Regarding the BX, thank you Dell for all the time and effort you put into it. I love receiving those little packages and I consider the BX to be a major asset to this society. We should figure out a way to keep it alive and thriving. If nobody is interested and/or able to take over Dell’s work in its entirety, another option might be to distribute the process. It seems like the basic BX procedure is this (Dell, please add detail or corrections if this description is lacking): - - - - 1. Receive bulb/seed donations from members on an ongoing basis. 2. When a critical mass of bulb/seed donations have been received, make a list of the available donations and send it to the group as a BX offering. 3. Collect member responses to the BX offering. 4. Divide the bulbs/seeds from each donation among the members interested (bag and number each divided member-share appropriately). 5. Package up each member’s set of divided shares and mail the packages. - - - - It seems to me that distributing this work among two or more members could be done in a number of different way, e.g. Volunteer A: steps 1,2 (coordinator) Volunteer B: steps 3,4,5 (divider/packager) Volunteer A: 1,2,3 (coordinator) Volunteer B: 4,5 (divider/packager) Volunteer A: 1,2 (coordinator) Volunteer B: 3,4 (divider) Volunteer C: 5 (packager) ...there are obviously many more ways as well. Some additional considerations: If there were enough volunteers, it could make sense to have some steps performed in parallel by multiple volunteers at once (e.g. dividing and packing shares for shipment) or setting up rotations to alleviate the constant pressure. If we had geographically clustered volunteers, time and money could be saved by people meeting in person to divide/package shares. Going a little further out on the limb, if we had geographically-clustered *sets* of volunteers (e.g. Portland area, Bay Area, etc.), we could even consider having some kind of rotation set up where a given crew could meet in person to divide and package up the shares for some interval of time. But that is probably best viewed as a future “aspirational” goal rather than a starting point. Of course the drawback of this kind of system is the overhead associated with coordination and the additional costs associated with mailing more packages if the volunteers are distant enough geographically that meeting in person doesn’t make sense. But if there are only a few volunteers working at a time, the costs and overhead should be fairly low. For what it’s worth, I can’t commit to taking over the entire BX alone, but I’m certainly willing to participate in a system like what I’ve described here. And I live in the Seattle area. On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 4:38 PM Jo&Greg <sun-coast-pearl@telus.net> wrote: > Dell- > If you need help, there might be a seed savers group in your area. The > folks in our area are amazing ... they clean, sort and package soooo fast! > Many sees savers groups deal with all types of seeds, not only veggies. > Just an idea. > Jo-Ann Canning > > -----Original Message----- > From: pbs [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net] On Behalf Of > ds429 > Sent: Sunday, October 1, 2017 1:01 PM > To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > Subject: Re: [pbs] Bulbs > > Thanks again, Kipp. How about a robot who could sort and package bulbs and > shortlived seeds and then fill orders and prepare the parcels for shipping. > Those are the real time consumers for me. > > Dell > -------------------------------------------- > On Sun, 10/1/17, Kipp McMichael <kimcmich@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Subject: Re: [pbs] Bulbs > To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > Date: Sunday, October 1, 2017, 3:41 PM > > Greetings, > > > I've previously offered > to help in updating the tech side of the BX - but I think Dell, already > at the limit of his capacity for this enormous, ongoing effort, preferred > to keep things as they are. Here are a few ideas: > > > 1) I presume Dell keeps an > inventory document (such a spreadsheet). We could use this document to > populate an online ordering page where, rather than sending emails to > place orders, people could instead place their orders online. That system > could track inventory and automatically remove items that were spoken-for. > > > 2) The > online ordering system would intake shipping address info and, with > paypal support, could also process payments. In such a system, orders > would not go-out until they had been paid. This would eliminate the need > for Dell (or another) to track outstanding balances and copy/paste > shipping info from emails. Likewise, non-PBS-members would not be able to > submit orders at all. > > > 3) When completing an order, the ordering website could also provide > the shipping info as a printable address label. > > > As outlined above, I think this system could reduce the work of > supporting the BX/SX. > > * Those who ordered would be responsible for supplying their > correct, current shipping address. > * Payment through the ordering website would eliminate the need to > manage unpaid balances separately. > * Member verification at > ordering would eliminate the need to track membership status. > * Inventory would update > automatically as orders were made. Adding new donations/offerings would > still require manual work -but these would then appear automatically > without the need to draft new emails. > * Ordering through > the site could be turned on and off as needed (or we could move to a > continuous offering system) > > There would still be *plenty* of work left to do even with an ordering > website. But that work would be the unavoidable stuff like packing seeds > in envelopes and, when new donations arrive, deciding how many "lots" > of given offering will be added to the website. > > I would be happy to help > engineer a system like this. > > -|<ipp > > > ________________________________ > From: pbs <pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > on behalf of Jack and Val <vkmyrick@pacbell.net> > Sent: Sunday, October 1, 2017 11:51 AM > To: Pacific Bulb Society > Subject: Re: [pbs] Bulbs > > Dell, Robin and All, > > Dell does a very efficient and prompt job as far as I can tell from the > receiving end. He lets me know that my order has been received, for > example. That puts my mind at ease each time. Then the order is > received about a week later. I figure Dell has made the process as > streamlined as possible under his current operating conditions. > The only thing I could > guess that could be done to help is to have different responsible > parties do the seeds and bulbs. Dell may already be doing that. Dell, > are your helpers also PBS members? I think I’m the only one in my area > but am not sure. > > Thanks to Dell and all of you who make the PBS such a great > organization. You all put so much time and dedication into this group. > > Val > Sonora, CA , N. CA near > Yosemite > > > On Sep 30, 2017, at 1:50 PM, Hansen Nursery <robin@hansennursery.com> > wrote: > > > Dell, > > > > On just one BX you > send out 150 shares? And SXs are bigger than that? What an incredible > job! And I think you do this on average once a week year-round. You've > also been doing this for 14 years or more, if I'm correct? You have a > right to retire or step back. PBS Folks, I think it's time Dell had some > more and reliable help or at least allow him to retire.... > > > > May I > put forth a request for ideas on how to streamline this process to make > it less onerous? I'm sure this has been brought up for discussion before, > and it's time to get serious about this situation. Dell has done this > without pay as an incredibly generous donation of time and probably money, > too for a very long time. Please, folks, step forward and offer ideas, > help or whatever you can. We owe this to Dell in particular but to all > volunteers who keep this organization running. > > > > My best regards, > > > > Robin > > Hansen > Nursery > > robin@hansennursery.com > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > pbs Info Page - pbs -- Pacific Bulb > Society<http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…> > lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > Your email address: Your name (optional): You may enter a privacy > password below. 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