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Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/06/2005 : 20:14:25

I really hate to inform the membership of this change.

However, until further notice only burgees and decals will be available through the Ships Store.

The reasons for this action, in order of priority, are: 1) errors in the process, at the embroiderer or both having now caused the Association to eat the expense of approximately five garments, 2) at current prices we are losing about five dollars per garment anyway, and 3) I absolutely do not have the time to continue dealing with, or to improve, the situation.

So, the webmasters will be modifying the Ships Store page so that only the burgees and decals can be ordered. I will email order rejections with explanations for any that come through in the interim. They will also be changing the Officers and Staff page so that under Quartermaster it says “Open – Volunteer Needed”, or something to that effect.

If you'd like to volunteer for the position, please email an Officer. Given the right structure, the role need not be a burden. As I said, I really hate for things to have come to this end, but without someone that has the time to explore alternative structures there really is no other choice at this point.

My most sincere apologies,

J.B. Manley s/v Sea Trac Allied Seawind II #65
DPO s/v Antares Catalina 25 #4849
Association Treasurer 2002 - 2006
Association Bookkeeper 2002 - 2008
Association Quartermaster 2004 - 2008

Edited by - on

DanM
Captain

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USA
256 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2005 : 09:42:00

That is too bad

Edited by - on

John G-
Admiral

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793 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2005 : 11:00:45

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DanM
 That is too bad

.....just as we were thinking of holiday gifts for the crew!
It must have been a frustrating job and I'm sorry the supplier made it worse.
Wondering if the embroiderylogo can be licenced to a mailorder clothing company (like Wearguard, Land's End) as an alternative to one of us being the middleman?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

 
I just got off the phone with [url="http://www.landsend.com/"] LandsEnd[/url]. They have a business division that will take our logo (as soon as there is a redesign) and keep it on file. I believe we can give our members a code or password to use to order cloths with the logo.
I did this with a racing team I was member of a few years ago.
I would suggest the association pay for the art fee and let paid members order anything they want with the logo.
I will follow up tomorrow when the business division is open.

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2005 : 11:03:22

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DanM
 That is too bad

.....just as we were thinking of holiday gifts for the crew!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I know, and I cannot express how sorry I am that the situation has come to this end. The embroidery logo files have been made available for download in the Members Only section, but I can't vouch for their usability.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DanM
 Wondering if the embroidery logo can be licenced to a mail order clothing company (like Wearguard, Land's End) as an alternative to one of us being the middleman?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That is the thought of the Officers, but we need a volunteer Quartermaster to do the yeoman's work of discovery, account establishment and on-going relationship management. The biggest challenge will be in convincing a supplier to handle our pitifully small volume and one-piece-at-a-time orders without incurring set-up charges or ridiculously high prices.

[Edit - Posted simultaneously with John G. - Thanks, John!]

Edited by - Sea Trac on 10/09/2005 11:05:35

John G-
Admiral

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793 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2005 : 14:48:32

In following up with [url="http://www.landsend.com/"] LandsEnd[/url], I found they will work with us on our logo through their [url="http://ocs.landsend.com/corpsales"]”Business Outfitters" [/url] division.
There is a one time fee of $95 for setting up the artwork that is only paid after they have sent a sample for approval. This price could be as much as $135 if the stitch count goes over a certain level.
Members can then order any [url="http://www.landsend.com/"] LandsEnd[/url] clothing with the logo by providing a customer or logo order number.
I suggest we keep the numbers in the member’s only section so only paid members can use the logos.

The officers might consider having four logos on file. One for each boat, C25, C250 and Capri 25 and one with the combined association logo, so that members can have their own distintive boats logo on their cloths.
I believe each logo would have it's own set up fee.

Underlined words are a HOT link.

Edited by - John G- on 10/10/2005 15:02:02

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3324 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2005 : 17:10:55

"I believe each logo would have it's own set up fee."
John - having been in that business I can confirm that comment.

Derek

Edited by - on

Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2005 : 17:18:10

I don't know how much money we have, but I think a faster computer server would would get my vote on spending decisions.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2005 : 19:43:23

I'm home sick today and Spike and I have been working on the server problem. We'll probably move to another host service.

Edited by - on

Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2005 : 20:00:58

Hey John or J.B. - whoever would set this up with LandsEnd,
If you want to take up a collection to cover the one-time setup fees, I'll chip in. Bet others would too.

Edited by - on

Bruce Baker
Captain

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USA
402 Posts

Response Posted - 10/19/2005 : 11:40:58

As always, my timing is terrible. I was just about to buy some shirts with the C-25 logo. Is there a way that members can purchase the shirts directly from whomever was doing them before? The Land's End thing also works for me.

