Addressing PBS BX concerns

Pamela Dunlap pamdunlap611@gmail.com
Tue, 08 Oct 2019 17:30:12 PDT
Thank you for addressing this.

Pam Dunlap
> On Oct 8, 2019, at 12:00 PM, Nhu Nguyen <xerantheum@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear members of the PBS,
> 
> As President of the Society, I will address the concerns that some of our
> members have, and it is my hope that they can be laid to rest.
> 
> A message came this morning with concerns about our current BX and its
> Director, and although it was not meant to be sent to everyone, it
> accidentally was. We have all been there, including myself, and these
> messages can cause some stir. What the message said, in some ways reflect
> certain concerns from our overall membership, so I will take the time to
> address them here.
> 
> The message mentioned that I was not very concern with the overall
> situation - and while it may seem so, I have worked with Al to address each
> and everyone of them behind the scene. The reason that I appear to be
> unconcerned is that I have determined that these situations do not withhold
> criticism. There were two cases: The package to the Chinese non-member was
> simply a miscommunication of whether he was a paid member or not. We call
> both of our paid and unpaid members "members" so it can get confusing,
> especially if English was not your first language. The second case of Al
> sending a package to a person (who is not a friend) is a project that could
> help the PBS get more material to offer to the membership. I see this as
> within the responsibility of a forward-looking BX Director -- to find ways
> to improve the offerings. It is a project within the power of a Director to
> perform.
> 
> As to the claim of BX items being offered on eBay, it is an unsubstantiated
> rumor. Al takes this conflict of interest very seriously and has tried very
> hard to not list anything that might overlap with a BX offering. The
> history of his listings shows that he rarely lists anything so this
> conflict of interest can be mitigated. I would have very much preferred
> that the person who went to the trouble of looking up Al's eBay account,
> making a claim that he sold a BX item, contacted me directly. I would have
> told them that Al has a fantastic collection of rare amaryllids and chances
> are that he is selling is own material, some of which I don't even have in
> my own collection. Folks, please make sure to carefully assess your claim
> before making any accusations that might negatively affect someone and/or
> your own society.
> 
> The concerns that the BX is slower than the monthly offerings that used to
> happen is real. Gone are the days of the superhuman Dell Sherk, who with
> his over a decade of running the BX, and what appeared to be limitless time
> providing this valuable service. Being a BX director is equivalent to
> running a small business. You send out a list, receive dozens to hundred of
> emails requesting items, sort out those emails, check to see if they're
> paid members, fill the orders, pack the items, add a slip for payment,
> record the invoice, and mail the packages, and not to mention answering
> emails from members -- this can take 20-30 hours a week. And, you are doing
> this while you have a full time job, take care of family obligations, and
> trying to live. This is the reason why when I asked for volunteers to
> become the next BX Director, almost no one came forward who is willing to
> handle these responsibilities. Al was generous enough to volunteer and it
> is a heavy responsibility.
> 
> How do we move forward and solve these issues? I have worked with Al to
> streamline the BX ordering process. You will see it in the next offering.
> This electronic process will bypass many of the steps taken by a human to
> process a BX order and will alleviate much of the Director's time, allowing
> for more efficient processing of the orders. The Board of Directors are
> coming up with ways to spread the workload so that it doesn't have to
> depend on one volunteer. This is especially true if that volunteer has a
> busy time, heavy situation at home, or simply sick. We hope that this will
> speed up some of the process and provide a better service to our membership.
> 
> And lastly, please remember that the people running the PBS are volunteers.
> We often devote a good part of our lives because we love the bulbs, to grow
> them, appreciate them, and share them. That is why we do what we do. When
> undesirable issues arrive, it is every member's responsibility to seek the
> truth, help solve the problem, and provide an understanding that we do this
> for you because we want to, not because we have to.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Nhu Nguyen
> PBS President
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