Re: [AGA SC] T-Shirts--Payment via Check

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

Good thoughts all. I think it's moot at this point. The
votes are there for this thing to carry. However, just so
that things don't start seeming more difficult than they
are, I'd like to address some of the matters:

-GWAPA has not even said they are interested in AGA shirts.
I only know that Rick and I talked about Tshirts a few
times quite a while ago -- long before AGA's recent shirt
undertaking (or is that undershirttaking?). Sometimes he
was interested, sometimes not ready to think about it. They
certainly might prefer to focus their efforts on other
activities.

-I cannot see, and I don't think anyone wants, a delay in
registration for any reason. No garment is worth deferring
registrants, registrations are one the three critical
elements to making the convention work financially.

-Tracking AGA2K4 sales separately from AGA sales won't be
any harder than it was last year -- and it wasn't hard at
all. Tracking cash sales are the more common problem such
as proved to be the case for tracking one type of AGA2K3
sales from other AGA2K3 sales *at* the convention. But this
was only because the cashiers were not trained and records,
if kept, were often written on napkins and the like. [One
person said, "Here's a hundred dollars, I don't remember
what it's for but it's convention money so take it."]
That's not an issue with electronic transaction. With
electronic transactions and transfers of funds, there are
at least two sets of books, reconcilable, to ensure
accurate dispostion of funds between AGA2K3 and AGA. It's
always the cash that's problematic. Cash is the worst way
to conduct transactions. It's the easiest way to screw up.
We run through about $300 million at work and the problems
are in the petty cash funds. It takes more time and money
to track validate and track a $5 petty cash voucher than
$100,000 purchase of ammunition. I need 1.5 staffyears to
handle $50,000 in personal checks and only 3 staff years to
handle $50,000,000 in purchase orders. The audits, when
they find mistakes, find them in the checks and petty cash.

-I never expected Cheryl to be handling any AGA2K4 sales
except: 

at most making one shipment of shirts to GWAPA in time for
the convention and 

items would have had to be reserved as sales were made. I
figure one has to do that in any event to prevent selling
items one doesn't have. We do this with the other things we
sell, don't we? Please tell me we do!

-I thought that, if a product isn't available, it's not
available for sale. If it's sold out, it can't be sold.
Under no conditions would I contemplate that we sell stock
we did not have and then rush a new supply order to
compensate. I think that's an unforgivable merchandising
practice best left to the airlines, who have experience
doing things without proper regard for people. I wouldn't
dream of encroaching ;-) 

Okay. Hmmm. If yo got this far, yo probably think, that's
an awful lot of blah blah for a moot point. Ho well. The
luxury of discussing moot points :-)  .

But speaking of Tshirts, Cheryl, can you give me the name
and contact info for the shirt supplier and the printer?
I'll pass that along to GWAPA in case they want to use them
for GWAPA shirts or AGA2K4 shirts.

If they are interested, they might contact Karen on her
offer of possibly providing artwork. They'd be fools not
to, but that's not my call either ;-) .

Great that Ann has offered to help out on Welcome Bag prep.
Does Rick know about this yet?

sh
--- Cheryl Rogers <cheryl@wilstream.com> wrote:
> This *is sticky. While I don't have any *objection* per
> se to a package 
> deal, my understanding is that *if* GWAPA wants to do it,
> then they need 
> information on cost and so forth *now*. I don't have it
> now. I may not have 
> it for a few days. I don't think we want to tell GWAPA
> that they are now 
> waiting on us.
> 
> And I hate numbers, so I don't even want to think about
> how to keep 
> expenses/profits separate, especially with a package
> deal. Makes me want to 
> poke my head back into the sand and hope someone else
> will handle it.
> 
> AND ... if we are bundling it with the field trip ...
> wasn't it something 
> like 65% of convention-goers went on the field trip last
> year? Or maybe it 
> was 65 people. I think we'll be low(er) on t-shirts by
> then, and panicked 
> because we don't have certain sizes and end up spending
> more money on a 
> last-minute run of shirts because we told people we'd
> include a shirt in 
> their welcome bag.
> 
> Books don't come in sizes.
> 
> BTW, Ann has volunteered to help person an AGA Stuff
> Booth this year, if 
> GWAPA wants to sell t-shirts, pins, Diana's book, etc.
> 
> Cheryl


=====
S. Hieber
-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Aquascaping by Takashi Amano and more at
the AGA 2004 Annual Convention
Nov 12, 13 & 14; Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Aquatic Gardeners Association www.aquatic-gardeners.org

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