URWFRC

I don't know if any of you remember but a few weeks ago I posted a thread about the fact I had contacted Sweatshop mailorder regarding getting a discount for club members. They replied with this, this morning


"Thanks for your email.

I have spoken to my Marketing Manager and we can offer you and your forum
members a 10% discount on non-sale goods.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your original
email.

You will need to inform us of the club/forum that you belong to when you
place an order so that we can apply the discount.

On the phone you can order on 020 8758 0044.

If you order via our web site www.sweatshop.co.uk please send an email after
your order again to request the discount.


I hope that this is all ok with you. Any problems or if you would like to
check on availability of stock please do not hesitate to call me on the
above phone number.

Regards,
Steve Tomaschek
Sweatshop Mail Order Manager
"


Do YOU have any thoughts on this, and particularly DW. There is a possibility we may upset the RW shopping partners with this. Do we want to take them up on it?

Comments

  • Well done Blue Knees. Sweatshop do give 10% discount to affiliated running club members anyway, so I don't see any reason why it should upset the RW shopping partners. Ther's nowt like a bit of healthy competition. Go fot it, that's what I say.

  • Dammit, I did £200.00 in there last saturday, never mind, Sounds good to me.as for the RW shopping partners, alls fair in business
  • BK,

    Good work mate. I can't really see any problem with us taking this up myself and this is why...

    The key point from my point of view is that we are the 'UNOFFICIAL' RWFRC, which from my understanding and perspective, decouples us from any direct or formal association with RW (although I know this has traditionally been a grey area.) Therefore, I can't see that there is much of a case to answer regarding the shopping partners. It may be that we have to publicise the Sweatshop arrangement on our own website, but surely the deal has been negotiated by BK on behalf of URWFRC and for it's members and is not really anything to do with RW.

    I will try and speak to Lamb about this and obtain her perspective, but any comments on my thoughts would be appreciated.

    Cheers,

    DW
  • Money is money, my boy.

    How cheaply I am bought.
  • I'm looking for two things.

    First the remit, and the interest from you lot to go ahead and say yes we are interested

    If we are then we give a club name which will probably be URWFRC just because there is a sort of club that some of us have joined. As I see it anyone that uses any of the forums would then have access to this discount.

    If I can drum up some interest out of you lot I will post this on the Gear and General threads.

    We seem to be interested in everything except running at the moment and I'm wondering why I've bothering
  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    BK, Don't see how we could upset RW. There's nothing to stop us trying to arrange similar discounts with the other mail order firms.

    If RW aren't happy with any arrangements we make then I'm sure they would let us know.

    It's a great marketing ploy for Sweatshop as I'm sure they would be happy giving a 10% discount to everyone if it meant them getting lots more business. 90% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

    Your point regarding everything apart for running is probably why I don't spend so much time on this part of the forum as I used to do!

    On a slightly different tangent I think it may be worthwhile pursuing the idea of making the unnoficial club official at sometime in the future (maybe next year) as it does seem to be gaining in popularity. We may have to change the name though!
  • A few things in relation to the SS deal...

    1) Surely you are a member of the URWFRC if you have signed up on the website. Using the forum (either this one or one of the others) doesn't really make you a member of the URWFRC - signing up on the website does. However it depends on the terms that BK has negotiated with SS.

    2) As for making the club official, what exactly are we getting at here? Are we talking about being official in the sense that we are formalised as a club with formal procedures for meetings, election of officers, accounting, etc.? This is only one aspect of the UNOFFICIAL tag as I understand it. The other is that we have no OFFICIAL ties with RW - therefore we can't just evolve into the RWRFC from the URWFRC. This will need to be raised as an issue on it's own if we are to consider this.

    3) Although I have contributed to a few non-running threads recently, I'm also glad that there are still one or two runners out there!
  • Drew, DW, BK

    Is there a bit of disgruntlement about the recent content of this part of the forum? I'm sure those who've been chit chatting to pass the day away wouldn't want to annoy anybody. Maybe there ought to be an FAQ for the URWFRC forum making it clearer what is on and/or off topic?

    Normally, I'd say if the thread doesn't interest you, just ignore it. But the problem with the new format is that threads dissapear off the bottom of the page so quickly.

    Also BK, about not receiving many comments and should you have bothered. I think the discount is a great idea and it's great that you did bother. I got the impression that you club "grandees" would have to decide this one, so didn't say anything.

    Does the club have any sort of formal structure at the moment to deal with things like this and the other issues that DW mentions?

    Neil
  • Hey BK, well done, I'd certainly like discount at Sweatshop. Would this just be on-line or in shops too? I've found before that SS in Harrods doesn't normally participate in discount events so would it apply there too?

    I agree about the off-topic stuff dominating a bit but I just tend to ignore it if I don't want to join in. The chatty threads really need their own forum so that they don't push the running stuff off too quickly.

