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. This provides only mild security, but should prevent others from messing with ... _______________________________________________ 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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