure were the Basin fertilizer plant and Worland C-store construction.

The fertilizer plant was a large investment, but a necessary one. The Co-op had spent a significant amount maintaining the old one and risked losing its ability to meet demand in the future. 

Progress on the C-Store was stymied by construction delays and regulatory controls.

“(It wasn’t) anyone’s fault,” Horton said. “What should have been a four-month turnaround turned into a year.”

Upon reflection, Horton still believed the C-store was the right choice for the company’s growth, but said, “Should we have? Maybe, maybe not.”

When Thorstad left, the board brought in Randy Carlholm, a Nebraska native who worked for several other co-ops throughout the Midwest. Horton, who has been critical of more recent changes to the Co-op’s structure, believes Carlholm told the board “the things we wanted to hear at the interview, like how we had to get control of costs.”

Today, Horton said he’s sorry for his part in the board’s decision to hire and later retain Carlholm.

“At six months, we reviewed his performance and we compounded our stupidity by letting him stay on,” he said. “I’m pretty sure everyone on that board was sure we should be doing something different, but we weren’t ready to make a change. It’s their right as an individual. The people on the board are good people and they’re good farmers.”

Although there are, in his view, other exigent issues relating to the Co-op’s situation that pain him, Horton said he agreed with the decision to close the retail stores. “We can’t compete with the Bomgaars of the world and the (Murdoch’s). You walk in and there are 20 of each item.”

Still, the difference between when the Co-op made money versus now, Horton said, is its manager’s personality.

Earlier this year, Horton tendered his retirement to the board and left after more than 40 years of service. 

“I’m 75,” he said of his decision. “It was time. It’s really sad to see where we are. These last two years have been terrible.”

Members, Shareholders

What makes a cooperative unique from other business models is its democratization of power and ownership in a company. Every member of a co-op — be it that they identify as a shareholder, customer or employee — has equal control and say in its business. Co-ops place import on a member’s control and economic participation as well as overall community welfare.

It is these values some members now say are in jeopardy.

Marla and Norman Winters, of Otto, have been at an impasse with the board since early this year. With over $31,000 invested, Norman inquired about divesting shares on Feb. 1 as part of his patron stock retirement fund. According to the Winters, they have been blocked from receiving their money.

In a letter to the board from that same month, Winters wrote: “I was counting on my patron retirement money. I (need) it real bad, now! I earned it, now I can’t get it!”

Chris Bullinger, a board member and the secretary/treasurer of the organization, reached out to Winters following his letter. Reportedly, Bullinger told Norman that there was a chance they could receive a portion of their money in July. Norman recalled Bullinger as having said, “It might be a couple thousand, it might be a couple of cents, but it will all work out in a couple of years.”

No further communication from the board was received and, when Norman subsequently requested copies of the annual stockholder report and bylaws, he was turned away from the Co-op’s offices in Greybull.

When asked, Carlholm told The Standard, “No one has lost any money or equity; money is still on their account.  Payment of those equities lies under the authority of the board of directors: none of us in management can write the check. Management presents those requests every month to the board of directors. 

“At the end of the fiscal year, after the audit has been completed, directors visit with the auditors and our lender, (and) get advice from both of them, plus our legal counsel to determine whether to release those funds.  The last few years, the cooperative has not generated sufficient income to cover those requests. Directors, based upon counsel from auditors and lenders, have chosen to follow professional advice.”

However, John and Nancy Joyce, shareholders in Manderson, have run into roadblocks of their own. Following the Co-op’s announcement, Nancy said they received no additional information from the board, so she reached out to Carlholm and several board members directly for their take.

“I called Randy (regarding the next shareholder’s meeting) to get the right time and everything, and he never returned my call,” she explained. “I also said I was interested in seeing financials and what his financial plan was for the future.”

The Joyces also recalled a letter they received from the board over the summer regarding the Co-op’s financial losses. 

“From our position, they just spent millions of dollars building a fertilizer plant in Basin and millions of dollars building a convenience store in Worland,” John said. “And now they’re shutting down everything except for that stuff, so we’re losing our store. I realize the people in Worland can buy coffee and donuts at a really nice place, but we can’t buy irrigation boots or fence posts anymore.

