As a simple example, let’s consider the following events:

1. On Monday, April 29, 2024, Alfred starts the coop and he is all in, working a full-time 40-hours every week. Every week, Alfred earns 5 tenure points.
2. On Monday, July 29, 2024, Betty joins Alfred, working a full-time 40 hours every week. Starting from then, both Alfred and Betty are earning 5 tenure points every week.
3. On Monday, December 30, 2024, Caitlin joins them both, also managing a full-time 40 hours every week. Starting with the end of that week, all three of them are earning 5 tenure points every week.

Before Betty joined, it didn’t matter how much Alfred earned; any surplus distributed would be allocated entirely to him.

However, the week after Betty starts, Betty begins to accumulate patronage:

By the end of Q3, Betty has worked for 2 full months and Alfred has worked for 5, and the allocation of patronage reflects this split:

At the end of the year, Caitlin joins, but does not work a full week before the end of year calculations are made.

Assuming no further team members are added, by the end of the following year, even though all three worked full-time for the entire year, Alfred has slightly more patronage due to having started earning tenure earlier.

However, by the end of the year after that, all the tenure has reached its maximum contribution to patronage; as a result, the patronage shares have stabilized with all three members earning an equal share.

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