Thank you. Well said. Tom > On Oct 8, 2019, at 2:00 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 > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…