Annual Report 2011

Meals on Wheels Book Room Annual Report 2011 Introduction This Annual Report of the Meals on Wheels Book Room for 2011 supplements the monthly reports. Photo of Books Display The photo above was taken on December 29, 2011. There are 1,942 books on the shelves and tables. Mission The mission of the Meals on Wheels Book Room is to create revenue for Meals on Wheels by selling unwanted books at the Meals on Wheels retail store at a reasonable price. with a pleasant shopping experience. in a commodity way. with efficent utilization of book room volunteers and other resources. Vision To be the location of choice in Laramie County Wyoming to buy good used books at a reasonable price and to be the location of choice for donation of good used books. Summary for Year For the 10 months ending December 31, 2011 the Meals on Wheels Book Room generated $13,483 in revenue (reasonable approximation from counts) $15.58 for every volunteer hour. Volunteer Performance During the 10 months ending December 31, 2011 Book Room volunteers have given 866 hours of time themselves donated 3,026 books themselves purchased 1,769 books at full price with no discounts Space Utilization The move to the northwest corner is a recent move and the layout in the photo is brand new. With these shelves we have had ending inventory as high as 3,265 books during a time of seasonally high book donations. We can comfortably handle about 2,500 books without exceeding the attention span of customers. Pleasant Shopping Experience: Pricing Pricing is important. Books, paperback and hardback, are 50 cents. Children's books are 25 cents. A certain few books are sent to the boutique section in the other building to be sold at a much higher price. There are no discount sales. Pleasant shopping experience: Display The way that books are displayed is important. Tables are a good way to display fiction that is mostly paperback. Tables are a good way to display children's books. For shelf display of other books we try to avoid use of the lowest shelves. There are two light-weight elementary school size chairs that work well for adults preferring to sit and look through books on the shelves. The lighting is good in this section of the building due to the windows and the proximity to the front doors. Volunteers David and Cheri became Book Room volunteers on March 1, 2011. As frequent book buyers at Meals on Wheels and other thrift stores they saw an opportunity at Meals on Wheels in getting new books out more quickly. removing unsold books. Working together they could commit the time to achieve those goals. Methods During the ten months ending December 31, 2011, Book Room volunteers, with the cooperation of Crockett and other store staff using thoughful planning have created a comfortable northwest corner of the building for books. use only a small part of the room at the southwest corner for sorting. put out all books the same day or the next day they come in as donations. There is a standardized written procedure in place that includes quick book sorting. inventory control. activity counts. time records. monthly physical inventory. monthly reports. Plans for 2012 While the commodity approach works best for efficient use of the time of Book Room volunteers there are plans to improve Book Room performance by means of: a Book Room blog (http:/mowbooks.blogspot.com). email notices to book dealers and book buyers. public service announcements. better use of time of Book Room volunteers as measured by revenue per volunteer hour.

First entry

This is a blog for the Cheyenne Wyoming Meals on Wheels Book Room.

David Sneed