Terri-Jane Yuzda











Branch Moves to E-Mailing
Newsletters and Notices


BY PRAKASH MULLICK, P.ENG.
Fort McMurray Branch
Member-at-Large

In order to ensure that members receive notices of APEGGA Fort McMurray Branch activities promptly, and to reduce mailing costs, the branch executive has compiled the e-mail addresses of a majority (about 98 per cent) of APEGGA members and members in training.

Electronic communication has the following benefits:

  • It's instantaneous, secure and confidential.
  • The message can be forwarded to others who may benefit from participating in APEGGA activities and functions.
  • Communication is not disrupted or delayed by postal service interuptions.
  • Information can be entered in members' electronic scheduler.
  • There's a significant reduction in cost for printing, handling and mailing notices.

In a 12-month period, six to eight meeting notices and two or three newsletters are sent to all members in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Given that we have about 700 members, postage costs would run between $3,000 and $4,000 per year. Canada Post has announced that the price of a stamp for a first-class letter will increase by one per cent on Jan. 1, 2004.

Add to this the cost of printing, paper, envelopes and handling, and it is not unreasonable to say that the cost for mailing would approach about $5,000 annually. Did you know that the annual budget for the Fort McMurray Branch varies between $5,000 and $6,000?

If e-mail were used for sending meeting notices to members throughout Alberta, the savings in mailing costs alone would be significant - $15,000 or more, by eliminating just one mailing. Think about it! Wouldn't you rather have your membership dues benefit you than Canada Post?

We would like to assure members that the e-mail list would be controlled by APEGGA and used exclusively for distributing notices and newsletters about APEGGA activities. In all electronic communications from APEGGA, the e-mail address will remain hidden and will not be disclosed to others.

The Fort McMurray Branch intends to start using e-mail for sending notices, starting this month. We recognize that in the beginning, there may be some glitches, however we anticipate that these will be ironed out in due course.

We encourage all APEGGA members and M.I.T.s in Wood Buffalo to provide their current e-mail address, either by contacting bjensen@apegga.org, at APEGGA head office, or me, Prakash Mullick, P.Eng., at mullick1@telusplanet.net. We assure members that their e-mail addresses will be kept confidential and used only for official communications from APEGGA.


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