This is a highly opinionated post based on knowing absolutely zero about the problem:
( surprised ? ) I am self-employed and have been operating a barely legitimate business for 13 years. My shoe-string budget is difficult, and I have to make choices every single day that I despise. I would love to put my business in the location that would bring in more business and make life easier and make the business look more legitimate. But that is not reality. The NSS needs to think outside the box and plan for worst case scenarios. They need to find the least expensive place possible to operate their office, and that may be 500 miles from the nearest cave. Cavers will come to it if it has something interesting to offer. Finding reliable staff to operate a business is a nightmare. I have yet to find anyone I can trust with my business. I came close one time, but the person died of cancer. Another issue I have, is my customers want something but are not willing to pay for it. They complain about crappy free service. If your customers ( NSS members or potential members ) are not willing to pay for something, then you have to politely not offer that service to them, and in some instances, you might have to get rude. This facility sounds like it has overhead not related to caving. You have to have some kind of security when you operate an office. You have maintenance cost, and book-keeping cost. What good is it to have a business if your cost are more than your income? I would visit the headquarters twice a year, if it were in Houston, Texas, near Intercontinental Airport. But the crime rate around that side of town would make this location risky. I will most likely never visit it at any of the proposed locations, and I bet the other 30 NSS members in the counties next to mine will never visit it, no matter where you put it. Maybe it needs to be a mobile business, like locksmiths. Bob & Bob may have set a good example on how to operate a caving business. Someone can correct me on that, if I am mistaken. But one of the fondest memories of going to a caving event was seeing Bob & Bob's van pull up and start unloading things. If I were in charge of its location, I would put it half-way between Austin and Houston, Texas. But finding staff there to operate it, would be difficult. It would have to be right on the highway so that cavers travelling by, would be able to stop in and visit quickly. My only other thought about this is that having one centralized national office doesn't sound like a way to fairly serve the members or potential members that are spread out over a large nation. David Locklear NSS Life Member 27639 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
