Re: [AGA-sc] FW: Mr. Amano's workshop

["Karen Randall" <krandall@rdrcpa.biz>]

How 'bout this as a response (not that I don't agree with you completely,
Erik, but I think we need to word it a little more "politically correctly"
<g>:

Dear Yoshinori,

Can you tell us what your costs are on the equipment?  We have no idea what
equipment you have sent, your costs, or even the retail value.  The
convention itself is tapped out financially due to the bad economy.  The AGA
will end up losing quite a bit of money on it, and although we still feel it
is the right thing to do for our members, we also need to hold that loss
down as much as possible.  We were very fortunate that Florida Aquatic
Nurseries was willing to donate the extensive list of plants that Mr. Amano
requested, Jeff Senske was kind enough to have your equipment included in a
container he was already shipping to Houston to save that cost, and we are
paying another $500 to have the equipment shipped the rest of the way to
Atlanta.  

There are two possibilities that the AGA Board has proposed.  First, you are
welcome to run the equipment through the auction on Sunday.  We would be
happy to waive the normal 30% split to AGA, so that you can recoup as much
as possible.  Be aware, however that, historically, large items
(particularly fragile aquariums) tend not to go for anywhere near retail in
our auctions, largely because people have no easy way to get them home.
(most people fly to the conventions)  The second option would be, if you
gave us an amount that you would like to get for the equipment, we could
offer it ahead of time to the list of registered attendees via e-mail.  This
way, if someone was interested in buying the entire set-up, they would have
time to pre-arrange a way to get it home.  If you would like to try this
second option, we could certainly see what the interest is, and then you
could still go with the auction if there was no buyer for the entire set-up.


Please let me know which possibility sounds better to you.  We appreciate
your and Mr. Amano's efforts on behalf of AGA and the planted aquarium hobby
world-wide, and look forward to seeing you in less than two weeks!

Best regards,

Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: aga-sc-bounces@thekrib.com [mailto:aga-sc-bounces@thekrib.com] On
Behalf Of Erik Olson
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:55 AM
To: Aquatic Gardeners Association Board
Subject: Re: [AGA-sc] FW: Mr. Amano's workshop

From: ADA [mailto:ada@adana.co.jp]

> Do you know how many people will attend this year's convention?

Estimate 125 people.

> availability was limited, and it was a bit stressful experience for us 
> to use other manufacturer's substrate, aquarium tanks, and lighting
equipment for Mr. Amano's workshop.

In 2004, it was more than a bit stressful for all the ground crew to deal
with all of his official ADA parephenalia, some of which was damaged in
shipping, I recall.

> We would like to find a sponsor or buyer for these workshop equipment 
> during the AGA convention, so that we do not have to ship them back to 
> Houston or Japan.

They need to know that we are plumb tapped out of sponsors.  They need to
know that the convention is already losing money in this down economy.

> Or if possible, we would like to bring these items separately on Sunday
auction.

This would be acceptable, obviously.  I think we could even waive the usual
split and make it a passthrough item.

> We do not have to make a profit out of this, but we would like to cover at
least the minimum costs, and transport fees.

I don't think we can guarantee this, especially in the auction.  How much
are they talking?  If it cost ~500 to ship from Houston, you can bet it's
costing even more to get it from Japan.


I mean, come on, who are they kidding at this point?  What parts of this are
really needed?  OK, I'll give that the substrate and tools can make a
difference.  I'll even give them the tank.  But the stands, the cabinetry,
the lights... no way.

Maybe what you can do is suggest that the AGA will guarantee no more than X
(approximately $500 that we're planning on paying to get the goods from
Houston).  This can be applied to shipping EVERYTHING from Houston, or could
be applied to shipping HALF THE CRAP to and from Houston.  We can also put
things in the auction or sell flat rate (remember my idea from a few months
back about micro-sponsors?).

Luis was here in Seattle last spring, and being the aquatic plant gossip
king that he is, implied something about Amano getting "kinda weird" in the
last year or so, perhaps ADA not making so much money, not sure.

   - Erik



--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com


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