[SJAAboard] Preregistration site active

[Rob Hawley (SJAA)]

>???? My purpose in accepting all telescopes and equipment offered for
>donation was to spread good feelings with the public and make the donor
>feel appreciated.? 

You are expressing how the majority of the board voted on several occasions.
As a charity, making the member/donors feel appreciated has value.  I
appreciate that it is easier on our representative to accept everything and
sort out what to do later.

There are several issues here.  I will address each in turn.

What do we do about 814 (the 50mm refractor)?  This is the only scope of the
lot that evokes a deeply visceral reaction from me.  Selling this scope
would be against our club recommendations for beginner scopes.  That was
Mark's and my objection in our previous messages. We used Project Astro to
dispose of some scopes like 814 in the past. I question whether it is right
to use them as a dumping ground for the dime store scopes.  As Lee suggests
we could dispose of junk scopes via Goodwill. 

What about the remainder of the donations?  I was selective which
evaluations from Lee were included in the final web page. I suspect that
802, 803, 805, 806 will not sell. While I not would recommend any of them I
am at least not embarrassed using SJAA's name to sell them.  Some others
might not sell because they are not complete. Gary is committing to be
responsible for all the unsold items. With that provision, I am willing to
proceed. I do not want them on the SJAA books following the auction. None
will come home with me.

What about the future? I have always moved to be more selective in what we
accept (and certainly what to retain).  I do believe any scope we retain
needs to be salable and must not conflict with our own recommendations.
Storage for these low return donations is taking space we may need to store
loaner scopes.  Lee has so far been very generous, but what if several of
the large scopes are returned?

I am considering selling my LX200 this year.  My concern is exactly that
expressed by Akkana.  Do I really want to haul the scope to Houge only to
haul it back when it does not sell for a fair price?

Rob Hawley