*Ms. Altus and Gentlemen* When I discovered from Tom's report that we were facing a $49,324.78 loss due to unsold Handbooks, I suggested that it would be possible to sell those Handbooks at a discountin order to recover some of our loss. At the time Tom and I exchanged emails regarding this loss, he did not have an accurate breakdown of the unit distribution or the total units that were unsold, but he did state a decision had been made not to attempt to sell the unsold 2015/2016 Handbooks as it was feared such an effort would adversely impact the sales of the 2017 Handbooks, which sales he confirmed were not going well. I suspect we are saddled with another excess purchase and an end-of-the-year surplus. If that is the case, I trust the problem has been appropriately addressed and it is not likely we will face such a surplus in the future. For theforeseeablefuture we either have a problem (/insert te//ars, accusations and//situationally appropriate imprecations/) or we have an opportunity. Before suggestinghow to take advantage of the opportunity, I want to be clear that I believe the destruction of these books would be financially irresponsibleas it would be a waste of our Members' money.Besides, it is a sin to burn a book — literally or figuratively. * **The No Sale S**cena**rio* If we are — for good, sound or questionable reasons — committed to never selling one of these Handbooks, then we should give them away. There are an estimated 9,214 public, 3,827 academic, 99,180 school libraries and 289 Armed Forces libraries. We should, with an appropriate and professionally developed and executed PR campaign, i/n the interest of ex//panding the knowledge and science of Amateur Radio/, donate a Handbook to 6,378 libraries. Personally, I would recommend all 289 Armed Forces librarieswith the balance to public libraries, but the mix is not critical. We have not and are not going to sell 6,378 handbooks to libraries, public or private. However,it is critically important that we expand the pool of people who are favorable to AR, the total number of licensed Hams and therefore the pool from which we fish for Members. The Handbook is an excellent PR and educational item for Amateur Radio and the League. If we are going to absorb the $49k loss, we should convert that loss to a tangible, and if possible, long term benefit. How do we choose the libraries? Easy. Each Division Director will identify a list of potential recipients that will meet criteria to be established. What about the fact there are more libraries than available white elephants? The number of Handbooks should be allocatedbetween the divisions based on membership totals. Coupled with a well thought out and executed PR campaign we could garner a reasonable amount of NATIONAL publicity as well as the obvious local publicity. The value of that favorable national PR would be far greater than the $49k write-off. * **The Ship'**Em To The Colonies Scenario* IfGreatBritain, Oz, New Zealand and other outposts of the British Empire purchase a substantial number of Handbooks each year, this scenario may be a non-starter. However, if any of them are not major purchasers, we could consider finding a vendor to purchase at a reasonable discount, several thousand of the HBs. The vendors would be prohibited fromoffering the HBs for sale in the US. While it is unlikely we could unload all 6,378 in this manner, somefinancial return could be realized. *The Hamfest Prize/Raffle Scenario* SMs and Directors order HBs every year for "giveaways" at hamfests and club meetings.Why give away 2017 HBs that we would be better off selling (/if we can/)? For the nextyear, we could provide, at a sharply discounted price chargeable against the SMs or Ds budgets, 2015/2016 HBs to give away, rather than the more marketable 2017s. The Members would be just as happy and we would not be giving away a currently (/we hope/) valuable asset. Can we give away 6,378? Of course we can; do we want to? That is a different question. This scenario does not require the elimination of all 6,378; it merely reduces the herd and preserves the 2017 cash cows. How many do we insert into this program? Not less than the number of HBs normally "purchased" by the SMs and Ds, but perhaps as many as 4,000. How many sales will we lose by increasing the number of giveaways? Probably not by as much as everyone fears. At the Schertz Hamfest last Saturday I asked in the ARRL Forum how many had, or were planningon, purchasing a 2017 HB. The answer was zero, nada, none. While a small sample size, it probablyis a reasonable — based on Tom's comment regarding lagging sales — predictor. The Ds and HQ have a continuing request from Hamfest organizers to donate HBs to them for door prizes. I don't know how many HBs per year that represents, but those requests should for the next year be fulfilled with 2015/1016 HBs. Will this be acceptable to the begging masses? I asked the organizers for one of our upcoming Texas hamfests if they would be willing to accept a past years' HBinstead of2017. Leaving out their colorful adjectives, the answer was a firm "Yes." Someone who wins a raffle/door prize at a hamfest or club meeting is not going to send a customer service complaint to either the Hamfest organizers/Club officers or to the ARRL CEO; they will be tickled with the booty. *Last Change, Get Your Red Hots Before They A**re **Gone Scenario* Our auction manages to produce a few shekels per year. Why not have a "WE LOVE OUR MEMBERS", "WE WANT TO REWARD OUR NPOTA PARTICIPANTS", "MARGARET IN PURCHASING PUSHED THE WRONG DAMN BUTTON AND WE ARE OVERSTOCKED - ANDWE ARE GOING TO MAKE YOU A ONE-TIME STUNNING OFFER (All Proceeds Will Be Used To Fund Margaret's Severance Package)" *SALE *Whatever we call it, or however we justify it, we could hold a "flash", "limited-time" sale at sharply discounted prices or as a "buy one, get two" or a "Save Margaret's Job" sale. Would it eat into 2017 sales? Obviouslyit would to some extent, but we could limit the number available. Would most of the buyers have been candidates for a 2017; probably not that many. Hams are cheap; remember? Those cheap Hams might take the bait; those who only want the newest, shiny gadget will buya 2017. We could limit the discounted 2015/2016 books only to those who purchase a 2017 and we could still limit the time for which the offer could be accepted. *You Passed The E**xam & D**o We Have An Offer For **You Scenario* We could offer all NEW first time licenses a limited time opportunity to purchase a discounted 2015/2016 HB as a reward for becoming Hams — provided they also join the League. The "/Buy a Three //Year Membership & Get A Free Handbook/" promotion was a wildly popular promotion, at least in the West Gulf. We were able to use it to convert a lot of 1-year renewals to three year renewals. It could be run again, but this time with 2015/2016 HBs. *Conclusion* Any one of the scenarios or a combination of these scenarios could convert a $49k loss into a $49k benefit. fufit Youare now returned to your regular programming. 73 *-----------------------------------------------------* ** John Robert Stratton N5AUS Office telephone: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 PO Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 *-----------------------------------------------------* On 1/16/17 1:07 PM, Gallagher, Tom, NY2RF wrote:

*/erratum/*: My CEO report comment on the write-off of ARRL Handbook _incorrectly_ listed these publications as 2014, 2015 Handbooks when in fact they were 2015 and 2016 editions of the Handbook. In all, 6,378 copies were written off at our cost of $49,324.78.

_units#_

They were: Handbook 2015 (Hardcover) 314

(Softcover) 1,869

Handbook 2016 (Hardcover) 392

(Softcover) 3,803

Tom

Tom Gallagher – NY2RF

Chief Executive Officer

ARRL Headquarters

ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio*™*

860 594 0404 cell 704 907 7158

_tgallagher@arrl.org <mailto:tgallagher@arrl.org>_