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Archiver > SOG-UK > 2003-02 > 1046344588


From: Geoffrey <>
Subject: Re: [SoG] The Society Bookshop
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 11:16:38 +0000


Liz wrote:-

>I should probably calm down before I answer this ....

Yes !! take a deep breath !

>Why the sudden announcement with no forewarning or discussion? I
>appreciate that there may be decisions that must be made in a hurry but
>here the members are faced with yet another fait accompli. Especially
>just after we have renewed our membership without any hint that this
>very useful facility might be withdrawn.

Well of course it has not been a sudden decision, there has been much
discussion within Enterprises regarding the problems with the bookshop, and
within the Executive Committee regarding the need to bring the whole
Society into an annual surplus. I, as Hon. Treasurer owe it to the members
to minimise losses within the Society and to do everything I can to ensure
that the Society makes a modest surplus next year. I will receive little
thanks if I announce at the AGM that the bookshop is making a loss and that
we have done nothing about it.

Members are not, I believe, going to be hit that badly. Society
publications will always be available over the counter, and all the
external publications are available elsewhere. The travelling bookshop
which is staffed by volunteers will continue as before representing the
Society all over the country at local FH fairs. Of course if members had
been making much more use of the bookshop facility then perhaps thee
situation would not have arisen.

Peter put his finger on the point, i.e. the bookshop is not contributing to
the Society's income, it is being subsidised by the Society - that is, by
your subscriptions !!

>Given the dearth of specialist genealogy bookshops, especially with an
>online facility, it seems amazing to me that it could be such a failure.

It is in fact the on-line facility which is a significant contributor to
the problem. It took Amazon Books - the famous on-line bookshop - many
years to get near a profit and they have a massive turnover and automated
systems to run the back-office and dispatch systems. In our case most
orders are for an odd book and the paperwork and staff effort behind the
scenes is too costly to be efficient.

>One does wonder about the quality of management ...

The quality of management is such that we have improved the accounting
systems, determined the true costs of running the bookshop, looked at
alternatives and made a tough decision.

If members feel strongly enough about the loss of the bookshop then they
should volunteer to help at the Society one day a week, and then in a year
or two we can look at the position again. When spending your subscriptions
we believe that the unique library facilities are more important than a
subsidised bookshop. We will still have a Members' Orderline on the
website for our own publications, volunteer effort in the future may allow
to expand the stock again at some time.

Geoff

Geoffrey T. Stone,
SoG Mailing List Administrator.
http://www.sog.org.uk

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