Fri, 08/16/2024 - 6:24am

Question of the Week

Would you like to see the return of mailed premium lists, entry returns and judging schedules?

 

Julie Felten

Wauconda, Illinois

It sure would be nice! I often wonder how many entries are missed without mailed premiums. Working people are usually so inundated with emails, it's hard to keep up! Plus, judges have to print out schedules. Heck, most people don't even have printers these days. Having old, tired eyes looking at a small phone screen for show information is ridiculous. Please bring old school back. 

 

Claudette Papenberg 

Madison, Florida

Yes. I miss the snail mail, and like having the info at hand. When you live where there isn’t any good internet, it makes a difference. 

 

Joanne Mistler

Batavia, New York

How many shows have I missed because I did not see the closing date in time? Or I just overlooked a show?

Yes, absolutely, I would love to have snail-mail premium lists back. Maybe take a survey and send them out to people who want them?

 

Deanna Liskey

Fremont, California

No, I would not like to go back to snail-mailing the premium lists, entry returns and judging schedules. As a president and show chair of a group club, being able to digitally send them out has really helped our club's bottom line. Our superintendent only charges 8¢ per email address, versus printing costs and USPS postage. And USPS is not as dependable and timely as it once was.

 

Bobby Hutton 

Louisville, Kentucky 

YES!

 

Jessie Gerszewski

Tucson, Arizona

No, I don’t want to see premium lists and judging programs be printed and mailed. It’s a waste of time, money and paper! I hated always throwing out the premiums we weren’t interested in. I prefer finding them online.

 

Karen Mills Heron

Poughkeepsie, New York

Premium lists give necessary information about the show in general, and especially the clubs that support entries and specialties, as well as special events and opportunities that are available on a day, weekend or cluster. Online connections are not always easily available for some.

 

Dana Brown

Lubbock, Texas

I would love to see some sort of acknowledgment. There is one very well-known superintendent that does not notify you one way or another. Snail mail, email, phone call — something telling you the status of your entry!

 

Peggy Kenney

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

If a show is outside my local area, I may not have it on my calendar "radar." So many details —especially when you are distant — are there. And the hard copy provides a GPS address on travel days.

 

Alicia Moore

Chesapeake Beach, Maryland

I do not want snail-mail premiums anymore. As a matter of fact, I’d like only electronic entries to be allowed, but that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

It is a waste of paper, for one, and if people start depending on that to be prepared for shows, and someone doesn’t get a premium in the mail, that would cause issues. Plus, it is more cost for the clubs to mail them.

 

Anita Gage

Fortuna, California 

Please! I have missed so many entries or filled out online incorrectly by not having a paper premium list. If a printer is not available, we also don’t have printed schedules. With the increase in entry fees already, these must be included. 

 

Beth Hernandez

Oak Park, Michigan

Yes, I for one would like to see them return. Many people have internet issues. Also, out of sight, out of mind. When the premium list is right in front of them, it will be read through and is a physical reminder to enter the shows if they are interested. I think it may also boost entries for clubs. 

 

Barb Ewing

Las Vegas, New Mexico

I don’t mind digital premium lists, but it would be nice if the super would provide a link to the premium in the email they send. I prefer online entries, but some of the fees are ridiculous since online entries save them money from processing paper entries manually.

 

Clarence Gelwicks

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

I'd rather not see the return of mailed premium lists, entry returns and judging schedules. The majority of people (not all) are online in some capacity and carry some type of smart phone with them everywhere. It's more waste going in the garbage and added mailing costs, which the superintendents should be using to upgrade their online entry systems. The costs of online entries should also be reduced, too. $4 per entry is exorbitant considering there is no typing entry info into the system like there is with mailed paper entries.

 

Linda Scanlon

Eagle, Colorado

As a past exhibitor, I am very glad the demise of the printed premiums, entry returns and judging schedules has not yet occurred. As a judge I would very much like to see them printed again. The first thing I do when getting to the first show of a weekend or cluster is go to the superintendent to get a "real" judging schedule. They seldom print on my computer the way they were sent but instead come out a confusing mess, often in minute type, which I can barely read. I am interested in the entire show, want to know who will be on the panels, what they are doing, and the timing of everything so if I have free time I can schedule it to view other parts of the shows. I also want a full catalog, and am happy when the super automatically has it and I do not need to remember to tell them in advance that I want it.