“They’ve taken on a lot of debt and we’re going to lose services, so that doesn’t seem like a good business plan. Maybe if they presented a plan that shows it’s gonna work in the long run, then that might be good, but from our perspective, the Co-op is for the members and one of the services we enjoyed as a member was being able to go to a farm store to get our supplies. And now we can’t do that.”

Ultimately, the Joyces feel the closures go against one of the core values of a cooperative: the decision was made without informing or including its members in the decision-making process.

“Nobody sent a letter out saying one of our options would be to keep everything intact and put it up for sale and then maybe, if there was interest, you could continue to have your farm stores and all the services available to you,” said John.

“What we understand is, management decided and the board voted okay to shut ‘em all down. I would think something this major should go in front of the membership.” 

In Worland, Jay Richard is a member of the Co-op who has patronized the local stores for decades. The decline in customer service and management has deeply frustrated him.

“Every time I’ve gone in there, it’s been a debacle,” he said, addressing the Worland tire shop’s closure. “It’s mismanagement. There is a huge demand (for automotive services) and if you can’t make it here, you have no business in trying.

“Every time I go in there, it’s a new face and they don’t know you from anybody when you walk in the door.”

A few years ago, he placed an order for 100 gallons of propane with the Co-op. When it didn’t show up after a month, Richard said he called his store and was told he “wasn’t worth stopping for” because he hadn’t placed a large enough order.

“I was told by a driver that they’d been told if it was less than 200 gallons, they weren’t to deliver,” said Richard. “And I was like, ‘Okay, well, this is a $580 transaction and less than five minutes of your time.’ But that was the beginning of, ‘Okay, what the hell is going on?’

“It’s not an economic problem,” he insisted. “It’s a management problem.”

Pamela Taylor, of Ten Sleep, said she and her late husband were members and shareholders for many years while running a cattle and sheep operation. She expects the closures will devastate the local agrarian community. 

“I have friends now that are still ranchers who are saying this is going to be hard on them because this is where they get their salt, they get their different minerals and things there. And now where do they go?”

Riverton, Taylor explained, is just too far for the quick part or piece of equipment that often is required on a ranch. During lambing or calving, for instance, there may be a sudden, last-minute need for formula and other critical care supplies. Previously, if a Worland store didn’t have what she needed, she was able to drive the same distance to Basin and typically found what she required at the Co-op’s farm store there.

“I feel like, if this continues, we’re going to turn into ghost towns,” she said.

Taylor went on to express her frustration on behalf of the many employees she’s met over the years in both the Basin and Worland stores, who will now be without jobs. She called them “loyal and hardworking,” and said she knows them, knows they’ve faced surgeries and hardships, and she despairs at the prospect they’ve been left with little to nothing. 

She also expects these store closures will reshape the local economy. The lack of competition, she believes, will eventually lead to shortages and price gouging, among other problems.

“When we quit Co-op, we’re going to have one person and we’ll be happy with whatever they give us,” she explained. “You get one propane company and they break down, what are people going to do for heat?

“If this thing has been the CEOs, and there’s been greed in power, when is this going to stop in this country? And what do people do about it?”

Employee concerns

On Jan. 29 of this year, 32 Big Horn Co-op employees signed a letter to the Co-op board of directors that outlined their dissatisfaction with Carlholm as manager and requested his immediate dismissal. The employees alleged that Carlholm conducted himself in a manner unbefitting his office and claimed Carlholm not only filed false safety incident reports, but requested reimbursements and “inappropriate expenses” from the accounts team without backup. 

The employees further alleged Carlholm created an unwelcome work environment, saying he routinely insulted and belittled frontline workers in retail locations.

The letter recounted, in detail, an incident involving the company’s 2023 Christmas party. It claimed that Carlholm told employees they would receive cash bonuses for attending the event before later reneging.

“The money was the reason some folks showed up,” the letter stated. “(It) would’ve paid for gas or hotels for the trip as I was told. Instead of sending out (an) email stating we couldn’t afford the cash envelopes, Randy just let it be, and to this day, hasn’t mentioned the money.”

Sheryl Henderson worked for the Big Horn Co-op for eight years in the Greybull and Basin stores. She considered herself a proud employee, who often went above and beyond in her role. She was laid off earlier this year and told that, due to financial constraints, the Co-op was downsizing its workforce.

