Given the relatively large expense it presents to the club, why are we letting the recipients determine this? It is a complimentary copy - the benefit being provided is that they are able to receive the current issue of the newsletter a full 3 months before it would generally be available to them. Asking them to bear the burden of printing it, if that is their desire, doesn't seem too much to ask. Just my opinion. How do others feel? Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx> To: <sac-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 5:48 PM Subject: [sac-board] Re: SACnews Ah, Missed that point. I ran a straw poll of the comps a few year's back to let them know & encourage electronic delivery. Quite a few took that up. Several did not, the most common reason given was that they display then issue at their meetings for their members to peruse. I presume they didn't want to incur the time & cost of printing it themselves. Maybe it's time again to poll the comps. Clear Skies Rick Tejera Editor SACnews Saguaro Astronomy Club Phoenix, Arizona www.saguaroastro.org saguaroastro@xxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: sac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of SAC Webmaster Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 16:53 To: sac-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [sac-board] Re: SACnews My comment wasn't regarding mailed newsletters to members. I was specifically referring to the complimentary copies. Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx> To: <sac-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 4:37 PM Subject: [sac-board] Re: SACnews Peter, There are still several members who don't have email or a slow connection. And there are those who for whatever reason prefer to have a printed copy mailed. Clear Skies Rick Tejera Editor SACnews Saguaro Astronomy Club Phoenix, Arizona www.saguaroastro.org saguaroastro@xxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: sac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of SAC Webmaster Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 16:34 To: SAC Board Subject: [sac-board] SACnews I just had the April issue of SACnews printed this afternoon and it will go out in tomorrow's mail. Using the latest database from Charlie, we print a total of 33 copies each month. Of the total, 22 are complimantary and 11 are mailed to paying members. The postage costs for the member's newsletters: $4.51 monthly; $54.12 annually. The postage costs for the complimentary copies: $9.02 monthly; $108.24 annually. The printing costs are donated, but represent an expense of about $20 annually per copy. This translates to an expense of $220 annually for members and $440 annually for the complimentary issues. Add in the postage and it's about $275 annually for the member's newsletters and $550 for the comps. Assuming we have a membership totaling 100, this represents roughly 9% and 19% of our annual income respectively - more than a quarter of the budget. My question here is why we print and mail any complimentary copies. Wouldn't emailing the link to the current issue be sufficient? I can think of better uses for this money. Any comments? Peter