Do you like the Annual Review? Do you like the content and do you like getting a paper copy through the post?
These are serious questions. A lot of work goes into the Annual Review. More importantly, it costs a lot of money to print and post.
Every copy costs 60p to post, so with about 3000 addresses the total cost is around £1800.
Printing is more complicated as there are fixed costs of setting up the presses for printing and then variable costs of paper and ink that depend on the number of copies printed. In consequence, although the printing costs overall are somewhat more than the postage costs, the saving when a member opts out and we reduce the print run by one, is slightly less at 58p.
Thus each member opting out saves £1.18 but if everyone made do with an online copy there would be a saving equivalent to about £1.33 per address or on average about £1.00 per member.
A few members do opt out of a printed copy, instead viewing the Annual Review on our web site. This saves a few quid and a few twigs from trees that would otherwise be felled for paper-making.
Every year someone suggests saving money by doing away with a printed Annual Review and every year someone else stresses the importance of this annual communication that falls on the doormat of (almost) every member, a view which always prevails. But we don't know what the bulk of members think, especially the majority of members who don't go on Group walks.
We also don't know what most members think of the content of the Review. What would they like to see more of? What would they like to see less of? Do they read the Review at all?
I'd really appreciate your views, emailed to me at info@kentramblers.org.uk -- please use "Annual Review" in the subject line.
RP