Dear Geoff
I think there were a number of factors involved with making this decision. The cost of postage is, of course, one of these, but also the staff time/cost involved with individually enveloping all of the copies of the report and taking these to the Post Office to be sent. I understand this proved to be inconvenient in the past for delivery of the larger two-year reports, and the decision was made that it would save resources for the society if members were able to collect issues from the office rather than needing to send all out by post.
Although the location at Lai Chi Kok may be inconvenient for you, remember that this may not be the case for all members. Some members will live and/or work in this part of Kowloon and may be able to get to the office with only a short MTR ride outside their usual activities, or may even be going to the office for other reasons. I remember last year I was able to stop at the office on my way between meetings, and picked up copies of the report for about 7 or 8 people while I was there, to save them the time. I plan to do the same this year.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the team involved with preparation of the report, in particular to Geoff Welch, Bonnie Chan and Gary Chow (as well as all of those involved with translation of the report). Thank you all for your hard work in preparing the report and congratulations for reaching the point of publication.
John Allcock
Chief Editor
