BX possibilities (was Re: Bulbs)
ds429 (Tue, 03 Oct 2017 12:49:44 PDT)

Cody wrote:

"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."

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. And the SX works much the same way, except that my helper Karl Church does the task of packeting the seeds.
I plan to spend my last several months "in office" focusing on operating the exchanges (not on deciding the future of the BX/SX).  After Dec 31, I will no longer be involved in the operation except  for sharing my experience with whoever takes over.
Thank you all who have offered help and suggestions. Please discuss the future of the exchanges with the PBS board and among yourselves via this forum.and ask me questions if you need to.

Best wishes,
Dell

--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 10/3/17, Cody H <plantboy@gmail.com> wrote:

Subject: [pbs] BX possibilities (was Re: Bulbs)
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2017, 11:59 AM

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:

savers group in your area. The

our area are amazing ... they clean, sort and package soooo
fast!

all types of seeds, not only veggies.

Just an idea.

Message-----

On Behalf Of

Sent: Sunday, October 1, 2017 1:01 PM

To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>

How about a robot who could sort and package bulbs and

prepare the parcels for shipping.

are the real time consumers for me.

--------------------------------------------

wrote:

Re: [pbs] Bulbs

Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>

PM

BX - but I think  Dell, already

limit of his capacity for this  enormous, ongoing effort,
preferred

Here are a few ideas:

Dell keeps an

(such a spreadsheet). We could use this  document to

rather  than sending emails to

orders, people could instead  place their orders online.
That system

automatically remove items that were spoken-for.

ordering system would intake shipping address info  and,
with

payments. In  such a system, orders

would not go-out until they had been  paid. This would
eliminate the need

another) to  track outstanding balances and copy/paste

non-PBS-members would not be able to

submit orders at all.

completing an order, the ordering  website could also
provide

printable  address label.

I think this system could  reduce the work of

ordered would be responsible  for supplying their

website  would eliminate the need to

manage unpaid balances  separately.

*   Member verification at

ordering would eliminate the need to track membership 
status.

update

made. Adding new  donations/offerings would

would then appear automatically

the need to  draft new emails.

*   Ordering through

be turned on and off as needed (or we could  move to a

be *plenty* of work left to  do even with an ordering

unavoidable stuff like packing seeds

envelopes and, when  new donations arrive, deciding how
many "lots"

offering will be added to the website.

help

AM

All,

very efficient and prompt job as  far as I can tell from
the

that my order has been received, for

example.  That puts  my mind at ease each time.  Then the
order is

I figure Dell has made the  process as

streamlined as possible under his current  operating
conditions.

have different  responsible

the seeds and bulbs.  Dell may  already be doing that. 
Dell,

members?  I think I’m the only one in my  area

the PBS  such a great

You all put so much time and  dedication into this
group.

1:50 PM, Hansen Nursery  <robin@hansennursery.com>

bigger than that?  What  an incredible

once  a week year-round.  You've

also been doing this for 14  years or more, if I'm
correct?  You have a

or step back.  PBS Folks, I think it's time Dell  had
some

allow him to  retire....

forth a request for ideas on how to streamline this 
process to make

I'm sure this has  been brought up for discussion
before,

serious about this situation.  Dell has done this

donation of time and  probably money,

too for a very long time.  Please, folks,  step forward
and offer ideas,

can.  We  owe this to Dell in particular but to all

running.

Hansen

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