Students to Receive 5.5 % Rebate From Coop Today

The Harvard Cooperative Society, blaming a fall in sales, officially announced this week that this year's rebate to members would drop to a 14-year low of 5.5 percent, continuing a trend of steadily decreasing returns.

Thomas A. Wagner, who is the chief accounting officer at the Coop, attributed the 2.7 percent drop in sales to the "overall economic climate in the Boston area and all over the Northeast that is affecting retailing."

But Wagner said the Coop's board was doing everything in its power to keep members' rebates high. The board has the right to retain a percentage of the profits generated from sales to members, but it has declined to do so in the past few years, he said.

And Wagner added that the Coop's cash flow was not being diverted to any major renovations or expansions.

Although some students have expressed disappointment that the Coop does not state its rebate at the beginning of each fiscal year, Wagner said that informing students of the rebate percentage earlier "can't be done," because the Coop's management cannot accurately predict the coming year's profits.

This year's rebate percentage represents a drop of 1.5 points from last year's rate of 7 percent.

The rebate checks from last year's business will be available starting today.