Thanks Gary; This is the type of information I was looking for. I note that last May we sold 126 calenders and all of those seemed to be at convention. Several people expressed the idea that clubs could sell them at iris shows. But it would seem this has not happened in the past. The early sales were all at convention. The next convention expects about one third the number of conventioneers so at best it would appear that maybe we could sell 42 at convention. If that is the case I see no reason to print them until Fall when they traditionally sell.
Let me throw out another scenario. I assume that when the decision is made it would only take a couple of weeks to print. I would also assume that the cover could also be shown as to what it would look like now. Why not offer a special price for all clubs that would order 10 early this Spring at $30 with the stipulation that unless we got say 40 orders from around the country they would not be delivered until September but as soon as we hit the 40 orders the reserved orders would be shipped. Those who say they could sell calenders early could take some risk and would have them early, If enough clubs wished to try this. Otherwise they would still get the calenders in September. They could be advertised immediately and if the ads are successful many could be sold upfront. The discount would apply to those that ordered early instead of selling them off at the end of the year at discounted rates just to try to get rid of them and at a time they are less desirable.
This would help with the cash flow problem and those who wanted them early would have an incentive to take orders. If we do not believe that we could sell these this way then maybe we should not be going ahead with an early printing.
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Bob Pries
Zone 7a
Roxboro, NC
(336)597-8805