[GSAS-board] Auctopsy

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

                2008    2007    2006    2005    2004    2003    2002    2001    
 2000

lots            329     397     260     408     317     336     322     289     
310 (411)
bidders         58      60      41      63      55      49      71      54      
57


gross           2472    2954    $1925   $3604   $2729   $2148   $2517   $2923   
 $2485
-splits          952    925     $628     $881    $834    $611    $486    $869   
 $672
net             1520*   2029    $1297   $2723   $1537   $2031   $2054   $1754

*The $1520 does not reflect $40 in passthrough payment back to Susan for 
1.5 bags of Turface sold, and at least one membership.

So the net is fairly low for a general auction compared to previous years, 
2nd lowest in 9 years (the worst being 2006).  However the gross was right 
in the middle range.  This is because most of the items were splits rather 
than donations, a trend that has generally been followed over the last 
decade.  More club members are using the auctions to sell off their stuff, 
while we're getting less donations from stores and manufacturers.  Some of 
this is no doubt the way we're selling the manufacturer donations; rather 
than holding out for a dollar per bottle of Jungle crap, we're getting it 
out of the way for very little money, but saving the auctioneers, runners 
and bidders a lot of hassle in the meantime, for, at most, an extra $100 
lost.  No big deal.  But I would advise checking the budget carefully for 
next year to make sure it's all OK.

As for the running of the auction... boy that was smooth.  No stress, no 
technical glitches.  To that end, thanks to Tony for bringing in the laser 
printer.  Markus and I showed up just before 10, and we were all ready to 
go even by 11:30.  Late check-ins were deftly redirected to fill out their 
own pink slips, instead of the "old" system that interrupted the computer 
ops for 15 minutes.  Even Woody, 2 hours late with his 20 bags of fish, 
was no problem.

Kyleah was a rock on the computer, as was Phil's spouse during the 2nd 
half.  Runners mostly were perfect, especially Merrie Jo, the "Multi-item 
Runner Queen".  Though we did have some issues with one of our younger 
runners consistently forgetting to write some information, we were able 
quickly and briefly able to interrupt the auctioneer and obtain the info. 
We did not have any real incidents of people checking out before their 
last bids were recorded this time (Mary Mosher was the only one, and her 
$4 item is kinda cancelled out by Linda Knapp, who donated her last item 
that sold after she left).

There are no split checks that need to be mailed -- all was handled at the 
auction.

Good work folks!

   - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
_______________________________________________
GSAS-board mailing list
GSAS-board@thekrib.com
http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-board