From: Mark Tarver
Subject: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <ed3ba076-5f49-49b1-b1e5-c7942d717c72@k36g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>
Right; this concerns the orders for 'Functional Programming in Qi
second edition'.   There's a simple request on the bottom of this
message after this preamble. Its quite important that you read this
message.

After I advertised the book, I found that the IT of the printer had a
major hole in it.  The IT guy had omitted, while developing the
system, to allow for the three different postage bands that exist from
the UK.  It was simply a very serious error of the Mars Lander
variety.  Hence I spent much of the night trying to figure out how to
get round this crisis.

My solution, which worked, was to get them to make 3 URLS for the book
and to fork people from my site to the right URL depending on which
geographical location people chose.

However there seems to be some anomaly between the figures I'm
recording of web traffic and the figures the publisher are sending
back to me about orders.

Hence I just want to check their figures do tally with the actual
orders.

Hence if you did order this book, I'd be grateful if you'd drop me a
line to say so.

with thanks

Mark

From: Xah Lee
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <7c61649c-4003-44b4-b77a-b26edf3a5367@g17g2000prg.googlegroups.com>
On Dec 1, 4:36 am, Mark Tarver <··········@ukonline.co.uk> wrote:
> Right; this concerns the orders for 'Functional Programming in Qi
> second edition'.   There's a simple request on the bottom of this
> message after this preamble. Its quite important that you read this
> message.
>
> After I advertised the book, I found that the IT of the printer had a
> major hole in it.  The IT guy had omitted, while developing the
> system, to allow for the three different postage bands that exist from
> the UK.  It was simply a very serious error of the Mars Lander
> variety.  Hence I spent much of the night trying to figure out how to
> get round this crisis.

not important here, but i don't understand what you are saying in the
above paragraph, and i suppose many don't understand neither.

“Major hole”? “Hole” as in mistake? “postage bands”? Does that mean
routes? market outlets?? Does the “IT” in “IT of the printer” refer to
Info Technology as in IT sector? n what's IT of the “printer”? is
“printer” as in the the company that prints the book? or about the
printing machine? If machine, then the major hole is literally some
hole or defect in the printing machine??

> My solution, which worked, was to get them to make 3 URLS for the book
> and to fork people from my site to the right URL depending on which
> geographical location people chose.

3 url for the book? What do you mean? Like online book selling sites?

> However there seems to be some anomaly between the figures I'm
> recording of web traffic and the figures the publisher are sending
> back to me about orders.

so, this is about sell stats?

> Hence I just want to check their figures do tally with the actual
> orders.
>
> Hence if you did order this book, I'd be grateful if you'd drop me a
> line to say so.
>
> with thanks

So, overall i have no idea what you are saying, except requesting
people to email you if they bought it. But then in the top you say it
is important to read the reason... and the reason escaped me.

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄
From: George Neuner
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <ebtbj4tlg45chaobu1doidgkrelhhbsbrk@4ax.com>
On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 11:43:56 -0800 (PST), Xah Lee <······@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Dec 1, 4:36 am, Mark Tarver <··········@ukonline.co.uk> wrote:
>> Right; this concerns the orders for 'Functional Programming in Qi
>> second edition'.   There's a simple request on the bottom of this
>> message after this preamble. Its quite important that you read this
>> message.
>>
>> After I advertised the book, I found that the IT of the printer had a
>> major hole in it.  The IT guy had omitted, while developing the
>> system, to allow for the three different postage bands that exist from
>> the UK.  It was simply a very serious error of the Mars Lander
>> variety.  Hence I spent much of the night trying to figure out how to
>> get round this crisis.
>
>not important here, but i don't understand what you are saying in the
>above paragraph, and i suppose many don't understand neither.

???  It's about being able to charge the correct postage for delivery.
Somebody goofed and initially all UK purchasers were charged the same
postage for delivery despite actual costs being different for various
regions.

I'm not sure what Mark is trying to learn but the situation seems
clear.


>�Major hole�? �Hole� as in mistake? �postage bands�? Does that mean
>routes? market outlets?? Does the �IT� in �IT of the printer� refer to
>Info Technology as in IT sector? n what's IT of the �printer�? is
>�printer� as in the the company that prints the book? or about the
>printing machine? If machine, then the major hole is literally some
>hole or defect in the printing machine??
>
>> My solution, which worked, was to get them to make 3 URLS for the book
>> and to fork people from my site to the right URL depending on which
>> geographical location people chose.
>
>3 url for the book? What do you mean? Like online book selling sites?
>
>> However there seems to be some anomaly between the figures I'm
>> recording of web traffic and the figures the publisher are sending
>> back to me about orders.
>
>so, this is about sell stats?
>
>> Hence I just want to check their figures do tally with the actual
>> orders.
>>
>> Hence if you did order this book, I'd be grateful if you'd drop me a
>> line to say so.
>>
>> with thanks
>
>So, overall i have no idea what you are saying, except requesting
>people to email you if they bought it. But then in the top you say it
>is important to read the reason... and the reason escaped me.
>
>  Xah
>? http://xahlee.org/
>
>?

