May K-Factor

pbrine at uoguelph.ca pbrine at uoguelph.ca
Tue Jun 29 17:53:50 AKDT 2004 

Derek:

You missed my point: I STILL DON'T HAVE APRIL YET, NEVERMIND MAY AND IT'S NOW 
THE END OF JUNE.

Membership numbers were as published in the February issue.

As you noted the major product NSRCA has to attract new members and hold 
existing members is the K-Factor.  Without this magazine on a timely basis the 
problem will get worse.  I expect it will get harder to sell advertising as 
well. If I were an advertizer I would not want to spend money to advertise in a 
publication that is a month or more late.

with regards to the mailing cost. Unfortunately I didn't keep any envelops from 
the direct mailing days.  I don't recall seeing the postage being more than 
about $1.25.

Currently NSRCA is spending about $0.65US plus whatever shipping to Canada is 
costing to mail the Canadian issues.

An eversion is not an option due to download time on dailup.  Not everyone has 
highspeed.

As far as saving money by going electronic goes my experience is that the most 
of the cost of printing a publication is in the setup.  Changing the number of 
copies unless the change is very large does not change the total cost 
significantly.  As an example for a recent small print run at work changing 
number of copies from 200 to 500 only changed the total cost by about $200.  
Most of the cost is in the set up.
 
Paul
Quoting Derek Koopowitz <derekkoopowitz at earthlink.net>:

