Re: OT: Consumer Revolt!

There have been many e-mails about the problems associated with the
distribution of AIS books, reports etc.  It is such a simple task that I
have been unable to determine why the incumbent has had trouble with
timely distribution.  I have considered volunteering but the border
makes such a task much more difficult. 

Now there is a time of change and I thought that I should mention an
alternative solution.

During my period as a senior government official, my Branch had to
distribute many publications and various mailings to the general public
when they were requested by mail or telephone.  I decided to out-source
this work as it was much more efficient and far less expensive than
doing it with public servants.  The choice was made to contract a small
company of handicapped individuals to undertake this work.  It was
handled very efficiently, I never received a complaint (mailings in
total was about 5 million over a number of years) and the cost was very
low - I seem to remember 20c/mailing. 

AIS might consider this route as the addition of another 25c/mailing
would not be a burden on the buyer and the AIS individual responsible
would only have to play a management/supervisory role.

The advantage of this approach includes employing people with very
little employment opportunities and the ability to find such people in
all communities - in other words it could be set up in Tennessee where
the material is already stored.

An alternative approach for new publications is to arrange for the
printers to distribute directly.  Again, in government (this time as a
consultant!), we arranged for reports to be printed and distributed to
any address we provide over time.  The costs were $1/report for placing
in the envelope, addressing, and mailing.

Ian
Just over the border in Canada
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