George
From: Mark Tarver
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <09abd107-4a9f-4d2a-aaef-c7d9d25ae5d7@j38g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>
> >So, overall i have no idea what you are saying, except requesting
> >people to email you if they bought it. But then in the top you say it
> >is important to read the reason... and the reason escaped me.
>
> >  Xah

Sigh; you need to think it out a little bit, Xah.  I don't want to go
down this road with you.

Anyway from the publisher ..............

_______________________________________________________________________________________

PrintOnDemand apologise for the confusion that existed with respect to
ordering 'Functional Programming in Qi'.  We recently upgraded our IT
system, and our IT person had omitted to parameterise his code for
different postal zones.  This problem was rectified for orders for
'Functional Programming in Qi', early Friday evening.

We want to assure those who ordered copies of this book, that all
orders will be fulfilled.  We ask you to bear in mind the usual time
needed for a parcel to be delivered overseas which is 6-10 days
depending on the distance from the UK.  In addition, if you ordered
your copy late on Friday or over the weekend, you should allow for an
extra two days because in that event, your copy will be sent on
Monday.

Please do bear in mind that the Christmas season is approaching and
that this Friday is the last posting date for airmail to Australia/New
Zealand and next Wednesday for the USA.

If you have any issues with your order, please do not hesitate to get
in touch.

yours

Simon Potter
Publishing Services Manager
Print on Demand
simon AT printondemand-worldwide.com
From: Jon Harrop
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <5fednagLdt2dKKvUnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@posted.plusnet>
George Neuner wrote:
> ???  It's about being able to charge the correct postage for delivery.
> Somebody goofed and initially all UK purchasers were charged the same
> postage for delivery despite actual costs being different for various
> regions.

Are you sure? That seems quite inconsequential to me. We charge the same for
delivery anywhere in the world...

-- 
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/?u
From: Mark Tarver
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <55791eb3-82a3-4a84-8b78-3b0e3c44d88c@j38g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>
On 3 Dec, 16:36, Jon Harrop <····@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
> George Neuner wrote:
> > ???  It's about being able to charge the correct postage for delivery.
> > Somebody goofed and initially all UK purchasers were charged the same
> > postage for delivery despite actual costs being different for various
> > regions.
>
> Are you sure? That seems quite inconsequential to me. We charge the same for
> delivery anywhere in the world...
>
> --
> Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.http://www.ffconsultancy.com/?u

As I understand it; the PO have three postal zones - UK, in Europe and
outside Europe and PrintOnDemand are charging differently depending on
the costs of postage.  They charge

£3.50 UK
£5.00 Europe
£8.50 Rest of the World

If you check http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=53800712&catId=400036
and look up the costs for sending a 750g book by airmail, you'll find
that their charges are almost exactly those of the Royal Mail.  The
charges for UK mail are £3.08 which tallies close eough with their
£3.50.  Its perfectly fair.

Its very logical; but their IT guy needs a kick in the pants for
screwing it up.

Mark
From: Jon Harrop
Subject: Re: important personal request
Date: 
Message-ID: <C9-dnVXe7bsLV6vUnZ2dnUVZ8q2dnZ2d@posted.plusnet>
Mark Tarver wrote:
> On 3 Dec, 16:36, Jon Harrop <····@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
>> George Neuner wrote:
>> > ???  It's about being able to charge the correct postage for delivery.
>> > Somebody goofed and initially all UK purchasers were charged the same
>> > postage for delivery despite actual costs being different for various
>> > regions.
>>
>> Are you sure? That seems quite inconsequential to me. We charge the same
>> for delivery anywhere in the world...
>>
>> --
>> Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy
>> Ltd.http://www.ffconsultancy.com/?u
> 
> As I understand it; the PO have three postal zones - UK, in Europe and
> outside Europe and PrintOnDemand are charging differently depending on
> the costs of postage.  They charge
> 
> £3.50 UK
> £5.00 Europe
> £8.50 Rest of the World
> 
> If you check
> http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=53800712&catId=400036
> and look up the costs for sending a 750g book by airmail, you'll find
> that their charges are almost exactly those of the Royal Mail.  The
> charges for UK mail are £3.08 which tallies close eough with their
> £3.50.  Its perfectly fair.
> 
> Its very logical; but their IT guy needs a kick in the pants for
> screwing it up.

The difference in cost is so small that you're better off saving the trouble
and charging a single fee for everyone when you consider how much time has
been wasted already and how much will be wasted by people placing orders
with inappropriate shipping.

That is precisely why we do this.

-- 
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/?u