October Miles and Minutes

[Gary Hearn]

I was curious as to whether anyone has received their October copy of Miles and Minutes? I see that the electronic version is up, but I never received one in the mail.

[Gary Hearn]

Speaking of the electronic version, what ever happened to Danny Ennis? I have not seen him in at least 2 years.

[Manuel Alvarez Jr.]

Gary, Danny Ennis came to one of the track meets, but only to let his grandson run the 200 meters, then he left. He still looks to be in great shape.

[Ed Carmines]

Its not a little more. We pay about $.20 each using our non-profit standard mail rate. First Class mail would be $1.39. We mail about 750/month which would cost us an additional $892.50/month. To raise that kind of money we would need to do two more contract races a month. We could raise the dues. Think of it this way, our dues are only $15/month or $1.25/month. We would need to double the dues just to cover the increase in mailing costs.

[Kevin]

Mailing the newsletter has had unacceptable delays for years. Even when it was less pages and Ruth Delaney took care of it and then when I took it over, we had USPS delays. But I don't understand.
I am editor for a 24 page newsletter for a non-profit. I bring it (435 pieces)to the post office where we have our non-profit permit (Chesterfield) and it arrives in "one day" to all Richmond area members and "two to three days" to Northern VA, and Tidewater and out of state.
I also remember that the postal employees where I used to bring the Miles & Minutes were a bit difficult to work with, while it's just the opposite for the newsletter I do now.
Maybe the club needs to have a "business" meeting with the Postmaster where we mail it to explore solutions.

[Manuel Alvarez Jr.]

Maybe it has to do with the non profit's mission. Or maybe they don't like us runners trying to beat them from mailbox to mailbox. It's nearly impossible to do out here in Goochland. :-)

[Run Happy]

Ed;

Considering the amount of cash the club is sitting on, and the revenue generated by the bigger races (Carytown, Patrick Henry, Capital 10), I would think the club could afford the additional costs. Yes, the club needs a new truck (some day), but the new truck will not deplete 100% of the current cash balance.

Run Happy

[Ed Carmines]

Currently, the club spends about $40,000 per year on the newsletter. Sending it first class would add another $10,000. That's for the 750 members who want a print copy. This works out to the club spending about $66/year per member when they are paying dues of $15 (a great deal!). If anything we should consider going to all electronic and just reducing the cost of races for all members. We will be discussing next year's budget at the November meeting. This would be a good time to bring it up.

[Maymont Amy]

I think we should probably stop printing and mailing newsletters to members. Instead an email could go out with a link to the electronic version. I believe there is some thought that there should be some copies printed for purposes of setting them around at expos, etc., to attract new members. I don't know how important that is, but I would eliminate hard copies for members.
Another way to do this is to have members be able to "opt in" to hard copy newsletters at an additional cost. The board could even consider "premium" memberships that cost a good bit more and got some extra benefits, such as newsletters (first class) and maybe some other things. I would have that level membership be self-supporting, though, and include some extra money that could be tax deductible.

[dog]

Assumes all members have internet access?

Premium members/self supporting? Seem a bit complicated?

Tax deductible - no idea what this would be?

[dog]

Pony Express finally came through yesterday, 11/4, with Oct newsletter. As I posted previously, maybe the newsletter to be issued in Nov be made Dec, and so forth, just as most magazines. Their month's subscription issue usually arrives in the prior month in my experience. Would not speed up the delivery but maybe would feel more current.

Also noted the race schedule on p. 14 did not include the RRRC No Frills. And of course the October events had already occurred when I received, one main article reporting on an Oct. race.

Just some thoughts from the hinderland.

[Pete]

Several thoughts here:
The website is the place to find real time information and to keep updated on races, etc.
All the race information is available on the web site before it is published in the newsletter and always will be.
By its nature, the newsletter is historical information and some of it will be “late” when it is received in the mail. This is not a problem.
The editor is working on getting and keeping the newsletter on a regular and timely schedule. It is available online once it is published and is available to all members at that time. For those of us who like the paper copy, and there are plenty of us, it still comes in the mail, and we can sit down and read it then. I doubt if there are very many of us who use the newsletter to make our race and volunteer plans. For those who do, they should try to start using the web site for that purpose. The information is more timely and accurate on the web site and it is corrected quickly if it is not. A good example of this is the just completed No Frills race. That race was on the “tentative schedule” early, but, the confirmation that the race director was going to do it and the necessary clearance had been obtained was available too late to publish “on time” in the newsletter. The web site and online registration was undated in plenty of time.
There seems to be different experiences as far as “non profit” mailing. In looking at Kevin’s comments, maybe we should check into using a different post office instead of having a business meeting at the post office we use. Perhaps the problem has to do more with the specific post office where the mailing is delivered. I do not know the logistics of using another post office or whether it would help.
The choice of whether to pay for first class mailing for the newsletter is a business decision to use the most cost effective method of mailing. That decision can be changed if the board decides that getting the newsletter to our members quickly is worth the significant extra costs involved. I don’t expect the board will change that decision since the newsletter is made available to the members quickly online and then mailed in a very low cost manner. The decision has been made to continue to have the newsletter printed and delivered to members instead of just online. That decision will continue to be reviewed as publishing costs continue to rise.

[dog]

I use the website for race schedules,etc. Guess that was part of my point, in that race info was not of much value to those receiving the newsletter by mail. Another thought I perviously posted was whether to go to a quarterly vs. monthly newletter? Would save printing and mailing costs as well as volunteer prep work. Guess maybe the membership needs to be polled on their thoughts on the newsletter. I used to be of more value when it was relied upon for results, race schedules and even flyers for non-RRRC events.