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 10/19/2005 : 18:34:06

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Bruce Baker
 Is there a way that members can purchase the shirts directly from whomever was doing them before? The Land's End thing also works for me.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Bruce,

Regarding the possibility of members buying directly from the vendor that the association has been using the past two years, I will ask.

Regarding Land's End, here is my post from another thread that captures the gist of my missing post from this thread.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Antares
 My other post lined out my thoughts on the steps that need to be taken. They are:

1) Establish contact with the person in charge of Land's End's logo program,
2) Determine specifics and costs of the program, both to association and to members,
3) Inform the Officers and receive approval to proceed,
4) Obtain, or have created, artwork for the three class insignia and the association,
5) Submit artwork to Land's End for digitization,
6) Review and approve embroidered logo samples,
7) Submit the set-up invoices, or have submitted directly, to me for payment,
8) Establish and launch the program, including coordinating the appropriate website mods,
9) Maintain and manage the relationship and program going forward, as necessary.

Obviously, the front-end is the yeoman's work, and maintaining the program should really not require much effort. Please let us know if you'd like to take ownership of this project.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 10/21/2005 : 09:50:00

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Antares
 Regarding the possibility of members buying directly from the vendor that the association has been using the past two years, I will ask.

Regarding Land's End, here is my post from another thread that captures the gist of my missing post from this thread.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Antares
 My other post lined out my thoughts on the steps that need to be taken. They are:

1) Establish contact with the person in charge of Land's End's logo program,
2) Determine specifics and costs of the program, both to association and to members,
3) Inform the Officers and receive approval to proceed,
4) Obtain, or have created, artwork for the three class insignia and the association,
5) Submit artwork to Land's End for digitization,
6) Review and approve embroidered logo samples,
7) Submit the set-up invoices, or have submitted directly, to me for payment,
8) Establish and launch the program, including coordinating the appropriate website mods,
9) Maintain and manage the relationship and program going forward, as necessary.

Obviously, the front-end is the yeoman's work, and maintaining the program should really not require much effort. Please let us know if you'd like to take ownership of this project.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I received a response from the vendor that has been supplying the embroidered goods for the past two years on the question of having members ordering directly, and he is not interested. Quite frankly, he has found the program to be as cumbersome and unprofitable as have the Association Quartermasters.

At Duane's request, I have finally read his emails regarding Land's End and a company called Embroidery Authority. Apparently, the Land's End business logo program has a 6 piece minimum order (the industry standard is 12), but the Embroidery Authority looks like a viable option. However, prices look to be 30% higher than what we've been able to offer in the past, but I suspect that will be the case regardless. Setting up (logo program install, multiple thread color changes, and layout and hooping of the item) and running one embroidered logo is supremely inefficient productivity-wise.

Edited by - on

existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 10/21/2005 : 11:52:17

Perhaps the thing to do is only offer the embroidered product for a certain period of time and then do all the orders at once?

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 10/21/2005 : 12:43:36

Hi Rick,

Are the leaves turning there yet? I used to love driving around Wolfeboro, Winnipesaukee, Portland, et al at this time of year. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a more beautiful area in the Fall, including my own Rocky Mountains.

We have a lot of new members, so a little Ships Store history might be helpful. Prior to 2004, the Ships Store stocked a selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps. Even with the limited selection, the association had thousands of dollars tied up in inventory over a long period of time. Plain white t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps with a combination class insignia/association logo just weren't very popular.

So the Quartermaster, Bryan Beamer, worked long and hard to arrange for an expanded selection of products with new class insignia logos that could be ordered one-at-a-time and customized with boat and member names. We then held a fire sale for the old inventory, ending up donating and writing off most of it, and opened the new Ships Store. You know the rest of this story.

The options open to the association at this point are:
1) Leave things as they are with no logo'd goods avaiable to our members,
2) Find a new Quartermaster and return to our most recent process and merchandise offering,
3) Find a new Quartermaster and return to carrying a limited selection of non-customizable goods,
4) Establish a relationship with a vendor willing, and able, to deal directly with the members.

The status of the options at this time are:
1) Not deemed a satisfactory long-term solution by the officers or, presumably, the members,
2) No new Quartermaster has come forth and the vendor is reluctant to resume the status quo,
3) Again, no new Quartermaster, but also not deemed a satisfactory solution given past results,
4) Absolutely the best option, requires a volunteer, and Duane may have more to add here soon.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/21/2005 : 16:01:10

After talking via email with the officers today, we’ve opted to outsource. Right now we are in the beginning phases of getting something off the ground. The company at hand already has the overhead, equipment and inventory plus a full catalog.

Once all the details are wrapped up, we will unveil the new ships store. It is slated to happen with plenty of time for Holiday Shopping.

Edited by - on

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