 

Laura Brown

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Yes — but not if they raise the entry fees again.

 

Leslie Reed 

Gurley, Alabama

No. Completely unneeded as far as I'm concerned. And another cost to the club that isn't necessary.

 

Lilian Barber

Menifee, California

Although I’ve “aged out” now from showing my dogs, I really feel that snail-mailed premium lists are very important. For one thing, not everyone has a computer and printer, and additional households may have a computer but no printer. During the first few years of my dog-show life, I didn’t have either of those and would most likely not have become actively involved with the dog-show world in which I participated fairly successfully for more than 50 years if I hadn’t received premium lists in the mail. I’m sure I’m not the only one in that situation. Quite a few people have a computer but no printer, even nowadays. Add to that the people who tend to be even just a bit lazy; the extra effort to print out a premium list and entry form or doing so on time can be a contributing factor to missing an entry — or multiple entries.

 

June Peterson 

Brevard, North Carolina

Not a big fan of more paper mail. I already receive an enormous amount of advertisements and bills. I would still go online to check shows, as I might miss a show if I relied on snail mail.

 

Laurie King Telfair

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Oh, yes. I would love a return of the mailed premium list and judging schedule. I usually print them off, if my printer chooses to work and I have ink. I need the information, and having it printed is so much more convenient than having to pull it up from the internet.
I don’t expect the printed version to ever return.
 

Alice Lawrence

Stafford Springs, Connecticut

Yes! Yes! And yes!

 

Janice M. Leonard 

Denver, Colorado

No. Anything I need from the premium list online I can print off myself without wondering where I put the mailed one. It saves paper, printing costs, mailing cost and man hours. If you want a printed copy, you can request it. If you want RV or grooming space, you better be able to do it online when it opens, or you might not get in. It’s not a snail-mail world anymore.

 

Tuni Conti

Oxford, Connecticut

Yes, please! I seriously miss these in the mail.

 

Mark Francis Jaeger

Mason, Michigan

If you want to see your entry fees rise, then by all means try to make snail-mail mandatory. USPS rates are high enough that doing so would add hundreds of dollars to the cost of an all-breed show. Clubs would have to cover that by raising entry fees or face losses that would imperil their ability to continue holding shows.

 

Jeanne Nonhof

Plymouth, Wisconsin

Would love to see mailed premium lists again, but it will never happen. It was so convenient to line them all up and decide where to go. Now you have to hunt around for information.

 

Jay Phinizy

Acworth, New Hampshire

Yes! There is a very real disconnect with computerized forms. I know this not just anecdotally, but as a fact. For example, I used to write a very simple newsletter for the county farm bureau. Since that county board decided to discontinue that newsletter, membership has declined by about 30 to 35 percent. There are other examples I could cite, but that seems to sum up the problem perfectly.

When we used to show, the superintendents began to computerize premium lists. We were less inclined to enter, as premium lists were not tangible, physically in front of us. Now, we can’t be bothered. Although I was on the AKC board, I felt it was important to stay directly connected to dog shows for all the obvious reasons — despite the criticisms by fellow board members, who at the same time gave themselves more breeds to judge.

Together with centralizing many shows at several major sites across the country, which I characterize as “cluster mania," not only has the public become less involved with purebred dogs, but a lack of the ubiquitous printed premium lists certainly has reduced the number of entries at all-breed clubs.

Simply put, "out of sight, out of mind."

 

Sue Bauman 

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Yes, as it is annoying trying to scroll through on my phone.

 

Sylvia Arrowwood

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Costs of snail mail would be pushed on to the exhibitors. We, the exhibitors, don't want or need any additional costs.

Many of us are overstretched already. NO THANKS!

 

Christine Chapman

Primos, Pennsylvania

ABSOLUTELY! And the sooner, the better.

 

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