Summary of the Meeting of Sue and Dagmar of CODA NSC with Fellowship Souvenirs, 15th October 08 in St Erth, Cornwall.

1.The meeting commenced at 12 noon at the warehouse premises at St Erth where Don Dutton (DD)welcomed S & D, introduced us to Sharon and Mel, the volunteer staff and showed us round the warehouse which in addition to CODA literature stocked literature and materials from other fellowships stacked on shelves on the ground floor and in showroom format on the first floor. The office was also on the first floor.

1.2 We were told that warehouse is staffed and the phone is answered for orders between 10 am and 3.00 pm Monday to Friday.

1.3 The procedure is that the order is taken over the phone or from an order form and handwritten into the duplicate invoice book. It is priced and 10% by retail value is added for P & P. The order is packed and despatched by post or courier “usually same day unless we’re out of stock”. CODA orders are highlighted in the sales book so they can be identified.

1.4 Dagmar made a purchase for the Exeter group and paid by credit card.

DD then invited S & D to his home a few minutes away for a meeting where we were joined by his wife Eileen who is an active partner in the business.

2. Materials and pricing

2.1 The requested stocktake had not been done and we were given a written list of approximate numbers of each of the leaflets and booklets stocked together with current prices.

2.2 The big book and workbook are obtained from the US and the leaflets are printed locally. There have been 2 or 3 reprints of various leaflets in the last 10 years.

2.3 FS do not have a current list of up-to-date current literature

2.4 It is not known how much of the stocked material is current and how much has been amended or scrapped

2.5 For the first few years, before it was available on the website, FS produced and supplied the “Where to Find” leaflet free of charge

2.6 The materials are priced by FS on the basis that FS is a business and has to make money on its sales. FS is not a registered Charity though donations to Childrens’, Spiritual and Religious Fellowships and Charities are made. There are no records of these donations as they are sometimes made through personal accounts.

2.7 Materials are supplied to Conventions and retreats on a sale or return basis and FS pay 25% of the sold materials

2.8 Some “ballpark” calculations about how much would have to be paid for the stock were made in a spirit of “what if”. No conclusions were reached because there are a lot of variables including whether the Agreement is valid.

3. The CODA/FS Agreement

3.1 Sue explained that CODA NSC needed to understand whether the Agreement was still valid, whether we wanted to continue with it and how much would CODA have to pay to end the Agreement and purchase the stock.

3.2 (For information:

  • The Agreement allowed for FS to supply CODA approved literature under License from the U.S.
  • They could set their own prices and were to produce a monthly report to CODA of sales of CODA materials and sales of other materials to CODA members.
  • 25% of CODA literature sales and 10% of other sales to CODA members was to be paid to CODA on a quarterly basis.
  • Should CODA no longer require FS to supply CODA should pay for the existing stock at retail less 25%. )

3.3 DD was unable to find his copy of the Agreement. He was given a photocopy for his records and we reviewedit a paragraph at a time.

3.4 DD said that they had made 7 or 8 quarterly payments from the inception of the Agreement. They have no records. He then received a phone call to say that CODA no longer wished to receive payment as it was contrary to the Traditions. He subsequently received another call to say that the reports of sales were also not required. There are no records of these calls but he believes them to have come from the person who signed the Agreement in the first place. There is nothing in writing.

4. Standard of service

4.1 Sue explained that she had carried out a national survey amongst the groups in order to understand how FS was working for CODA. There had been mixed results with approximately 1/3 of the responses being extremely happy with the prompt and cheerful service a 1/3 neutral and 1/3 very unhappy with the delays and lack of response to messages.

4.2 DD was at a loss to understand how there could have been such dissatisfaction and was adamant that with the following exceptions that can’t have been the case. Delays at the beginning of this year because of delays in receiving stocks of the big book from USA, ordered in October and received in January and as a consequence of moving warehouse a few months ago. The move was across the road to cheaper premises and they had not arranged for post redirection and relied on “the postman knowing” and that this usually worked. They weren’t aware of any major delays caused by this move though there was an occasional one from the previous move. Sharon who later joined the meeting for a short time confirmed this information.

4.3 D related her own experience in April 07 where it took a month to receive the big book and workbook and 3 phone calls which gave different reasons for the delay. She explained that in her case and other people joining CODA were often in a distressed state and needed the book promptly to support their recovery.

4.4 DD undertook to investigate how that could have happened. It emerged that there is no process for recording when orders are received. The only record of an order is the invoice whose information is then recorded in the sales book so it was not possible to ascertain the level of delays from their records.

5. Contact

5.1 DD explained that there had been very little contact with CODA right from the beginning of the Agreement (’98) and none at all for about 8 years from the above call till Sue made contact earlier this year.

5.2 DD and FS as a business do not use a computer or internet

5.3 Sue as national literature person has given her contact details to DD

6. The Future

6.1 DD and ED are semi-retired, visiting the warehouse daily for a couple of hours. On retirement the business will not continue in the family.

6.2 They have appointed agents in various regions of the U.K including one in the Midlands who is shortly to launch an internet sales site. It is possible that they will take on the business.

6.3 We made the point that FS and its agents will have to seek approval from CODA before featuring our literature on any internet sites.

The meeting concluded at 3pm and we undertook to submit the minutes/summary to DD & ED for their approval before submitting them to the NSC.