“They said, ‘We’ll bring you back when things are better,’ but two weeks later, I went in and they had someone new,” she recalled.

Henderson was not part of the employee group that protested against Carlholm in January, but echoed many of their sentiments.

“It seemed he wanted to change things,” she said. “His focus was on appearance because we were ‘a multi-million dollar company.’ You could tell his focus was not on the employees or customers. Before, it was. It was on the customers and to help the community.”

Henderson claimed employees were given $400 stipends to purchase new uniforms and clothes just one year after the Co-op purchased new uniforms for the crew. She, like the 32 signers, said Carlholm demeaned employees, and she and her colleagues learned to “never question Randy.”

“He didn’t seem to care about the community,” she said. “He cared what we looked like, but not about the community.”

She went on to allege that Carlholm made other changes under the guise of saving the company, which included eliminating the employee discount and shrinking the military discount from 10% to 5%. She claimed Carlholm had a hand in stopping the member dividend checks and said employees were ordered to say nothing about it to customers.

But, Henderson added, other expenses racked up and certain decisions made little sense to employees. In addition to the $400 clothing stipend, the Co-op allegedly began renting trucks to haul petroleum instead of using their own fleet, which had recently been wrapped with the company’s logos. Trips to business conferences and a vacation to Disney for employees and their families went forward, and the company allegedly declined outside offers to buy disused equipment from other businesses in the area. 

“If we’re struggling,” said Henderson, “then every (cost) adds up.”

When reached for comment regarding the employee claims, Carlholm stated, “The employees are free to say and do what they want, that’s one of the great things about living in our country. I’ll just say, the employee group didn’t have near the information the directors and I had.  While I appreciate their input, they didn’t have all the info to make those types of decisions.

“People can always be critical.  We just went through an election here as a country where each candidate was criticized quite a little bit by the other side. Some of those points may have been valid, some may have been hyperbole, but that (the criticism) is true in any leadership position in any company.”

The future

Carlholm concluded by saying that the closure of the retail stores was done in service to members holding equity.

“Those retail locations have been losing money,” he explained. “We can’t continue to subsidize operations that don’t perform satisfactorily financially. Doing this is the best way to ensure that they get their equities at some point in the future.”

Darrel Horton, meanwhile, expressed his sorrow at the Co-op and its membership’s predicament, saying he felt responsible. 

“I’m sorry,” said Horton. “Truly, I am, that the decisions I made affected the bottom lines of the people that own it.  It wasn’t because of maliciousness, it was just in the course of doing business, the decisions we made were not the best.

“My greatest hope is we’ll be able to negotiate a deal,” he continued. “If we can’t retain the company ourselves, then we’ll negotiate a deal where those who have an investment in the Co-op get it or a large percentage of it back. Right now, it’s at-risk. The only money not at-risk is what was purchased in Class-A stock; those investors will get their money.”

For the Winters, the lack of transparency in their Co-op feels particularly egregious: Norman’s grandfather, Niels Erastus Winters, and grand-uncle, John C. Winters, helped to found the organization in 1923. Marla and their daughters all, at one point, worked for the Co-op. For them, the Co-op feels personal. 

“There all these employees that were used, shareholders that were used, board members that were used and just doing what they’re told because they’re getting a pay check,” said Marla. “It’s wrong.”

In his February letter, Norman wrote, “The Co-op means something to its owners — it’s not just a job!” Later, he penned a rallying cry, “One person can make a difference, say something — do something! In union, there is strength. Work together! The board represent the owners, the manager works for the owners.”

It was a sentiment echoed in the letter submitted to the board by the 32 employees. They predicted that, without meaningful change in service to its members, the Co-op would fail.

They wrote: “In an area with so few quality employers, losing the Big Horn Co-op would be a devastating blow to not only the five counties in Wyoming in which they operate, but 170+ employee families, countless member and producer families and to every other patron that chooses us to spend their hard-earned income with.”

The next shareholder meeting for the Big Horn Co-op is reportedly set for Jan. 8, 2025, at noon at the Co-op headquarters in Greybull. 

At press time, calls concerning the shareholder meeting and other matters made to the Big Horn Co-op’s main office had not been returned, and neither Peter Kowalski, the board president, nor Chris Bullinger returned phone calls.