611 Book

Thu Oct 29 16:39:30 EDT 2015

Jimmy,

Our approach to postage rates are consistent with other low volume
commissary type operations which don't allow for individual package pricing.
Commissary postage rates are based on the monetary value of your order and
there are continual changes in postage rates and new requirements dictated
by the United States Postal Services. In 2014 the commissary had  a loss of
$520 on shipping. Through Sept 2015 our loss on shipping is $973.43 which is
1.79% of our gross sales. Our objective is to break even on shipping.

One of the reasons we have a deficit on shipping is we lose on shipping when
we have to send an order in multiple packages. While this doesn't apply in
every case, it does apply in many cases. A second reason is we haven't
raised shipping rates in 2015 even though there have been some increases
from the post office. We expect to see continual shipping losses as we send
items digitally with a minimum handling charge rather than a shipping rate
based on the commissary order amount. 

The fact is you can purchase some commercial products we sell cheaper from
other vendors and in some cases pay no shipping, but you have to balance
that opportunity with the fact that our commissary is how we fund the NWHS
operation and also maintain our building on Salem Avenue which houses the
majority of the NWHS Archives. We spent $25,000 in 2014 to put a new roof on
the building and paint it which is an extraordinary cost beyond operating
expenses, but which we had planned and saved for the building maintenance
from our commissary sales.

Postage rates are a continual topic about the commissary and we have
attempted to keep everyone informed via TAF/eTAF. Over the years we have
tried to make the Commissary the one-stop shop for N&W/Virginian fans, but
as was noted in the July 2015 TAF/eTAF (and reproduced here)

"Commissary Changes: Bob Bowers, who has been in charge of the Commissary
for about 20 years, is

planning to retire in May 2016. The BoD has been dealing with the best way
to transition all of Bob's NWHS business

related activities for the past 12 months. The biggest issue with respect to
the Commissary is order fulfillment

which includes verifying credit cards, producing requested Archives
materials such as drawings and

photographs, packing, getting mail to the post office, etc. To date the BoD
has not found anyone willing to

takeover the Commissary job, nor have we found an outside organization
willing to do order-fulfillment for us.

In the long-term it is possible we will remove all low-profit items from the
Commissary and only concentrate on

selling Archive products and NWHS produced products. There is also the
potential that NWHS-products will

only be available through the Commissary. Our Commissary is a low-volume
operation, but one which accounts

for a large portion of our operating revenue. We cannot compete with large
volume dealers, even when they

are selling our products. We cannot offer free shipping, nor can we offer
large discounts. While we understand

some members will seek the most economical way to purchase their N&W/VGN
related products, the end result

is going to be less and less products being sold in the Commissary. You may
expect updates on this issue in the

future."

There is a potential the commissary will be reduced to selling NWHS produced
products such as our books and items from the Archives and a few select or
no commercial items. That analysis is still underway on an item by item
basis. The question we are dealing with is not how much revenue we get from
the commissary, but how much margin we get from each item. 

Whatever we do, we don't expect any changes in our postage pricing policy.
Unfortunately postage is a necessary cost of doing business and we are
trying to hold our losses to a minimum, but you can see our postage losses
are mounting as our digital sales increase. We have attempted to compensate
members to some small degree by offering member discounts on our products
with higher discounts on NWHS produced products. 

Alex Schust

-----Original Message-----
From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
NW Mailing List
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2015 8:03 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: 611 Book

I was thinking of ordering the new 611 book that is advertised through the
H/S. That was until I saw that it cost $10.90 postage. Basically a third of
the cost of the book added on for postage? What is up with that?

Jimmy Lisle

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