I am a retired USPS employee. I did a check of the Federal Register, and did not find any notice of a filing. The USPS has ALWAYS preferred (but not required) all upper case lettering and no punctuation for business mail, unless a barcode is being applied. Information (more than you might ever want) on addressing may be found here: http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/Pub28/pub28.pdf
The main character from Jungle Book missing from our program is Bagheera the Panther. He was the wise advisor to the young Mowgli. Panther Scouts might work.
But much thought would have to given to such a change. There is a lot of tradition in the Webelos program.
The Cub Scout Academics and Sports program was supposed to add a Good Manners belt-loop. Mid-November according to national Supply unless they have dropped this.
I'm not a Registrar, so I don't know the answer to this: even if you have the membership number, will the training history roll over? Certainly if you take a new application, all training history is lost, I assume.
Our council has such a patch; it's design changes annually so the boy doesn't get the same patch over and over. It was Chili Pepper for a few years; this year it's the Solar Flare. See it at http://www.bsacac.org/Store/product.php?productid=16156&cat=264&page=1
The Insignia Guide states that red is for Venturing youth service, but Glenn is correct, that pre-LFL Exploring may also wear the red back. This was dropped from the verbiage in the Guide for some reason.
There IS a Wood Badge hiking staff medallion, #02228, showing the beads and ax-in-log. No WB patrol medallions anymore; I suspect National wants to promote WB as a whole, rather than focus on patrols.
There are a few situations which should require a prerequisite. Swimming already specifically says the Scout must pass the First Class swim test. Orienteering SHOULD state that the Scout must have done the Orienteering hike required in First Class requirement 2 BEFORE he begins work on the Merit Badge.
I like this idea. There are limits to its practicality, though.
We have 12 districts, and due to the heat here in Texas, we prefer to get as many camps completed in June as possible, so unless we can clone the directors, that part won't work for us. We typically run 5 camps one week, 5 another, and the other two a bit later. We can share some of the supplies, but it's too much risk to have the cub scouts out in 100-plus temperatures, not to mention the directors out there 12 weeks running.
Rather than be a lesson, have the video be an introduction--"Here's what you will need to do to earn this badge." During the presentation, show the pamphlet and tell the viewer that details on how to meet the requirements are found in the pamphlet.
We want to encourage our youth to read for understanding, which is a critical skill for success.
I agree with the comments about making appointments and meeting with adults.
I question as to BSA's committment to the future of this program. Those who started in 2004 and did a Good Turn each year have now obtained the segments to completely encircle the patch. The GTFA information is very difficult to access through scouting.org, and I wonder if this is a program whose time is about to expire.
They will need to be revised anyway, because "This Is Scouting" must be added and "New Leader Essentials" is no longer part of the training curriculum. Or will have to be dropped in a year or two, depending on the tenure for a given award.
I agree with some of the other comments except for one practical thing: in the Cub Scouting Boy's Life Program Features, there are fun activities to do, but they do not lead to advancement. Not only do the den leaders have to plan a fun weekly activity, but they also have to (let's face facts) assign achievements to be done at home, and then later check the boy's books to see that the tasks were completed. This puts a lot of work on the den leader.
I have always thought it odd that Program Features would have any activity items which count as Achievements listed after February. Most non-LDS unit boys should have completed their achievements by that time.
Perhaps your council shop doesn't use quite the same process as others. After we send our EDI order through ScoutNet, very quickly in the Print queue we receive a file confirmation. Either later that day or the next day, we get a confirmation that the order was electronically sent to Lawson with a list of items that are not available.
When the order ships, we get both an invoice through Fiscals>Printing, and an email confirmation of shipment. We review the invoice for missing items, but the shipping confirmation also lists the backordered items.
In all cases, our line numbering is preserved. So if I have ordered a discontinued product, the item is skipped, but the line numbering on the packing lists and the invoice is exactly the same as on my purchase orders.
If you are not getting the confirmation emails, I would suggest contacting your National Supply Territory Manager.
Is something changing already? I'm not the SM or CC, yet I was able to create and submit a tour permit last week. We have found some bugs regarding the Weather Hazard Training, but it seemed to work OK otherwise.
Our Council Scout Shop has the capability of sending our orders using the Sellwise software via ScoutNet POS Upload. When the order is processed, we get an Error Report listing items which are no longer available. I have to line those out on my hard copy. A few days later, we get an invoice through ScoutNet Fiscals, and have to review it for missing items, and assume those items are back ordered.
But that is still better than using faxes. Back when we faxed orders up, they would change the line numbers on the items we ordered, and reconciliation was a real pain. The EDI upload is the way to go if you have Sellwise and ScoutNet access.
Our shop keeps the last full catalog as well. I do like the fact that seasonal mailings are going out at other times of the year, but we need to do what Cabela's does: send a Master catalog annually, with three seasonal catalogs.
Last year item 70-486 (a one-inch thick catalog) was produced for 2008 use. The council got a number of copies. Not sure if an update is planned, but it may still be available as a BIN Resource.
These tabs are not only time-consuming to remove and a waste of resources, but if dropped on the floor they can be a trip hazard, exposing the Council to lawsuits.
The Customer Service staff on the phones are pretty darned good. Dave, are you suggesting that the picking and shipping portion be contracted out? NDC is pretty imbedded with UPS already, because the shipping rates beat anything my shop can get, just because of sheer volume.
My opinion, this won't improve service. Contacting may reduce the number of folks who have to be paid benefits by the BSA, but the result would be loss of control, and overhead going to another firm.
I like the idea, but I believe your suggested fee is too low. $100 is only ten years of registration fees. I would suggest a minimum of $250. Also to be determined is to what entity will the Life Membership be linked (if any)?
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