SSE member catalog

[Heritage]

Does SSE still send out a printed catalog with membership? (the phone book format) If so, when does it normally arrive. I seem to remember it was in January but it's been a few years since i have been a member so maybe things have changed.

Thanks for any info!
Steve

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Heritage

Does SSE still send out a printed catalog with membership? (the phone book format) If so, when does it normally arrive. I seem to remember it was in January but it's been a few years since i have been a member so maybe things have changed.

Thanks for any info!
Steve

Steve, I was going to put a thread about this in General discussion, but you beat me to it.

Yes, as an SSE member you should get the large what I call paper yearbook.

And this is THE latest that I've gone since I joined SSE in 1989 without seeing it delivered, so what the problem is I don't know.

But I have to call SSE to ask some other questions and give some help, so I'll see what the situation is with respect to the paper 2017 Yearbook.

Carolyn

[carolyn137]

I just found out that a friendof mine in IL got the paper catalog last Thursday.

Carolyn

[Heritage]

Thanks Carolyn!

Steve

[Andrey_BY]

Neil L. is lucky one as always)
I expect mine later in February - early in March as always...

[chancethegardener]

I received mine a week ago.

[ilex]

Got it yesterday

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by ilex

Got it yesterday

Thanks for sharing since I'm much closer to IA than you are.

But I called my local Post Office just to be sure and they said they now have drones and that it was being sent via a team of huskies pulling a sled that was full of the paper catalogs headed East.

So now I wait, and wait, but of course can ask Neil to look things up for me,and he has, so that's great.

Carolyn

[carolyn137]

I called SSE today,called the general number and a robot lady went so fast no one could write down anything, so I just waited and was then turned over to Customer Service,which was good.

She told me that in the Fall Heritage magazine if you wanted a yearbook you had to contact them to let them know, I hadn't seen that.

Is that one way of thinning the herd so that SSE makes more money saving on shipping costs? And I ask since when I joined SSE in 1989 I paid for a Lifetime membership so I wouldn't have to pay the annual fee and always get what they sent out and at that time it was just the 4 Heritage magazines. No e-mails as they do now, but yes,still the annual public catalog for anyone,SSE member or not/.

She confirmed all that I said and said they would send one out to me and it would probably arrive next week. Then I get an e-mail with an invoice, but thank heavens I owed nothing.

One of the main reasons I wanted it is b/c I'm still working on the seed offer and need to know the basic traits of each variety,especially for the seeds produced by my seed producers this past summer since so many of them are new ones such that one couldn't just go to Tania's website or Google them to find out more,no way. But my SSE listed members who are also seed producers were listing them in the Yearbook withwhat I wanted to know.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it and to say I was upset would be an understatement.

I wonder if there are others who didn't get theirs for the same reason since that would impact not just the listed members in the US but those who are listed members from other countries as well.

Carolyn, where a heavy snow squall just came through, temps down to 3F tonight, same for tomorrow and then back up again. The buds are out on lilacs,so no lilacs this year, buds out on apple trees,gone,RIP and where I live it's big time orchard country.

[KarenO]

Dear Carolyn,
How would they know you still wanted a catalog? Expecting one sent at their expense without you specifically requesting one when there is a paperless option seems strange to me.
how can the shipping people at this big company possibly know that you want one, are still at the same address or are even still be alive for that matter unless you tell them.
Paper catalogs will be a thing of the past for every seed company eventually as so many people request expensive printed paper catalogs that never place an order.
More and more catalog sales companies of all kinds are going paperless, garden catalogs are one of the last holdouts in my observation and that is likely due to a rural and older audience overall. This is changing slowly but surely as Internet is better and almost everyone has access to a computer these days.
KarenO

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by KarenO

Dear Carolyn,
How would they know you still wanted a catalog? Expecting one sent at their expense without you specifically requesting one when there is a paperless option seems strange to me.
how can the shipping people at this big company possibly know that you want one, are still at the same address or are even still be alive for that matter unless you tell them.
Paper catalogs will be a thing of the past for every seed company eventually as so many people request expensive printed paper catalogs that never place an order.
More and more catalog sales companies of all kinds are going paperless, garden catalogs are one of the last holdouts in my observation and that is likely due to a rural and older audience overall. This is changing slowly but surely as Internet is better and almost everyone has access to a computer these days.
KarenO

Karen,you've said the same thing over and over.

I was not the only one who missed the notice in the Fall Heritage magazine.

Your assumption that everyone has a computer re SSE issues is not what I know,I could list many who are not oldsters who still refuse to use computers,their choice, whether at home or in a nearby library such has we have in our own local library.

I hope you didn't miss my own issue of not being able to see what those of my seed producers, who are also listed members, listed which would help me a lot in terms of a seed offer.

Yes my seed producer group has a spreadsheet off of which they chose what they want, there's also a germination page that goes with that, but as to performance and specifics,no,they don't indicate that,well a few do via group e-mails.

Two years ago Glenn Drowns at Sandhill gave up sending out catalogs except in those circumstances where one was justified,again,his choice,due to the increasing costs of printing,binding, postage and mailing.

I used to get many catalogs since I preferred sitting in my recliner chair rather than sitting at my computer, but after you don't order anything for a few years,off you go from their mailing list.

Examples for me include Johnny's and Baker Creek and the one up in Maine, owners name is Tim, I haven't been sent that one recently since I hadn't ordered. No need for me to list the ones I still get since most of them I do order from and that includes replacements for perennial flowers,or interested in trying something just out,or whatever

I use catalogs primarily as a research tool to help answer questions here at Tville as well as at idig, and for those who just e- mail me out of the blue, which has been happening more frequently.

You wrote

(How would they know you still wanted a catalog? Expecting one sent at their expense without you specifically requesting one when there is a paperless option seems strange to me.
how can the shipping people at this big company possibly know that you want one, are still at the same address or are even still be alive for that matter unless you tell them.)

Nothing strange about it at all since as I said above I was still getting all the publications,not being sent back to sender, and it's all about my being a LIFETIME SSE memberr since 1989.

Carolyn

[KarenO]

such a paradox. not one positive word about them but can`t live another minute without the catalog. Best wishes.
Not another word from me except this:
have a look at what Neil L wrote in the catalog about my Zenàs gift tomato and then, if you are inclined have a look at my online listing with photos and description and the story and see why I think as I do.

KarenO

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by KarenO

such a paradox. not one positive word about them but can`t live another minute without the catalog. Best wishes.
Not another word from me.
KarenO

But another word from me since you've forgotten that my seed producers who are also listed SSE members do list what they get from me as one contribution.

But,in addition when I was told that last year there were about 700 listed members and for this year only 400,that raised alarm bells for me and for other members who are still good friends and always will be .

Fact is that SSE has changed considerably in recent years,I enumerated those changes in another thread here at Tville.

Carolyn

[JohnJones]

Deleted as it just wasn't constructive or positive.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by JohnJones

Deleted as it just wasn't constructive or positive.

Correct since what I got was your original post sent to me at home and was about to respond to you when I saw you had changed what you wrote.

Carolyn