Mr Robot Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Stephen said: I'm sorry - but I find all of this this ludicrous. All I can picture, is the members of Monty Python discussing the merits of the Judean People's Front, vs The People's Front of Judea in Life of Brian. How very silly for all of this, for a club that prints magazines, makes awesome disks, and does software competitions. Splitters! They charge money and make things the members are all partial owners in the club, they elect leaders. There does need to be _some_ framework for the club. In Germany there is a strict legal one (it _IS_ Germany, would you expect anything less!). In America they would be a foundation or social club and for IRS purposes they would need to become a 501(c)(7) but because of American Freedom the rules are only about the actions they have to take to maintain the tax exempt status. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Fred_M said: I know the disk is the magazine ? I checked and you are right. But like you said, only since 2 issues ago. I probably have not noticed it. It is tucked away besides the foreword of Sascha and can hardly be called a Club information page. My example of Pokey's Magazine had an advertisement like layout and offered far more information about the club, not just the address and financial info ? Just printing a date on an envelope is in my opinion a very lousy solution to let someone know his or her membership is about to expire. These times I think an email (or old fanishioned mail) would be more effective and more user friendly. All these things can, and if the membership info appearing two issues ago is an indication, they eventually will improve. Improvements will get made (I hope) but they are a small team with few offering to help so it's not going to be a fast process. You could argue (though I won't ) that repeating the same info every issue is a waste of space that more valuable content could fill. Most British print magazines in my youth had subscription info on the contents or editorial page in a thin strip down one side with all the credits and © notices. Really hard to find but that's where it lived. Here's a random Antic issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 7 hours ago, Mr Robot said: Improvements will get made (I hope) but they are a small team with few offering to help so it's not going to be a fast process. That example of Antic Magazine is very similar to the magazines in Europe You are right, improvements have been made since the new board. The paper part is looking much better now. Officially the disk is the magazine, but the paper part is (in my opinion) so much improved that you can hardly call it a "supplement". I know it is a small team, I have been a member of Abbuc for over 20 years and I know some of the guys personally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunsen Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Fred_M said: Officially the disk is the magazine, but the paper part is (in my opinion) so much improved that you can hardly call it a "supplement". But the statutes say that the disk is the magazine. *irony* It is time to change the statutes, but it is difficult to reach agreement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 On 10/14/2020 at 1:56 AM, Fred_M said: I know the disk is the magazine ? I checked and you are right. But like you said, only since 2 issues ago. I probably have not noticed it. It is tucked away besides the foreword of Sascha and can hardly be called a Club information page. My example of Pokey's Magazine had an advertisement like layout and offered far more information about the club, not just the address and financial info ? Just printing a date on an envelope is in my opinion a very lousy solution to let someone know his or her membership is about to expire. These times I think an email (or old fanishioned mail) would be more effective and more user friendly. Hm, I should get the Pokey´s Magazine out of the shelf and read it again, and see, if I can get some inspiration. Printing the date on the envelope is something I just didn´t change yet. I´m not happy with it too, as it also didn´t work for me, when I was a standard member. We do something about that. Actually we´re talking about a club, that is 35+ years old. So is the data. There are many members, where I have no email, but a phone number, which probably won´t work anymore. I´m not keen enough to test it and will remove the phone numbers, as they are not a necessary information. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 53 minutes ago, skr said: Hm, I should get the Pokey´s Magazine out of the shelf and read it again, and see, if I can get some inspiration. Printing the date on the envelope is something I just didn´t change yet. I´m not happy with it too, as it also didn´t work for me, when I was a standard member. We do something about that. Actually we´re talking about a club, that is 35+ years old. So is the data. There are many members, where I have no email, but a phone number, which probably won´t work anymore. I´m not keen enough to test it and will remove the phone numbers, as they are not a necessary information. Did you say that you were giving some free months membership to people that joined when the committee changed and there we some difficulties in access? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hello Sascha 1 hour ago, skr said: Actually we´re talking about a club, that is 35+ years old. So is the data. There are many members, where I have no email, but a phone number, which probably won´t work anymore. I´m not keen enough to test it and will remove the phone numbers, as they are not a necessary information. If the mail addresses don't work, I'd try the phone numbers. People that aren't online by now, are probably not the first people to get a new phone number. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Well I went ahead and applied for membership. I have enjoyed their contest for years and want to support it. Honestly, I didn't consider membership previous to now because of the language barrier. Obviously my native language is English, but I can read and write fluently in a "foreign" language...but it isn't German and it gives me a headache to look at the website. Because the website is partially german and partially English already, and then additionally has a google translate option - google translates both the german and the english into the target language, so you have the same articles repeated all over the place, and sentences constantly repeated, and the overall effect is it gives me a splitting headache to read the website. But, still love that contest - so I joined, I think they do great work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 @skr Has Issue #143 been mailed to North America, yet? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 3 minutes ago, Larry said: @skr Has Issue #143 been mailed to North America, yet? Thanks. Hi Larry, yes. ALL magazines shipped on December 23rd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikor Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 I got it today (Poland). