... my suggestion, Dave.

>> It has been estimated that the small handful of volunteers on the committee
>> will need about 8 hours to pre-fill about 800 "packages" for the convention.
>> These are just for those who will be attending. If we had to do 1 "bag"
>> for each member, attending or not, that would add another 3 days of
>> work to our schedule.

I wasn't suggesting that any additional packages be prepared. Packages will have to be prepared for all pre-registrants (800 or so). My suggestion applies only to those of the 800 who end up not attending. Ergo, no additional work preparing packages.

>> After the convention it would take at least another day to address
>> all the packages to be mailed to all those who did not, or could not attend.

By Friday (or perhaps Saturday), about the only packages left at the registration table will be those of the people who could not attend. Many would be picked up by friends. Extra work, to be sure, but as I said, not onerous I think, to remove the casino goodies from only those bags. I'm guessing 5% (hence, 40 or so this year). If mailing by convention volunteers is really not practical, I'm sure most non-attendees could find someone who would be willing to pick up their package and mail it. I already have mine (volunteer pickerupper, that is)!

>> Then there is the day needed to take those 100's (1000's?) of packages
>> to the Post Office to be mailed.

I imagine the number would be more like 20 or 30 at most, rather than hundreds or thousands (remember we're only talking about the pre-registrants who do not attend -- if no one showed up for the convention, we'd still only be talking 800, not "thousands").

>> This would turn a 5 day convention stay into a 12 day stay, turning my $400 bill
>> into a $900 bill. This does not include meals. Multiply this times the number
>> of volunteers on the committee, plus all the extra money expended for
>> postage, and I hope you can understand why this is NOT a good idea.

If what you are saying was true, of course it would not be a good idea and I would never have suggested it. I think, however, that your analysis is flawed and that no extra time or expense would be involved (I'm guessing the registration table volunteers have some "dead time" on Friday and Saturday, during which the casino goodies could be removed from the packages).

>> Since I am retired and on a fixed income, an expense such as this would severely
>> limit my volunteer time at future conventions. All this because some
>> poeple want something for nothing.

I don't think we've met, Dave, and if we have, I apologize for not remembering. But, I have to say I resent the suggestion that because I would like to find some way to have a small selection of convention items, even if I can't attend, that I "want something for nothing". I did pay my pre-registration fee. I signed up for the poker tournament and paid in advance (and don't expect to get that entry fee back). But for the fact that I won't be there, I would have been a volunteer myself (trade room monitor and slabfree chapter table, if nothing else). I'll have more to say about this in response to Gene Trimble's message.

Anyway, I was simply trying to find a way to avoid the problem that the contributing casinos might not like having the goodie bags picked up by someone other than the intended convention goer. Those objections obviously would not apply to items placed in the pre-registration package by the club.

If I was in a position to do so myself, I'd volunteer to help accomplish something for those who pre-registered and cannot attend.

----- jim o\-S