and you don’t need to as you aren’t collecting the money or creating the paypal accounts. Thems are the people who need this information.
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So I have been thinking about this over the last couple months and crunching numbers as more and more want to contribute financially. I was going to leave this as a private discussion among the original logistics team though have been slow to do so and since this discussion is taking place, here is what I have so far…
Currently, we have ~113 members wanting a seed pack or 2 at any given time:
US 65
Canada 20
UK 18
Latin America 3
South Africa 3
Australia 4
Breeder costs
Packaging at 0.88 ea x 113 packs for 1 strain = 99.44
Mail to 6 distributors ~$112 at $17 to $24 per box
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $211.44
Distributor costs
empty boxes/bubble mailers = 0.45 ea
Postage = 4.18 ea
Gift = 1.00 ea… 5.63 ea - varies from 16.89 to 365.95
Total costs: from $228.33 to $577.39 for 1 strain…add an additional 211.44 per strain for packaging and getting to distributors directly from the breeders. So 4 strains ready to go per box/envelope are roughly $862 - $1210
Most distributors ask each member to pay ~5.00 for postage x 100 members = $500.00…this covers postage and really nothing else…
Most times we have saved on postage by having all strains sent to me for $10-15 each then each distributor receives 1 box of all done for that run for a total of ~152.00 instead of ~448.00 for 4 strains which is quite a savings though also a double edge sword if a box doesn’t get through customs.
We all agree that these seed runs must pay for themselves as well as, needing more volunteers to breed these strains that people are gifting to the community which I didn’t include those mailings in my figures as that too varies from 4.00 to 20.00 depending upon where they are coming from and many are running these strains themselves. Sooo this is where I am at…
100 people x 1.33 (0.88 ea packaging + 0.45 mailer) = 133 + 112 postage to distributors = 245 to reimburse breeders x 4 strains = 980.00/100 members = 9.80 each box + 4.00 postage + 1.00 gift = 14.80 + 5.20 forum donation = 20.00 per box, per member…
Now here is my problem with this:
Some boxes have 3 strains while others we have 6, there are no set dates for breeders to get strains to distributors then to members so these figures have varied as well as, the different amounts people are sending to help offset costs…mostly mine though I have paid most of the costs to distributors out of my pocket, packed up a few strains from others and offered to reimburse 50% of packaging a couple times having roughly 300.00 in over payments at the moment then there is currency exchange and the fact that some strains have not been ready when estimated or need to be reran at a future date. Plus as pointed out, there are more risks involved leaving a bigger trail as larger amounts of money gets exchanged
Imho, once we get these details worked out, we can change it for a set amount for everyone to receive a box say, 3-4 times a year though until then lets leave it as is (winging it) going into our 2nd year
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And we’ve done a pretty impressive job of winging it!
Doing a twice a year box shipment, with however many strains are ready seems more manageable that sporadic shipments.
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Yes we have 
That would be doable…currently have Tiger Jack, Hindu Kush and the few fem packs I did up from Lucky Charms. Waiting on Rocky Mountain High and Oregon Huckleberry from the awesome MongoBongo. Also looks like PedroBann’s Herijuana is just about ready too so may as well wait until say, the last week of November to ensure all distributors have these strains with mail outs to members by the 2nd week of December then repeat it again end of May for June deliveries 
or start fresh with the new year?
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Suggest also limiting the number of runs one can sign up for, possibly a factor of pips. The fixed $ amount will be something of a disincentive for people who might recuse themselves or wait on over-subscribed runs. The psychology being “I already paid for this” rather then “I can wait until the next round.”
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I agree the seed runs should be moved to the private section where you have enough rep to view or join. Seeds could still be distributed to those who are regularly active and participating.
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While I appreciate that the financials are complicated and add up quickly, I (for one) would rather just be told what I owe than try to figure it out by reading 162 posts. 
In other words, I have nothing constructive to add, except that I have no problem paying $20 for each packet that arrives at my doorstep and I don’t necessarily need to know what the actual costs are for everyone involved.
As long as I know nobody is getting stiffed on the deal, what do I care? It’s 20 bucks (a pack of cigarettes costs nearly that much in Canada).
