Membership terms and conditions

Adult Member: means any Member that is 13 years of age and above.

Dividend: means a share of the profits as decided by the Board of Directors from time to time, which shall (as required) be approved by the members at a general meeting of the Society. The definition of Dividend shall include any dividend bonus issued, at our discretion.

Membership Card: means your physical plastic card, key fob and digital membership card (including our membership app) which shall entitle a member to receive and spend Dividend on any qualifying purchase, along with any other membership benefit.

Qualifying Goods or Qualifying Services: means the goods or services you purchase from us that earn you Dividend.

Qualifying Period: means any period for the purpose of determining when a Dividend may be paid to a member.

Qualifying Purchase: means purchase of Qualifying Goods and/or Qualifying Services.

Society’s Rule Book: means the Society’s published Rule Book (as amended and updated from time to time), a copy of which is available here or on request from the Society’s Group Secretary & General Counsel.

Share Account means the account in which we hold your share in the Society.

‘Member’ You’ ‘Your’: means a person that is registered with us as a member, whose name registered to the account (and ‘Membership’ shall be construed accordingly).

‘We’ ‘Us’ ‘Our’, ‘Society’: means Lincolnshire Co-operative Limited, (a registered society with registration number IP00141R) having its registered office at 15-23, Tentercroft Street, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN5 7DB and it includes (as applicable) all of our subsidiaries.

You can apply to become a Member by;

(a) Downloading our Dividend Card App from an App Store

(b) By visiting our website www.lincolnshire.coop and completing a membership application form online;

(c) Visiting any of our outlets where our colleagues will be able to help you with registration;

Once approved by us, you will be issued with a Membership Card as soon as possible. Full Membership with associated rights (excluding the right to Dividend) takes effect on the day which is 180 days following the date of your registration.

Members must invest £1 in the Society. This £1 share will be taken from your first Dividend Bonus.

Anyone that;

(a) Commits to our values (which can be found at here);

(b) lives within our trading area (you can check your proximity to our trading area here) or anyone (not within our trading area) that satisfies the justification for an ‘out of area’ application for Membership;

(c) is 13 years of age or over;

(d) accepts to be bound by the Society’s Rule Book; and

(e) accepts to be bound by our Membership Terms and Conditions (as amended or updated from time time) and all other documents incorporated by reference.

When you apply to become a Member, we will process personal data to fulfil our contractual obligations to you. You automatically accept that we shall process your personal data which will include your full name, greeting name, date of birth, home address, email address, membership number, dividend transaction and details and how you would like us to contact you. Please note that we will process your personal information in line the UK data privacy legislation and our data privacy policy (which you can find here).

Once you have successfully registered as a Member, you will receive the Membership Card as soon as reasonably practicable. If you have registered for a digital Membership Card, you will be able to access the online version of your Membership Card.

Please note that there are certain Membership restrictions for Members under 18 years of age. These restrictions are set out below:

13 - 15 year olds

• Can collect and redeem dividend.
• Are eligible for dividend bonus, if approved.

16-17 year olds

• Can collect and redeem dividend.
• Are eligible for dividend bonus, if approved.
• Can vote at members' meetings & elections.*

18+

• Can collect and redeem dividend.
• Are eligible for dividend bonus, if approved.
• Can vote at members' meetings & elections.*
• Can stand for election to the Board of Directors.**

*Must have been a member for at least 6 months

** Further eligibility criteria applies.

Please note the following:

(a) We issue Membership Cards only to Members.

(b) You can only have one Membership account.

(c) Your Membership Card;

(i) can only be used by you and cannot be used by or on behalf of a club, charity, trust, sole trader, partnership, company or any other kind of business organisation.

(ii) is what enables your entitlement to any declared Dividend, your ability to exercise any rights conferred by the Society’s Rule Book, including to attend members’ meetings (subject to our Membership age restrictions).

(iii) can only be use and/or accessed by you and you cannot assign, transfer or delegate your rights or obligations to anyone else unless we give you permission to do that, in writing.

(iv) is not a gift card, cheque guarantee card, credit card, debit card or savings account card, it is purely for Membership purposes only.

(v) is non-transferable i.e., you cannot give your Membership Card to anyone, to earn Dividend or Dividend bonus or any form of member reward.

(d) Your Membership Card can only be used in our trading outlets, at Society events and shows.

(e) You acknowledge that it is your duty to inform us if any of your details change, so that your account can be updated.