> Paul,
> 
> I live in California and got my May issue last week... And I'm the editor of
> the K-Factor.  What is up with the postal service in this place?  You'd
> think that as the editor I'd get special attention from the USPS but I
> don't.  Darn.  :)
> 
> Here's the problem with your suggestion... And I'm now wearing the hat of
> the NSRCA Treasurer.  Mailing the K-Factor to our Canadian friends 1st class
> would be prohibitively expensive for us.  Back in 2001 bulk mailing rates
> were $1.25 per issue to Canada and 1st class was $2.40 - now it costs us
> more than that per issue, unfortunately.  BTW, we have 25 Canadian members
> now and dues is $40 per member... If you figure that mailing the K-Factor
> 1st class is going to cost us at least $2.50 per issue (I'm not sure of the
> exact cost) then 12 issues times $2.50 is $30 per year.  That doesn't give
> us much room to actually use the remaining $10 to include production of the
> K-Factor into the mix.
> 
> Now, if advertisers paid for the bulk of the K-Factor then I would have no
> problem mailing it out 1st class to everyone - but they don't.  Currently
> the NSRCA operates at a loss - period - this year we are projected to lose
> $5400.  Our budget alone for the K-Factor is $39,600 which includes
> production, setup and postage - our projected advertising income is only
> $20,000 and last year we only brought in $14,939 in advertising income.  So
> you can see a HUGE difference - the bulk of the dues income goes toward the
> K-Factor production.
> 
> If anyone has some good ideas to speed delivery and/or increase advertising
> income - I'm all ears.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On
> Behalf Of Paul Brine
> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 7:56 AM
> To: discussion at nsrca.org
> Subject: Re: May K-Factor
> 
> John:
> 
> Still nothing here yet as of June 27th.
> 
> May I make a suggestion.  Go back to what works.  First class mail in an
> envelop.  For the 15 or so Canadian members the cost would be mininal and
> may help to prevent further membership erosion.  As I recall back in
> 1999-2000 there were about 50 Canadian members.
> 
> When I first joined NSRCA in 1999 Canadian (and other international members
> too?) received their issues via first class mail in an envelop.  Based on
> postmark delivery was 1-2 weeks.
> 
> Dues presumably reflected the cost.  As I recall it was even advertised on
> the membership application form.
> 
> K-factor goes on vaction - enter new publisher.
> 
> With the new publisher we still got the K-Factor via first class mail in an
> envelop with a delivery time of 1-2 weeks.  At some point in the relay
> mailing was started, still in an envelop.  This added another 2-3 weeks to
> the delivery time.  With this the K-Factor now arrives the month following
> the issue date.
> 
> Enter another new publisher (yourself)
> 
> Relay mailing is still in place.  Issue is no longer in an envelop.  Issues
> are now an average of a month and a half late or more.
> 
> I know the K-Factor is now available on-line.  However, I am still on
> dial-up and downloading is not an option.  I am also not inclined to burn
> off ink-jet cartridges to print it out.
> 
> All of these changes happened without any published announcement from NSRCA
> about them.
> 
> It gets harder and harder to justify membership and promote NSRCA when the
> major benefit for the non-US based members is the magazine and it gets later
> and later.
> 
> You can imagine the conversation.
> 
> "You get this really good monthly magazine about pattern"
> 
> "Can I see the latest issue"
> 
> "Well, all I have is March"
> 
> "But this is the end of June ...."
> 
> Paul
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Avery <javery at nxs.net>
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 3:26 PM
> Subject: RE: May K-Factor
> 
> 
> > The reason for the Canadian delay is most likely due to the change in 
> > mailing times. Earlier this week the new postal system in my local 
> > post office (new and different computer system) gave me an estimated 
> > 5-10 weeks (that is not a typo) for the issue I mail to get to the 
> > Canadian person who remails them direct. For the May issue I had to 
> > airmail the Canadian to avoid that delay. I suspect the US Post Office 
> > has undergone some delivery time changes with their pricing structure, 
> > for the Canadian used to be 10 to 12 days....not weeks.
> >
> > As I said in an earlier email, they may have changed the bulk delivery 
> > schedule as well. I could possibly change that to a quicker cycle as 
> > well with some work and some luck. I would have to get the K Factor 
> > approved by the post office as a monthly magazine or periodical to get 
> > the better rates and faster delivery times.
> >
> > I will talk to the NSRCA board after getting price estimates for 
> > mailing the issues direct versus mailing them bulk. Then the board can 
> > decide what route to take.
> >
> > John Avery
> > Avery Publishing
> > PO Box 282
> > Vonore TN 37885
> > 1-865-856-0480
> > www.averypublishing.com
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: discussion-request at nsrca.org 
> > [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]
> > On Behalf Of pbrine at uoguelph.ca
> > Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 1:21 PM
> > To: discussion at nsrca.org
> > Subject: Re: May K-Factor
> >
> > You're still part of the the USA.  You only have to deal with USPS.
> >
> > We have the "priviledge" of having our KFactor shipped in bulk to 
> > someone here who then remails them individually through Canada Post.
> >
> > Way back when we had them mailed directly to us it used to take a week 
> > or so to get here based on the postmarks.  The new and improved method 
> > adds 2-3 weeks or more to the process.  This is measuring by the posts 
> > on the mailing list.
> >
> > As I said April is still early by recent standards as it's not the mid 
> > of June yet.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > Quoting Michael Laggis <fishgod at pobox.mtaonline.net>:
> >
> > > Got mine in Alaska.
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Michael Laggis
> > > AKA Moose Boy
> > > NSRCA 3618
> > > http://www.alaskarc.org
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: <pbrine at uoguelph.ca>
> > > To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> > > Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 4:48 AM
> > > Subject: Re: May K-Factor
> > >
> > >
> > > > Has anyone north of the border gotten April yet?
> > > >
> > > > Only a little over a month late.  That makes it still early.
> > > >
> > > > Not everyone is in a position to download the issues.
> > > >
> > > > Paul
> > > >
> > > > Quoting Ed Hartley <roho2 at rcpattern.com>:
> > > >
> > > > > Is now on line.
> > > > >
> > > > > Ed H.
> > > > > =====================================
> > > > > # To be removed from this list, go to
> > > http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> > > > > and follow the instructions.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > =====================================
> > > > # To be removed from this list, go to
> > http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> > > > and follow the instructions.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > =====================================
> > > # To be removed from this list, go to
> > http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> > > and follow the instructions.
> > >
> >
> >
> > =====================================
> > # To be removed from this list, go to
> > http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> > and follow the instructions.
> >
> >
> > =====================================
> > # To be removed from this list, go to 
> > http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> > and follow the instructions.
> 
> 
> =====================================
> # To be removed from this list, go to http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> and follow the instructions.
> 
> 
> 
> =====================================
> # To be removed from this list, go to http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
> and follow the instructions.
> 


=====================================
# To be removed from this list, go to http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
and follow the instructions.

More information about the NSRCA-discussion mailing list