ANA outsources Money Market
Chuck D'Ambra
outsourced its Money Market book and supply department to Wizard Coin
Supply of Chantilly, Virginia. Plans are for online and phone orders to
be redirected to that company. Some products will still be available at
the museum store at the ANA's headquarters in Colorado Springs.
It's unclear who authorized this move (the outgoing board?) and why
there was apparently no effort to get competitive bids and maximize
value to the organization, as has been done for example when an
"official grading service" was selected.
--
Chuck D'Ambra, Telesphere Numismatics
web site address: www.telecoins.com
remove the upper case letters if replying by e-mail
Mr. Jaggers
> Effective today (July 15), the American Numismatic Association has
> outsourced its Money Market book and supply department to Wizard Coin
> Supply of Chantilly, Virginia. Plans are for online and phone orders
> to be redirected to that company. Some products will still be
> available at the museum store at the ANA's headquarters in Colorado
> Springs.
>
> It's unclear who authorized this move (the outgoing board?) and why
> there was apparently no effort to get competitive bids and maximize
> value to the organization, as has been done for example when an
> "official grading service" was selected.
This is not at all surprising, as it takes dedicated staff to properly
operate the retail arm of an organization. My guess is that the "money
market" staff has many other responsibilities and works at filling orders
"when they have time," so I view this as a good thing.
It's also interesting that the book retailer who took care of ANS sales has
apparently withdrawn from that relationship.
James
Chuck D'Ambra
Money Market had a full time employee for many years whose primary
responsibility was operating that division. Other employees helped out
as needed. The FTE is being transfered to the membership department.
Outsourcing Money Market may indeed be a good thing. What's puzzling is
why we didn't hear about it until it was a fait accompli, and why other
companies apparently weren't given an opportunity to bid on it.
Competitive bidding generally leads to better results.
oly
> In article <h3l13i0...@enews1.newsguy.com>,
>
> - Show quoted text -
Back in the day, a gentleman named Rudy Barr handled most of the book
and supply sales (and many many other duties). I thought he was cut
during a staff RIF many years ago.
Before the internet, the ANA Money Market was sometimes convenient. I
can't think of anything that the ANA Money Market recently had for
sale that couldn't be acquired elsewhere, usually at an equal or less
expensive price. IMHO, the ANA has probably made a good move.
oly
Chuck D'Ambra
<d7459f76-5274-440a...@v20g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
oly <oly...@aol.com> wrote:
> Back in the day, a gentleman named Rudy Barr handled most of the book
> and supply sales (and many many other duties). I thought he was cut
> during a staff RIF many years ago.
>
That's correct. Cary Hardy, who had been reporting to Rudy before he
was let go, took over the MM responsibilities.
> Before the internet, the ANA Money Market was sometimes convenient. I
> can't think of anything that the ANA Money Market recently had for
> sale that couldn't be acquired elsewhere, usually at an equal or less
> expensive price. IMHO, the ANA has probably made a good move.
>
> oly
Once again, I'm not saying it wasn't a good move (although I will say
that how competitive Money Market's prices were is a non sequitur). I'd
like to know how and by whom it was determined that the particular
business that is taking over the operation was selected. In particular,
for an organization that has run large budget deficits for years and
taken some major steps recently to eliminate them, why was the
outsourcing apparently not handled in a manner that would have the most
positive impact on ANA's budget.
And just for the record, I and my company would not be interested in
bidding for the job. My concern is solely as a member who wants to be
sure there are no sweetheart deals that hurt ANA financially and could
lead to more of the rancor, lawsuits, etc. that plagued the organization
in the not very distant past.
Jud
oly wrote:
> Back in the day, a gentleman named Rudy Barr handled most of the book
> and supply sales (and many many other duties). I thought he was cut
> during a staff RIF many years ago.
Rudy was not only competent in his job, he excelled at it. Now I have
to wonder who is 'running the store'. Young kid by the name of Carey
comes to mind.
oly
Yes, it was also my opinion that Rudy was a great staffer. The late
Jack "Floyd" Ates thought the world of Rudy, and Jack was at
headquarters all the time and knew what was going on. Competency
didn't matter when "Sweet old Bob" Leuver ran the ANA anymore than it
did under CC.
oly
NJDrew1
> In article <h3l13i0...@enews1.newsguy.com>,
>
> - Show quoted text -
Chuck -- I've spoken with Cary Hardy, called for Larry Shepherd,
emailed Larry Shepherd and the ANA Counsel Ronald Sirna as well as the
ANA spokesperson Jay Beeton without success. Larry Shepherd didn't
even extend the courtesy of returning my phone calls, nor did he
write. I agree that it was probably a good thing that ANA got out of
the supply business. I have expressed my disappointment in the way
that they simply awarded the franchise to Wizard. It would have been
to ANA's advantage to bid out a percentage return to the highest
responsive/responsible bidder. I'm convinced now that it was purely a
matter of internal politics, since none of the other players were
invited to play.
We've stopped sponsoring ANA members as a result of this issue. As a
life member of the ANA, I take exception to not being offered the
opportunity to bid. If the opportunity arises to bid in the future, I
will certainly tell them to stuff it.