I'm kind of frustrated that almost no one has ever asked for any of my seeds through the ATP Plant Lists.
Maybe there is value in encouraging new members to ask - at least pointing o0ut that there is an easy way to find people eager to give away certain things as a Welcome Wagon. I think most people are the opposite of greedy - we hesitate to ask for a favor "for nothing" because we DON'T want to appear greedy.
If the only structure were just a page of links to individual members' Plant List Categories of "Seeds for Postage" or "Seeds for New Bees", that would reduce the the work load for any one person. However, now requesting 10 seed packets might mean asking 10 people each to send a bubble mailer.
>> an easy way to find people eager to give away certain things
Having some kind of centralization WOULD help that, but I've learned that the requesting/filling/mailing part is too much work for me, at least until I retire! And I agree with it being undesirable to have any setup that requires too many rules or overhead.
>> Lots of members have extra seeds that they're willing to donate to a bank. But who wants to be the banker, storing, dividing, packaging, and mailing those seeds?
TRUE! On the other hand, I WOULD volunteer to divide and label bulk seeds. I enjoy that and have an efficient system. Since I also have a case of 250 bubble mailers I won't use up for many years, I would donate a hundred or 150 to jump-start the thing.
I thought that if some people were willing to donate bulk seed, I would enjoy splitting them up and then mailing them out to MULTIPLE people who WERE willing to act as "decentralized bankers". Then if one person sent enough petunia seeds to make 100 packets, 5 "decentralized bankers" could each store 20 pkts and add those to their "Virtual Seed Packet" lists.
Then a new person could easily find a few "decentralized bankers" with SOME seeds they want, browse those "decentralized bankers'" lists until they found one banker with MULTIPLE seeds they want, then ask that banker to send a pkt.
It would reduce the problem of "Rick still hasn't sent my seeds" because each banker could say "I'm really busy right now, can you wait X months?"
I would have thought that once money was taken out of it, there would not be much problem with "Rick never sent my seeds". If postage is paid by PayPal and we get confirmation numbers when we mail them, it is pretty transparent and open. Probably make it clear that sending $2.50 for a bubble mailer or 50 cents for a padded first class letter is "at your own risk".
I think it would also have "positive feedback", because most people who get something generous that they DO want, tend to give back whether they have to or not. As long as contributing seeds doesn't obligate a person to also donate unlimited amounts of time, I bet a lot of people would ask for 5-6 different packets, then send back 10-50 of some other variety.
Dr. Deno said:
To Plant a Seed Is a Noble Deed
Propagation Is Conservation
I would add: to give away a seed for free is a wise investment.