    Susie
  • Top quality BK well done, its easy for people to say "Oh well I want this , that , the other but i really can't be bothered"

    On the topic of off topic stuff , well it does say non running and chit chat so fair play
  • Mercury, I hadn't noticed the chit chat thing. Thank's for pointing that out. I don't feel bad now.
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    I have to admit the chatty stuff has dominated and with only logging on in the evening for short periods it's hard to find the running topics on this particular forum, but I either ignore it or join in. I'm not adverse to a little light hearted non running matter, it's just that's all there seems to have been here lately.
  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    Neil, sorry if my message appeared disgruntled as I'm definitely not. Some of the non-running threads have covered excellent topics (I'm still laughing over some of the jokes!)
  • Hi BK, I myself have been tied up this week also, but your efforts as usual are very gratefully received, especially if we can receive discount!

    Being in a club already, I currently get 10% off at Sweatshop anyway, so they seem to be offering the standard discount, that doesnt mean it is not worth it though.

    On another point DW raised, we cant just decide we are the official club, that involves RW themselves, also we would need to hold meetings etc, and have minutes and stuff like that, as I have always said, I am happy to attend these meetings, but am unsure how many others would be able.

    The official tag also would require the AAA certification of the club (or similar), is this what all members wish for. Should we have a ballot???

    Have all contributors even registered on our own site yet? http://user.domaindlx.com/rwfrc/index.html

    If not then register now, as your voice will be more vocal if you are a member.

    Regards
  • Hi all

    Thanks for raising this, it's made me stop and think for a few moments about what I personally want out of the club:
    - information, support and experience sharing of running topics.
    - opportunity to meet up at events when geographically possible.
    - some sense of a community that cares if someone is having a bad time
    - bit of light hearted banter when I'm in the mood/have got the time.

    All of these things are already there in the club's current form. I'm personally not in the least bit bothered about saving £3 on a pair of shoes if that involves a load of work and hassle for people who can't meet face to face forming committees, checking status with RW etc. I couldn't/wouldn't be prepared to travel to meetings etc and am quite happy to send a cheque on trust for a tshirt or to support the website. I'd be happy to do a job such as organising the Sca Fell leg of the 3 Peaks next year, or sending off one batch of orders.

    To my mind what's great about the URWFC as it stands is its free spirit and friendliness, let's minimise bureaucracy and admin, there's enough of that already in life.

    Thanks again for raising this BK/DW.
  • DW,

    I read on your other thread about your concern at the lack of answers to your questions. I doubt that I'm one of the people you are looking for comment from, so if there are specific people you'd like to hear from maybe you should say who they are so they know.

    Anyway, regards being official, I'm not involved in running clubs at all so I don't know what constitutes an "official" club, who you need to be recognised by etc.

    Personally, I think it might be a good idea to get a bit more official in the sense of being more organised, just so that things like the Sweatshop deal can be properley organised without all the work landing on one person - i.e. you. Perhaps the club has grown to the point where it needs a bit of organising. I would like it to be as organised as it can get without losing its informality and without becoming bureacratic - where that line falls I don't know.

    However, it depends what people want from the club. I notice that Running Fitness mag does now seem to have a virtual club via its website, which is very organised, but it is a very corporate/marketing-focused affair, which is not really what I would want. I imagine that if we asked RW mag about formal recognition - whatever is meant by that - then that is the direction they would want to go in. But I don't know if they've been asked about that.

    The trick is getting people to think about what they want from the club, rather than what they want from the forum. It might be an idea to start a new thread on that. We'd need to keep boinging it back up the list - not because nobody cares but because they ought to think about it for a while. Maybe such posts should be prefixed - e.g "Club Business: kit orders" - so that people can see that it's a bit more serious and not chat. Such posts could also include a bit of brief info about the club, so that everyone in the forums gets to know about it.

    I've got sore fingers now...

    Neil
  • Just to clarify the discount from Sweatshop's point of view:

    The discount will be available from all 20 Sweatshops except Sweatshop@Harrods. I am currently in the process of informing all the managers about the discount so it should be available from tomorrow (Saturday 21/09/02). If you have any questions about using this discount, please do not hesitate to contact Steve Tomaschek at Mail Order, on 020 8758 0044.

    The discount will only be available on non-sale goods, as sale goods have already been discounted.

    Membership cards will not be required when claiming the discount. You just need to inform the member of staff of your (unofficial) club membership.

    Hope this helps. I will be working in the Teddington Sweatshop tomorrow so hopefully I may see some of you there?

    Anna
    Sweatshop
  • Anna,

    On behalf of URWFRC, many thanks both for posting this clarification and for agreeing to the discount. I suspect we all look forward to spending more money than our respective other halves are happy with on lot's of new kit very soon!

    Thanks also to BK for his great effort in negotiating this.

    DW
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