(f) You are responsible for the safe keeping of your Membership Card and account information. We shall not in any circumstances, be responsible for any destruction, damage or loss you suffer as a result of losing or misplacing your Membership Card;

(g) We do not accept liability for any lost, stolen, misplaced or damaged cards including stolen Dividend/bonuses. If your card is lost, stolen or damaged, you must contact the Membership team on 01522 781 135 immediately. We will cancel your existing card and help you get a replacement card.

(h) Your Membership Card remains our property and we can decide to decline, withdraw, cancel, restrict, terminate or vary its terms and conditions or to refuse any application for membership at our sole discretion, without any liability from us to you.

(i) We reserve the right to withdraw, cancel, restrict, terminate or vary the terms and conditions of the Dividend scheme including any bonuses at any time.

Dividend is issued at a percentage, as published by the Society from time to time and is distributed to members in the amounts and in the manner determined by the Board of Directors (after taking into consideration, the society’s profits) or otherwise, and approved by participating, eligible members at a general meeting of the Society.

Your dividend can only be redeemed by presenting your Membership Card at point of payment for goods and services or payment into your Share Account by yourself or by us at any our members' help desks, or by calling the Membership Team on 01522 781 135 (lines are open Monday – Friday 08:30am – 5pm, excluding Bank Holidays).

Dividend earned or redeemed will be set out on the relevant transaction till receipt or can be viewed on your online account.

To earn Dividend, you must present your Membership Card at the point of payment (as full or part payment for any Qualifying Purchase) in any of our business premises stated below (we reserve the right to ask for your ID).

If you do not have your Membership Card at the point of purchase, you are able to claim the Dividend if you register the purchase via the receipt barcode number within 28 days from the date of the Qualifying Purchase. This can be done in-store or by accessing your account via our website.

If you return or cancel (as applicable) any Qualifying Purchase, we reserve the right to cancel, remove and/or amend any Dividend you have earned on the goods or services in question.

The percentage of Dividend earned in each transaction depends on which of our business outlets you are transacting with. Some purchases are excluded from earning Dividend. The percentages earned per transaction are as stated below, however please note that the percentage may be adjusted from time to time. They are currently fixed at;

(a) Food - 1% on all eligible purchases, 2% on Love Local products including Gadsby's bakery, fresh fruit and vegetables and Fairtrade products.

Certain items are excluded from dividend including cigarettes, tobacco, e-cigarettes, e-liquids, lottery tickets and scratchcards, saving stamps and PayPoint / PayStation transactions.

(b) Fuel - 1p for every 5 litres

(c) Travel - 1% (foreign Currency Exchange (Bureau de Change) is excluded).

(d) Funerals - 5%

(e) Florist - 1%

(f) Masonry - 2%

(g) Pharmacy - 2% (over the counter products and private prescriptions only)

(h) Podiatry - 2%

(i) Coffee shops - 2%

Once we have been informed in writing, by the family, next of kin, executors, personal representatives or attorney that a Member has died, our Membership Team will place the account on hold.

A next of kin, executor or personal representative may request the transfer of Dividend and Share Account balance upon production of a death certificate to the Membership team.

We may also require additional documents (e.g., Will, Letters of Administration and identification documents). We will use reasonable endeavours to transfer the balance once we are satisfied with the documents provided.

For all Membership related enquiries or complaints, please contact our Membership Team on 01522 781 135 (Mondays – Fridays, 8.30am -5pm excluding bank holidays) or send us a message using our form which is available here.

We aim to resolve any complaint as it is raised with us, usually within 3 working days from receiving it. If we are unable to resolve initially, we will investigate further.

Your complaint will be assigned to a member of the Membership Team who will contact you with further information within 10 working days. At this stage if you are unsatisfied, you can escalate your complaint to the Member Engagement Manager for review with the aim to reaching resolution within a further 10 working days.

You can cancel your Membership at any time by telling us. We can terminate or withdraw your Membership at any time if;

(a) You breach these Membership Terms and Conditions.

(b) Your account becomes inactive for a continuous period of 36 months. Your account will be considered inactive when the following criteria is met:

(i) You have not attended our Annual Members’ Meeting or Half Yearly Members’ Meeting or

(ii) You have not made any purchase of goods and services using your Membership Card or

(iii) You have not signed into your online Membership Account.

Once you or we terminate your Membership for any reason contemplated under these Membership Terms and Conditions, we will immediately:

(a) Cancel your Membership and remove your name from our member register and

(b) Cancel any Dividend you have earned from the date of the termination of your Membership.

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

These Membership Terms and Conditions are between you and us. Nobody else can enforce them.

These Membership Terms and Conditions including non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. Each party irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with these Membership Terms and Conditions.