Considering how much time it takes just to do the small piece I'm doing, I can't imagine how Dell did everything for so long by himself and still managed to do anything else, like eat and sleep. I had some idea what I was getting into, since my wife and I package seeds for another well-known exchange each year in the fall, but the amount of manual work involved for each SX still surprises me. And, as I say, I just have one little piece of it. Karl Church packages the seeds, and Dell still handles intake himself, along with all of the BX. We all owe Dell a huge thanks - I have a lot of uncommon things growing in the greenhouse from all of the BXes and SXes he handled by himself over the years, and it cost me very little. When I suggested that I continue to offer seed still available from previous SXes, Dell was kind enough to give me some rope, so I'm glad that you like it, Mary Sue, I hope others do too. It is some additional work, but I'm convinced it's better for several reasons - seed viability, getting it into the hands of growers sooner, etc. Please, everyone, get some of those half-price SX1 seeds and help us keep the inventory under control! I realize that Dell would reply to each requester individually, but I'm not doing that. I'm being lazy, not rude, or at least rudeness isn't my intent. I'm trying to automate as much of this as I can. I have processes that automatically collect all of the replies (at least all of the replies that follow the instructions and include SX4 or whichever in the subject line, and don't send it to the whole list!) for me. But I don't have a good way to automatically send an acknowledgement when I do that, and I'm just not going to take the time to send all of those replies manually, especially since I usually don't see or read the emails until I start moving the data into a spreadsheet, which may be several days later. I hope that doesn't worry anyone too much. If it does, I'd suggest that you use the "return receipt" and/or "delivery status notification" function of your mail program when you send me your request; that's why those options exist. At Dell's urging, I sent the list out for SX4 even before the seeds had been packaged and shipped to me, which has the advantage of allowing me to leave the SX open longer and still start fulfilling orders as soon as the seeds arrive here. I was vaguely uneasy about that at the time, but as long as Karl doesn't feel pressured by it, I think it's a good thing. I'll put in a plea here - I'm still getting requests from people who aren't including their shipping addresses - got another one yesterday. Please, even if you've sent your address before, take a few seconds and include it again, because I don't have your old email handy. The exception is members from outside the U.S. - if you are sure your address hasn't changed since you got the last BX or SX package, then it's stored in the Click-and-Ship database. Steve On 10/29/2015 8:08 PM, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > I really appreciate that Steve is slow to close the SX and that he > continues to list old seed still available when he posts a new list > instead of waiting for an end of the year sale. I know that has to be > more work for him, having all that seed on hand, but it means an > opportunity to plant seeds closer to the right time and if you missed > one seed exchange you may still be in luck and find seeds from the > previous offering. > > It must be very hard for Dell with so many people wanting the limited > supply of bulbs that he receives. I'm amazed he is still willing to be > in charge. By my record he started volunteering to do this job in 1999 > for IBS. I doubt there has ever been anyone in charge of seed/bulb > exchanges for so many years. > > Mary Sue > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ On 10/29/2015 8:08 PM, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > I really appreciate that Steve is slow to close the SX and that he > continues to list old seed still available when he posts a new list > instead of waiting for an end of the year sale. I know that has to be > more work for him, having all that seed on hand, but it means an > opportunity to plant seeds closer to the right time and if you missed > one seed exchange you may still be in luck and find seeds from the > previous offering. > > It must be very hard for Dell with so many people wanting the limited > supply of bulbs that he receives. I'm amazed he is still willing to be > in charge. By my record he started volunteering to do this job in 1999 > for IBS. I doubt there has ever been anyone in charge of seed/bulb > exchanges for so many years. > > Mary Sue > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/