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I don't believe the monthly quilting bee swap does tracking.
I will not be doing any more Boom swaps, my decision was made long before this came up.
Originally Posted by Janice McC
(Post 6415675)
Great comments, thank you! At this point, the only thing I want to address is that no, we cannot go back to the traditional way of mailing and this is why: mailings in any swap on this board REQUIRE tracking between participants. Ladies, I know it wasn't the case in the last Boom or the time before or the time before that but it is now. Apparently, this swap flew under the radar but this hosting change has forced our hands. Basically, if I don't agree to insist on tracking, I will not be supported in the host role, and I'd venture to say, neither will the next person. Folks, those are - and have been for years - the rules. That we escaped them in previous Booms doesn't change the fact that they exist. QB's house, QB's rules. I accept that but the question is if you all will. For those who will, I'm here, ready, willing and able to host. If we get together a good enough sized group, I'll be thrilled to act as your host. Whether that happens remains to be seen. In the meantime, please continue to ask any questions or make suggestions but the tracking situation isn't my call. (Of course, if you'd like to handle all of your mailings individually as before but WITH tracking, a group of 16 should only cost you about $180. $180 EACH. Ouch!) Janice McC
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I think anytime you mail a letter at the window in the PO now you get a tracking strip to keep track of when its received AT NO EXTRA cost. Janice you might check into that because I mail a LOT of stuff for work and if I take it into the PO and have them stamp it they always give me a tracking number! I don't see where the $180 would come from.. I sent you my information because I truly love the swaps..not fond of the "rules" but can live with them.
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The usps changed some rules I think! I went to mail a block in a regular envelope and they wanted $5. To track...shocked me...needless to say I did not track it. Larger parcels were not the same...
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I'm in for whatever - I'm PMing now.
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I will also offer a suggestion (no harm or offense if you don't like/want to use it): Maybe instead of committing yourself to all of the receipt/mailing, find a person in each group who is trustworthy (ask other swap leaders - they can tell you who fits this category) and ask them to take the responsibility to collect/sort/mail for their group so that you don't get wholly overwhelmed.
A second reason is that should something awful or catastrophic happen, the entire boom's blocks are not in your possession (I'm thinking tornado/flood/health incident). Personally, I am happy to take that task on for any group you need me to. |
Originally Posted by TheMamaHauser
(Post 6416040)
I will also offer a suggestion (no harm or offense if you don't like/want to use it): Maybe instead of committing yourself to all of the receipt/mailing, find a person in each group who is trustworthy (ask other swap leaders - they can tell you who fits this category) and ask them to take the responsibility to collect/sort/mail for their group so that you don't get wholly overwhelmed.
A second reason is that should something awful or catastrophic happen, the entire boom's blocks are not in your possession (I'm thinking tornado/flood/health incident). Personally, I am happy to take that task on for any group you need me to. I, too, will be happy to volunteer to do this for a group, if that is what is decided. I've hosted other swaps before (not here on QB, but on another forum), and have been in every Boomerang (3-current) since I joined the board in 2010. :) ... Regarding the postage, the post office doesn't really advertise it all that much, but you can get a tracking number with their First Class Parcel service. (They obviously prefer people to use Priority Mail as it's considerably more expensive!) I looked it up, and if you print the postage online through PayPal and get a discounted rate, it's $1.69 to mail a 3-ounce package, with tracking, via First Class Parcel. For a group of 16 people, 2 mailings to each person (F8 & finished block), excluding oneself, that's 30 mailings total. The postage would be $50.70. FWIW, on my previous swaps, my F8s were under 1 ounce, but obviously each person packages their fabric differently, so everyone would have to weigh their envelopes and see. I'm unsure if tracking is available on First Class letters, but if it is, the cost would probably be even less. :) |
I don't have a problem mailing to one person but think that it should be to a "leader" of each group. If that happens then I would totally be up for joining in again.
Originally Posted by TheMamaHauser
(Post 6416040)
I will also offer a suggestion (no harm or offense if you don't like/want to use it): Maybe instead of committing yourself to all of the receipt/mailing, find a person in each group who is trustworthy (ask other swap leaders - they can tell you who fits this category) and ask them to take the responsibility to collect/sort/mail for their group so that you don't get wholly overwhelmed.
A second reason is that should something awful or catastrophic happen, the entire boom's blocks are not in your possession (I'm thinking tornado/flood/health incident). Personally, I am happy to take that task on for any group you need me to. |
Ill check with my PO tomorrow and see if they provide free tracking on letters. Im pretty sure its a new service and they do it for lst class letters. I mailed 4 blocks to someone last week, cost me $1.50 and had free tracking! I could handle that! Others might want to check with their post offices because we ALL know they are different in pricing! :)
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Very concisely put. Yes, that is the current plan. Each group would be independent of the others, however, so no one group would be held up by another. Once I get everything for a group, I sort and off I go to the post office. If you are interested in joining, please email me and I'll add you to the list. Thank you very much for interest!
Originally Posted by happylab
(Post 6415872)
Let me see if I understand the process? I would mail you all of my F-8's and you would sort them and mail them to the other members in the group. In turn I would get a packet of f-8's from other members. Once I completed my blocks, I again sent them to you and you hold them until all the other blocks are completed and then you would mail my completed blocks from others to me in one mailing? Correct? If this is the process, consider me in. I'll officially sign up next week.
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Hello Joan, I will check into the no charge "tracking strip". If an envelope can be tracked and a tracking number supplied to me upon mailing, there's no reason that couldn't work. Thanks for that info as it is definitely news to me. (I see a trip to the post office in my immediate future.) As for the $180 dollars, simple math performed by a sleepy woman yesterday evening. A group of 16 having to make 2 mailings at $5.60 (tracked Priority) to every other member (that would be 15 other people, not 16 as I calculated last night at approx. $180) would cost $168 per person. That is the reason I set up the centralized mailing plan with limited mailings for members. I'll go to the post office later today to get info on your suggestion.
Originally Posted by joanelizbay
(Post 6416004)
I think anytime you mail a letter at the window in the PO now you get a tracking strip to keep track of when its received AT NO EXTRA cost. Janice you might check into that because I mail a LOT of stuff for work and if I take it into the PO and have them stamp it they always give me a tracking number! I don't see where the $180 would come from.. I sent you my information because I truly love the swaps..not fond of the "rules" but can live with them.
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