I'd be curious to hear of your progress on this idea. Its not dumb, and it sounds similar to what co-ops do.

>I hope someone else does this so I don't have to.

This is a type of challenge I've been thinking of a lot. A "you have to dedicate your whole life to becoming X" challenge - I had the thought of doing something similar here in Canada with groceries. An obviously profitable business where the challenge is "how do you resist a sweetheart buyout" when the cartel comes knocking with cash...