Someone a few weeks ago (sorry, I forget who) suggested getting MF to put
out a pamplet on ferret health that would go out with all their ferrets to
better educate the new owner... Several other people brought up the fact
that MFs current paperwork rarely goes out with the ferrets as it is, and
that this would be something fairly expensive for MF to implement (and thus
that they probably wouldn't want to).
So here's an idea - what if you, and your local club, were to go to the pet
stores nearby, and offer to make a deal ... New ferret owners buying from
that store get a year's membership to the ferret club for free (and thus get
newletters etc.....)??? (it could be a different newsletter, meant for new
owners, of course - and it could be something that different clubs work
together to create each month, so the creation effort wouldn't be so
high....)
Arguments against:
1. This would be very expensive for clubs -- each little newsletter is
costly, and this could add a lot to the mailing costs, money that wouldn't
be going to help the ferrets in the club's shelter, for instance. This is a
serious problem - but this WOULD be going to help the ferrets in some other
ways... This could help educate a LOT of other ferret owners, the types of
ferret owners who might otherwise not get much education, the types who
might not have found a ferret-knowledgeable vet and whose ferrets might have
gone undiagnosed for diseases, or been dropped off to that shelter when they
were too sick to be any fun anymore.... The types of owners who might give
up that ferret because they never knew how to train it not to bite, or
learned how to take care of it.... Yes, this would be expensive for the
clubs - but it might be something that current club members would be willing
to donate a little extra money to support. And maybe some of those people
would choose to continue their membership on their own the next year - or
decide that they wanted to donate to the shelter, or adopt their next
ferret...
2. The pet stores wouldn't really go for it. Maybe. But maybe not. One of
the pet stores near me has a deal with a local vet - new ferrets go home
with a certificate for a free vet visit for their shots. The vet pays for
the visit, so the pet store only has to deal with the paperwork - and in
exchange for that paperwork, they get two big boosts: they can one-up the
other pet stores (buy your fert *here*, and you get a free vet visit, too!),
and they get the good publicity of supporting healthy pets - which in turn
helps business, too. This could work in a similar way - the store can
advertise the fact that you get this free membership, which one-ups the
competition, and makes them look good in the public eye. And that might
make them more likely to be agreeable.
3. It looks like the club supports pet stores. This one's true - you have
to decide whether that "support" outweighs the possibility of educating new
ferret owners... its like doing a ferret demo in front of a pet store - it
gets you publicity, and helps educate owners, but it means you have to work
with the pet store. This one you have to decide for yourself - but its
something well worth the consideration.
4. Its more work, creating special newsletters, labeling them, mailing them
out, getting addresses.... Yes. But you can form a special committee, or
special office, just to do this - and its the kind of thing people are more
likely to want to be a part of. One of the problems with clubs is that
there are some people who would be more involved, but just aren't close
enough to go to meetings regularly, or have too hectic of a schedule - and
you might be able to get them involved in something like this. Heck, you
could even get a little committee of FML people to make up special
newsletters for this purpose, which could go out to all the different clubs
doing this across the country - there's no need for this to be entirely a
local thing, after all... Doesn't cost any more to mail from across the
country than to mail from next door.
-Rochelle
[Posted in FML issue 1984]
|