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I would be happy to contribute to the cause on a fixed income but can spare a few
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april would honestly be better that way outside growers could pop the beans, but no biggie. What happens if say you divide it by seeds aka 5 bucks per strain per person? Would you be able to ship an recoup costs? Also, the payments can be broken up everytime someone “closes” the run and less monetary transactions per paypal each time. Just a thought. That way it doesn’t matter if there is 3 or 6 strains in a box
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I’m with @cogitech as well, just give me an amount and I’ll pay it. lol
I am also cool with making the preservation runs private and avail only to trusted members. The trusted members are always sharing anyway. Figure if some newbs actually participate and are interested in a strain, one of us will usually send it to them. I’m cool with it still being open too though.
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Whelp, we already limit it to 3 pips+ or try to
True and I want to avoid that “I paid for this” mentality for if/when a seed run falls through…doesn’t happen very often though it has so must be considered as well as, future runs of each of these strains so everyone has an opportunity to have them
The private section only needs 3 pips to post there…maybe increase the permissions to 5? 10? Have the preservation runs in its own section? @LemonadeJoe what would be the easiest for you?
Many don’t though these are the type of discussions we must have from time to time so it all stays on the up and up 
True. So then it would look like breeders have strains turned in to distributors and members submit their postage by say the 20th of March and August for April 5th and September boxes
Yeah though then may run into issues of people thinking if they paid 20.00, they’d get 4 packs of that strain…I like the per box as its the most economical and simplest all the way around
The thing is we have pretty much been doing it this way collecting smaller amounts every time a group of strains are ready which has led to several mail outs through out the year with not everything being covered and it hasn’t decreased paypal transactions…what has is when someone covers 2-3 boxes at one time so going from the 4-5 mailouts we did this last year to 2 will help more so
Ok so far we have…
Continue to have sign ups on individual grow logs in a more private, long time member only area with a main topic of strains running per 6 month block of time
2 mail outs a year: breeders have all strains in by end November and May for December and June mailings starting with this next box or by the end of March and August for April and September mailings starting fresh with the next box in 2020
Each member pays 20.00 for 1 box every 6 months to their distributor for whatever group of strains are ready…40.00 a year
Each distributor deducts 5.50 per box for their expenses, sends 5.00 per box to LemonadeJoe for the forum server and 9.50 per box to me or Sebring for 50% packaging/postage reimbursement in January and July starting now or October and May starting with the set of strains
Each breeder that needs it, receives up to 50% packaging and distributor postage reimbursement to cover up to 8 strains every 6 months…whatever is left goes directly to LemonadeJoe for the server
Plan on a repeat strain seed run every other year ie Skunk 91 done in 2019 - repeat needed in 2021, 2023 etc
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Those are some great ideas, thanks for sharing.
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Sorry Lemonade Joe, but what if you held $1 back from that for the trusted members less fortunate to cover theirs obviously first come first serve . discretionary fund or even unforseen costs fund? Always the business brain going here.
That wasn’t very succint. Help out fellow broke homies or those with fixed incomes… etc…
Edit: @MomOnTheRun sorry forgot, whatever pips it takes to get respected level is my vote.
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I’m good with all of this and the 20% ($1) per bi-yearly shipment.
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There have been a few that have helped others get their boxes to them paying it forward on their own though I can see holding some back from the 9.50 per box for possible breeder reimbursements just for this and drop it to 25% reimbursement if needed. I just like round numbers, would like to have an incentive for those that want to do a seed run though cannot afford it and add to the server funds with our frequent posts…we could just go with 10.50 per box: 5.50 for distributors expenses and 5.00 for the server leaving all packaging and postage to distributors up to the breeders to contend with…nothing is set in stone and why we have these discussions
Edited to add: @Meesh you still have 10.00 you prepaid
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No I don’t. Just charge me again.
Regardless of everything else you said you need a in case shit happens fund (cuz shit happens).
Why aren’t the breeders getting costs covered? At least packaging and shipping. Did I miss something?
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When there’s a website I can subscribe for quarterly boxes of multi preservation packs, then i’ll sign up 
I don’t have the time to keep up with the individual threads/runs. I think I put my name in something somewhere at some point but I lost track of it or forgot to do the next step.
I love the ideas everyone is coming up with, some great stuff!
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Slacker! 
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@MomOnTheRun Haha put @Jellypowered on the permanent list and just send him a bill when it’s time to pay! Oh and me too!
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@MomOnTheRun
I like the idea of you having a little extra for a petty cash/slush fund. If the funds start to build up then you could use some to pay it forward for someone that needs a little help.
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