SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
Wednesday, Dean and I left Bundaberg for four days visiting friends and family in Brisbane and along the Sunshine Coast- a part holiday, part SustainaBundy scouting trip. We've toured community gardens, met with relocalisers in Maleny and along the Sunshine Coast, and tonight will meet with other like minded folks as well. This is the first of several blog posts about what we learned and brainstormed about along the way- look for more stories in the coming days.
Wednesday as we drove south towards Brisbane, Dean and I talked about the SustainaBundy movie night coming up on Wednesday- and that it'd be really good, whenever we have an event of any kind, to always have another one upcoming that we can promote. To that end, we've decided to hold the first SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party at our place on Saturday December 15! We'll promote the environmental benefits of buying second hand instead of new, keeping stuff out of the landfills and extending the life of stuff while we socialise, have fun, talk SustainaBundy with the public and make a few bob!
This first one will be a SustainaBundy Garage Sale Christmas Breakfast Party! On Dec 15, official SustainaBundy members* are welcome to come along to our backyard with their second hand stuff to sell (no new items, please, that defeats the purpose!) at 6am, we'll open the gate to the public at 7am. We'll have Christmas music, baked goods, tea and coffee. Members are also asked to bring chairs, card/trestle tables and any shade-making accessories (umbrellas, tents, gazebos, what have you.)
We're thinking we'd like to get green and yellow balloons to have on the street, and see if we can get sponsors (Foodworks? Local bakery?) to donate the breakfast items, with the proceeds from the breakfast going to SustainaBundy.
All proceeds from the garage sale will go to the members themselves, but donations to SustainaBundy would be welcome!
*At this writing, SustainaBundy membership is free. It will be necessary to create a membership fee before the Garage Sale Party to ensure that the sellers are willing to help work for a sustainable Bundaberg. We want to have these Garage Sale Parties on a regular basis (perhaps monthly?) To that end, we're thinking the membership fee will be valid from the time it's paid until January 1 2009, and thereafter will be due every 12 months. In addition to voting rights, paid membership will allow members to sell second hand items at any SustainaBundy Garage Sale Party during that time. We'll have an individual fee and a family fee, to be determined by the group.
Your thoughts (on both the Garage Sale Party and membership structure) are welcome, more blogging as time permits!
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November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
Sounds great guy's! I think that donations of goods to SustainaBundy itself is a very good idea and I for one will start going through my "no longer needed stuff" this coming week to see what I can find for SB.
Also, how about plants as well which are often very good sellers. At this stage I don't have much in the way of potted plants but with a bit more time (for future garage sales) members could maybe pot up plants from their own gardens or friends gardens to donate?
November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
Hang 10. I have been involved in running a computer market where people brought goods in to be sold on consignment and I found myself stuck with storing all the s**t and doing all the work.
Alternatives:
1) car-boot style where everyone brings and sells their own stuff and donates profits back.
2) people take their unsold stuff back at the end of the day
3) The remaining stuff goes to charity
Tam
November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
That would have been my understanding of it Tamara, people sell their own goods or at least would be there helping to run it and anything not sold would be their responsibility to take back home otherwise yes Andi and Dean could be left with all of the unsold stuff which wouldn't be fair.
November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
I agree with tamarakelly, sellers need to be responsible for their own
stuff, that is: What happens to their stuff left over at the end of
the day. I too had a brainwave to get rid off a lot of surplus stuff,
so thought to combine with others for a charity fund raiser. I ended up
with more stuff than before to deal with, having to sort yet again,
into a piles for charity and an even bigger pile for the dump. Dumping
fees do apply.
I think the idea of the garage sale is a good one, but participants
have to be responsible for the stuff they bring. That does not stop
them entering into private agreements with others, but on no account
should Andi and Dean be left with a mess.
If you want to have some better quality stuff for sale, it needs to be
made clear that store holders have the choice of donating the sale 100%
or they pay a commission to SB. Otherwise we run the risk of it being a
garbage sale, not a garage sale, where some good treasures can be found
by the public.
November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
I think there are three things that will minimise potential problems:
1. Make paid membership a requirement before the Garage Sale Party (perhaps $15 for individuals and $25 for families?), and as outlined previously their paid membership gives them voting rights, allows them to sell at any of our Garage Sale Parties (from now on, GSPs), and is valid until Jan 1 2009. Perhaps requiring that they volunteer at one SB event (a movie night or something) would also help deter people who just want to take advantage of our GSP traffic.
2. If the member is going to be onsite during the GSP, they are responsible for selling their SB donations and taking home anything that doesn't sell.
3. If the member isn't able to be onsite but genuinely wants to donate items for SB to sell, we have right of refusal for donated items (i.e. we don't accept "donations" of junk).
Tam, we thought that having breakfast items donated and specifically only having baked goods (pastries, muffins, etc) and drinks would mean people wouldn't need a plate or utensils or a table, which would cut down our work. However, if you're volunteering... :D
I've never liked the idea of paying an entry fee to look at stuff that's for sale, so I wouldn't want to do that to potential customers. And requiring a 10% donation from sellers also means we have to do some level of policing, so I'd prefer the sellers do what they think is right and our funds raised come from selling breakfast. The most important thing is making sure that people are receptive to our message, and that we all have an enjoyable day!
Rubyglow, while I do like the plant idea, I think it's important to make sure that the "buy second hand first" concept isn't diluted - that would be the main message of the day, and selling new items, crafts, plants, seeds or anything else would muddy that simple concept that we're trying to promote to the community. We'll have to play it by ear and see how well it's received and determine whether we want to expand on it.
November 25th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
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November 24th, 2007
Re: SB scouting trip, blogpost 1
Sounds GREAT!!
How about a pot-luck breaky with 10% of sales from sellers and gold coin donation at the gate from people attending to go to Sustainabundy?
Tam