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Landed in Switzerland on December 31. Cool issue as usual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Keeping my fingers crossed I'll see these at some point. I still haven't received either of my 2 copies of #142 that have been mailed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 On Dec 31st I´ve send one envelope with tracking. Will watch its way. Currently, the only information is "in transit". Is anybody else missing 142 and special mag 52? 3 months is way too long, even if they carry it by vessels. Please let me know, and I will resend some, but with tracking. It´s quite expensive, but for two or three people I will do it, just to get a comparison of the way the magazine takes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hello Sascha 2 minutes ago, skr said: ... just to get a comparison of the way the magazine takes. I'm not sure that will tell you anything about mail without tracking. Mail with tracking might have a different priority for the postal service. Sincerely Mathy (who's working at a postal service) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 2 minutes ago, Mathy said: Hello Sascha I'm not sure that will tell you anything about mail without tracking. Mail with tracking might have a different priority for the postal service. Sincerely Mathy (who's working at a postal service) Hm, so you think, chances are higher, that it is transported faster and more reliable than with standard mail? Damn. Anyway. Let´s see what happens. After three months of no show, I think it´s time to send a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hello Sascha I'm not saying it is, I'm saying it might be. One possibility would be that stuff like international registered mail is send via a postal company that used to be the monopolist way back when and normal mail is send via the cheapest postal company they can find and that 's reliable enough (in their eyes) ... I've seen it with many ex-postal monopolists. In their own country they fight the cheap competition but as soon as they want to send mail abroad, they work with the cheap foreign companies instead of their ex-co-monopolist-postal-sister-companies. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 As you are working for a postal service, isn´t there any secret trick you can use to help us making shipping overseas more reliable? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 I don't know but right now (last few weeks) have been the worst I have experienced in terms of delivery time. The postal service system was choking due to the high traffic of the covid holiday season. Today we received some xmas cards postmarked on Dec 7th (from Annapolis to Reston, about 1 hour drive without traffic or 2.5 hours with traffic). Stuff coming from abroad takes about 1 week to 10 day to get to USA, but once they arrive they got stuck for another 2 to 3.5 weeks. Other stuff coming from Greenboro NC, took two weeks, etc. So I am not holding my breath for this edition of ABBUC magazine to arrive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) Hello Sascha 1 hour ago, skr said: As you are working for a postal service, isn´t there any secret trick you can use to help us making shipping overseas more reliable? But of course. The best trick is... ... ask a friend who's traveling from one side of the Atlantic to the other if (s)he is willing and able to bring/take a parcel across the ocean. Not the fastest way, but one of the most reliable. Sincerely Mathy Edited January 4, 2021 by Mathy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) I received the magazine on December 31st. Maybe it is possible to combine Mathy's recommendation with normal postal services. In my (Dutch) experience with the largest Dutch postal service (PostNL) is, that sending tracked enveloped post overseas is quite reliable but the tracking information is not. In my "webshop"-days 9 out of 10 envelopes were delivered overseas but the tracking information did not show delivery. Sending parcels overseas was more reliable for me. So my suggestion is, send a parcel (tracked/insured) with all magazines for American subscribers to one American contact. That American contact can send all magazines to the American subscribers with domestic mail. Edited January 5, 2021 by Fred_M 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) 34 minutes ago, Fred_M said: Sending parcels overseas was more reliable for me. So my suggestion is, send a parcel (tracked/insured) with all magazines for American subscribers to one American contact. That American contact can send all magazines to the American subscribers with domestic mail. This actually sounds like a really good idea to me. I will check, if I can preprint the US stamps like I do it with the current stamps, which I download as a multi-page PDF and then have a workflow which combines it with the addresses and prints it together on the envelope. That assumes, that the stamps have the same price, no matter, to which state they go. If that works, I only need a reliable person who receives the package, opens it, grabs out his copy (which I would place on top) and brings all the magazines to a postal service (probably USPS?). Is anybody in the US willing to help with this? Edit: Currently our database reports 44 ABBUC members located in the US. Edited January 5, 2021 by skr Added information 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 5 minutes ago, skr said: This actually sounds like a really good idea to me. I will check, if I can preprint the US stamps like I do it with the current stamps, which I download as a multi-page PDF and then have a workflow which combines it with the addresses and prints it together on the envelope. That assumes, that the stamps have the same price, no matter, to which state they go. If that works, I only need a reliable person who receives the package, opens it, grabs out his copy (which I would place on top) and brings all the magazines to a postal service (probably USPS?). Is anybody in the US willing to help with this? Edit: Currently our database reports 44 ABBUC members located in the US. I could help with this - my local post office is only a mile from home. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I can help with that, I'm passing a post office almost every day 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Hello guys Re: "mail across the Atlantic". This really amazes me. I ordered something on Amazon for my car on the 4th (as in early this week). The part would be shipped via DHL, I choose "delivery on the 13th" instead of "delivery 13th - 18th", because the price difference was only around 2 USD. When I got the first mail about the delivery, they told men it would arrive on the 8th. It went from Salt Lake City to Cincinnati and via Brussels to Eindhoven. And was delivered today, the 7th. Passed customs in Belgium. Haven't seen a bill for sales and import taxes yet. Can't be much, because I only payed just over 35 euro for the horns (my old ones are slowly but surely turning into iron oxide) plus shipping. I'm still amazed that everything went this fast. Sincerely Mathy PS for those in the know: Hella Sharp Tones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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