Box pass or tea swap?

[Maitre_Tea]

I think a tea swap is best because it includes drinkers from East Asia, who probably have older/more interesting stuff than what we might have. If it were a box pass within the United States it would probably be filled with mostly younger stuff.

[MarshalN]

The Canadian customs is also pretty nasty, and hold things up sometimes for no good reason.

[Drax]

Wha...?

Well this is surprise. Thanks to edk for re-kindling this thread. Back at the end of October, I tried to move forward with both a tea swap AND the tea box but got like 2 responses total and canceled both.

I'm sensing tea swap sounds more favorable at this point.

Sounds like their might be 2 options at this point...

1) Central distribution (i.e. all send to one person, that person prepares samples of everything and re-distributes).

2) Try the local match-ups in smaller groups.

Or...?

(Or was it me, and I should stay out of it? (: )

[edkrueger]

MarshalN is correct, we did loose a box like that. If we do a box maybe we should require a deposit to be payed back once the next in line confirms that he has received the box.

[MarshalN]

If we do central distribution, it has to be already divided by everybody -- i.e. everybody should be sending 10 (or whatever) packets to the central person. The only thing the central person needs/should need to do is to put one bag into each box and send it out. Of course, that person also needs to be compensated for the cost of the mail a little bit.

[IPT]

I've never done anything like this before, but I thought we could be broken up into groups and trade amongst the group. After six months or something like that, the groups could be broken up and reformed so people are now in new groups. This way no one person is responsible for a group and also the groups could manage themselves. Just friends swapping teas.

Just a thought.

[gingkoseto]

I am not sure if I can participate but this is an interesting idea Here is my thought -

Maybe a post can be put up. Then the first poster puts what s/he can contribute. Then whoever want it will write the 2nd post to claim it, and meantime writes what s/he can contribute. Then whoever want to take the second tea sample will write the 3rd post to claim it and post what s/he can contribute. And so on... But I am not sure what the first poster should get.

Besides I recommend paypal shipping option, which allows parcel post/first class mail to be tracked, with only 19c cost.

[Maitre_Tea]

I think it might be more efficient to do the central distribution, but that person has to be reliable...like really, really reliable. It would totally suck for someone to just take all the tea and run.

Yes, I have little faith in humankind.

[TeaPeople]

I think having one point person that everyone ships to would be the most effective and quickest way to get everyone that participates tea. I like all the different ideas. I think there are a few different things that can work. Maybe we can try one option and just see how it goes.

[kymidwife]

I personally really like the central distribution idea. I orchestrated a Signature Blends Box Pass which has been successful and continues to make its travels... but I would have liked the idea of everyone sending me tea, perhaps some sample envelopes or tins (already divided would be great), and a couple of bucks per contributor to put toward shipping. The benefit would be immediate gratification for everyone... as opposed to long waits, people who come and go on the forum, changes in address, and the potential for the entire box to be lost. It would also enable newbies to participate regardless of the time they've been active on the forum, because if they don't send something to contribute to the exchange, they don't get anything sent back.

The disadvantages I foresee are: participants would probably receive some teas they don't care for, rather than having the chance to pick/choose/sample.... and there would be no opportunity to add new participants to the list. Also, there would have to be some provision for how to handle a situation where a contributor sends tea to the central distributor which is not fit to distribute (old/stale/low quality/generally nasty). The distributor would have to be prepared to handle rejecting a submission to prevent a participant from collecting a bunch of great samples while only contributing crap. Plus, as has been pointed out, you have to have a very reliable central point, and that person has to have the time/patience/willingness to distribute. But overall, I really like the idea and might try to orchestrate something similar in the future when my current box pass concludes.

Sarah

[TeaPeople]

Do people want to do this? Although I would like to, I can't be the person to collect and distribute the teas if we do a central location mailing. I live in an apartment and my buzzer doesn't work so I probably wouldn't get the shipments in a timely or efficient manner. Maybe we should start a list of people who want to be included. Then once we get enough people and a volunteer to be the point person we can start. Thoughts?

[jackdaniel]

Look, people! At this point I don't care how or who, but all I can tell ya is that Spring is fast approaching (which means gardening time for me), and I've got a lot of stuff I'd like to share and get some feedback on. Count me in!

[jackdaniel]

Fall is coming! Back to tea time!

[zeusmta]

Voted for box pass, but would like to participate in either.