I recently met with communications and member services staff from co-ops throughout the state to conduct strategic planning for this magazine, to ensure that you — the readers — are getting the most value out of this publication.
In that conversation, a question came up that I never considered answering before: Why do Montana electric cooperative members receive Rural Montana?
For anyone who has grown up co-op in rural Montana, it may seem like an odd question. RM has always been there, in the mailbox, month after month for more than 70 years. It has become a reliable old friend, and a trustworthy resource.
But for those new to rural Montana and electric cooperatives, why do they receive this magazine is a very valid question.
The simple answer is to keep you informed. For almost every electric co-op member in Montana, your co-op newsletter is in the magazine. That’s where you find information about annual meetings, community service projects, rates and scholarships. Many co-ops even use the magazine for their official notices of their respective annual meetings.
We at the statewide office also use these pages to tell you important information, such as updates on policies or legislation, or to ask for your help in write-in campaigns to support or oppose legislation, and to celebrate co-op success stories.
Rural Montana has always been known for feature stories on people from co-op country, and in recent years we have taken pride in becoming a trusted news source as newspaper coverage in Montana (and the country) has shrunk. We were there for the christening of the USS Montana nuclear submarine in Norfolk, Virginia, and took pride in our Whole Dam Story series last year on the lower Snake River dams.
Though I think we can all agree our world is getting more digital by the day, cellphone data service and high-speed broadband Internet have still not reached all corners of the state. Our Readers Survey a couple of years ago showed that more than a quarter of electric cooperative members in the state still don’t have either cellphone data or high-speed Internet at home. So, for now at least, mail remains king when vital information needs to be sent in Montana.
Rural Montana is the most effective way for cooperatives to communicate important information with their members. Social media (follow us on Facebook and Instagram) and the Internet (have you seen our new RM webpage with easier to share digital stories at www.mtco-ops.com/rural-montana?) are also great resources and will become more utilized in the near future, but for now few things in Montana are as reliable as getting information through the mail.
And at less than the cost of a postage stamp (about 60 cents a copy), we believe it is also the most cost-effective way for your co-op to communicate with you each and every month.
That’s why you receive this publication each month, and we hope you are happy you do. As always, if you have suggestions for us, or for your co-op pages, contact me at ryanh@mtco-ops.com, by phone at 406-761-8333, or call your local co-op.