Page 1 of 1

Not sure whether

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:50 pm
by Mid A 15
Not sure whether what I'm about to say is all to do with the CHA so apologies if some (or all) is not.

Indeed if the CHA is not exclusively responsible then that may be the explanation.

However I thought I should mention that this week I have received 3 separate letters from CH containing respectively a cd of music for 2006/7, Christ's Hospital Annual Review 2006/7 and my copy of The Blue.

I would have thought, all things being equal, that it would have been more cost effective to send all 3 items in one envelope.

I may be an untypical case but it is my understanding that there are thousands of of Old Blues on the CHA data base so if those thousands have also been sent 3 separate letters then the postage costs could become quite significant and thus an area whereby The Foundation could save money.

Just thought I'd draw attention to this in what hopefully will be acknowledged to be a constructive fashion.

It certainly is not my intention to be critical but I have learned over the years that sometimes the obvious needs to be highlighted so this is what I'm trying to do.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:15 pm
by Foureyes
I totally agree, although I have not received the "annual review." However, I was surprised to receive the CD separately from The Blue, as I seem to recall that theywent out in the same cover last year. It just seems an unecessary and avoidable additional expense. Perhaps someone at Horsham can explain why it happened.
:shock:

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:29 am
by jtaylor
I've received the CD, but no magazine yet...
I'll pass on the question...

J

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:46 am
by Mrs C.
We consistently receive mail from CH from the postman , including my daughter`s Housey and Old Blue, despite being on site.
Unless mail is intercepted by one of the school secretaries, it finds its way into the postbox.
In the summer we had something from the Health Centre, all of 100 yards away, which had had a nice little trip to the sorting office first .
Multiply this by the number of Non-Foundationers living on site and that`s a lot of money which could have been saved if someone had had their eyes open - it isn`t exactly hard to spot a CH address on an envelope - or is it??
And yet, to save paper , and presumably costs, parents can elect to have termly mail sent by email. I suppose thats also to make sure parents get those mailings though, as they used to be handed to the pupils to take home - as did The Blue - many copies of which never reached their destination.

CH mailings

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:36 am
by sam rider
Thanks for feedback on your heavy post sacks. The Blue and CD are printed by the School rather than the CHA office and I am afraid I don't know the details of why they were unable to have them distributed seperately. Also I cannot comment on other school communications such as health centre and parents letters etc. The CHA is responsible for the Old Blue mailing schedule and event mailings. The Foundation for Housey and the Annual Review.

Whilst in the ideal world it would make great sense for there to be much more sent out electronically and for items to be batched. Unfortunately, at present we do not have the organisation wide database systems to be able to coordinate this. As you can imagine, a characteristic of CH is the highly fragmented nature of its stakeholder groups, each of whom have selected different mailing dates and items. So, in trying to be all things to all people, it is quite a challenge to have all things going out in one batch. All that said, the new CRM system we are putting in over the next couple of years, should improve the situation and save a few trees!
Best Wishes
Sam

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:33 pm
by Great Plum
I received the Annual Review and the Blue (with CD) separately.

I'm not sure why I receive the Annual Review... although it's nice to see that the school has £357 million (did I read that right?) it's not something I would necessarially need...

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:57 pm
by sejintenej
I would have thought that it is in the interests of all parties that the school (in its various guises) finds alternative means to disseminate information.

In the course of an exchange with the Post Office Head Office I have worked out that in the past 11 months perhaps 5% of my mail that I know of has not arrived - that is based on what I know was sent properly addressed and what arrived. Given that a couple if items were returned "Gone Away" without any justification nor attempt at delivery (one such return resulted in a bank type account being blocked) and the majority had some financial value readers will appreciate that my thoughts are somewhat biased.

The post office are dismissive; they say they will not deliver registered or special delivery correspondence when I am away but fail to suggest any way by which I can be assured that my mail will arrive.

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:23 am
by englishangel
My student daughter had not received her new Solo card which should have been sent to our home so I went into the bank to enquire and they said they were keeping it there for her (despite having delivered her twin brother's to the same address). She had notified them of her term-time address but I knew they wouldn't send a card there as it is 'open access'. Further enquiry elicited that mail addressed to her at home had been returned 'gone away' so all mail to her had been stopped. Fortunately her card expires at the end of December so she can sort everything out this week, but if it had expired at the end of November she would have been royally scr**ed.

Re: Not sure whether

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:14 pm
by HerrSchnauzer
Graaagh. :reaper: :tomcat: :offtopic: :deadhorse:

Re: Not sure whether

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:29 pm
by nastymum
You are clearly entirely mad Herrwhatever but I think I love you!

Re: Not sure whether

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:22 am
by englishangel
Four months on, the bank are still not sending any regular mail to my daughter's term-time address and have only sent one three-month statement to home just before Easter.

Re: Not sure whether

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:47 am
by J.R.
Now you all know why those wonderful Cockney's coined the rhyming slang, Merchant Banker !

:shock:

Re: Not sure whether

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:02 pm
by sejintenej
J.R. wrote:Now you all know why those wonderful Cockney's coined the rhyming slang, Merchant Banker !

:shock:
and only because the girlies are not on their backs ......

and that's one speaking; unfortunately that is a stupid name - technically I was one but my time was used up dealing with the Met, City of London Police, anti-terrorism, rogue water taps flooding a 7 storey building - and the ultimate was raised eyebrows from the FSA when I predicted the possibility of our offices being struck by a commercial airliner; I stood my ground having already formed a view about the FSA - 'nuff said? (At least they apologised after 9/11 about 10 years later!)

Cockney slang - they shouldn't have added 3 letters