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Re: Prizes/Awards
>Dave worked out some costs - I notice that mailing tubes are mentioned -
you
>are suggesting that individual ribbons be placed into mailing tubes I
>assume? That would keep them from getting "folded, spindled or mutilated"
in
>the mail system. That sounds sensible to me.
You are correct, sir.
>If the ribbons are a "go", I think that "certificates" can be put to rest
>(i.e. forgotten).
I agree.
>I also assume that ribbons would be given to "Best of Show" (one or
more???)
>and "People's Choice" (again, would there be only ONE of these, or would we
>allow for "People's Choice" in each Category???)
Yup, I forgot about those. I'm taking notes here.
>Now, on "prizes" other than ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each
>Category - what are people's thoughts - one for "Best of Show", naturally,
>but should we try for one for each 1st place winner in each Category as
>well? I don't want this to get too out of line here - are we thinking of
>asking for ONE prize or SIXTEEN prizes? (again - I'm not thinking of
>anything other than a ribbon for "People's Choice").
I think if Eheim is going to give us a filter we can probably get some other
prizes, too. Like Erik suggested, we could try for certificates and books.
Books do not require a large amount of packing peanuts as they are
relatively ridgid and ship nicely, but they are potentially heavy. I
definitely don't think we should try to get any more than 16 prizes.
>I think that the shipping cost estimate given in the earlier post is
>woefully inadequate - safe shipping of merchandise will require LARGE boxes
>with LOTS of cushioning/packaging material. I just received ONE sixteen
>ounce bottle of a supplement from one of the major manufacturers (I'm a
beta
>tester for their new products). It was shipped in a box that had at least 6
>inches of styrofoam peanuts around all sides - the box was BIG, and cost
>them a LOT to send (they shipped it UPS, Special Delivery).
Aw shoot, I'll turn the other cheek here because of what you said about long
posts and not being absolutely, perfectly clear, albeit long-winded. The
shipping costs I came up with are based on domestic shipping of a 3 lb.
(that's US pound) package from and to anywhere within the United States via
2-day priority mail (which was all I was about to tackle since we have NO
idea where we need to ship ANYTHING to), and was calculated, to the US
penny, at the United States Postal Service (USPS) web site. I didn't just
make the numbers up. Plus I included a $50 "fudge factor" (maybe this
number is what you feel is inadequate). I don't think we should ship
ANYTHING by UPS, let alone "special delivery." The cost will be too great
and we will have to chuck the budget out the window. Also, define "a LOT."
If I seem defensive here it's because I took the time (not a lot of time,
but it was quality time :-) to go out and look this stuff up. I don't
really see anybody else doing the same. I'm not _that_ web-savy. All this
stuff is out at http://www.usps.gov for anyone to see. Their international
rate calculator is not working right now, but here are some numbers I did
find: (Note: 12 oz. is as heavy as the charts went without going to the
rate calculator.)
12 oz. letter/letter package to Canada - $2.79
12 oz. letter/letter package to Mexico - $4.86
12 oz. letter/letter package to ANYWHERE else (GB, El Salvador, you name
it) - $9.80
Note, these are AIR MAIL rates, which are the most expensive (but
significantly cheaper than a private delivery company such as UPS or FedEx).
I think you would have to be shipping a large quantity (or size) in order
for "slow boat" to be the way to go. (I'll define "significantly cheaper"
here: FedEx charges $32 for a 1 lb. package to go from Minneapolis, MN, USA
to London, ON, Canada (which was the first postal code I found (N5Z4Z7)).
United Parcel Service (UPS) charges $34.50 under the same conditions. This
stuff is available for anyone to see at http://www.fedex.com and
http://www.ups.com.)
To give you some comparison (although it's apples to oranges in this case),
the rate of a 3 lb. package shipped from one US location to any other US
location, via priority mail (2 day service with free boxes and packing
material) is $4.30.
As far as the "LARGE" box comment goes, in this case it doesn't matter as
long as the box is 108 inches or less in combined length and girth. Weight
is what they are mostly worried about and that has to be under 70 lbs.
Shouldn't be a problem.
I am thoughtful (note I that I didn't use the word "sorry" there :-) that my
post was US-centric, but, as you pointed out in commenting that you are
probably not the best person for the shipping job, we could be talking about
a number of packages which are being shipped from US locations to other US
locations. Maybe some to Europe, South and Central America, Asia,
Australia, and to Canada. However, if we feel that most packages will have
"foreign" (whatever that means) destinations, then it probably doesn't
really matter where we ship them from as it is bound to be more expensive.
I think that USPS is the way to go. They are reliable (at least within the
US, after that the country of destination would take over) and _definitely_
cheaper.
>(we've
>been over this before - someone came forward and volunteered their garage).
>When I do write the letters - do you think that I should be specifically
>requesting that they consider giving us "gift certificates" or "vouchers"
>which we can give to the winners and that the companies ship the items
>directly to the winners after the vouchers are returned to the company by
>the winners?????
I missed the part about someone volunteering their garage. That is good
news. This person is willing to take care of the shipping then, too? As
far as the gift-certificates and vouchers go, I vote yes, ask for them. I'm
not opposed to the winner paying the shipping if our prize is a voucher. In
other words, you just scored a free filter from Eheim (a $200 (???) value)
but you (the winner) have to pay the shipping. Boo-hoo. Yer gettin' a FREE
FILTER!
>Erik (or someone) said that it is not necessary to announce prizes up
>front - I need more convincing on this - please elaborate on your thoughts.
It was Erik, and I'm not speaking for him, but what I got out of the comment
is that he has been involved in contests before where they did not announce
the prizes up front. I take that as a comment based on experience.
>As for placing a "time limit" on when entries can be suggested - please
keep
>in mind that there is a 4 month delay between when a magazine gets a letter
>advising them of the event and asking for editorial support (like a mention
>in their "events" listing) and when that hits the streets. Our online push
>for entries can be going on during this four month period, but it is going
>to take a while to ge the web-site together and the prizes collected.
Good point. Is the acceptable window four months then? Five months? Some
time to get the prizes collected, yes. Four months to get a web site
together, I hope not. Either 4 or 5 months seems like too long of a window
to me. I think 8 to 10 weeks sounds more reasonable
>Nothing is going to be "pre-announced" until everything is in place - I
want
>this to look professional, not slap happy.
I totally agree with that.
Sincerely,
Dave VanderWall
Minneapolis, MN
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