What does cooping mean?

A co-operative business is one which is primarily owned by the people who use it. If the business is profitable, the profit is turned back into the hands of the people who use the business's services.

For example, if I am a member of a co-operative grocery store and buy $6000 worth of groceries there per annum, at the end of the year, the business may make enough profit to return 1 cent for every dollar I spent there, so I get a $60 cheque. My neighbour with the large family who spent three times as much there would get a $180 cheque.