Pecometh Partners with Bunk1.com

Starting this summer, Pecometh is partnering with Bunk1.com to provide email service and an online photo gallery for campers and their families. While we’ve been providing the ability to send email to campers for several years now, as well as providing the opportunity to purchase a cabin photo, this partnership takes things to a new level.

When we started processing emails to campers and selling cabin photos, we created a new position: Office Assistant (OA). The Office Assistant’s function was to print out the emails each day, sort and fold them, and then deliver them to campers during dinner. Those emails now number in the hundreds, each day. In addition, the OA would also arrange to take a photo of each cabin, download them to a PC, format and label the photos, then print them for all the campers who purchased them at check-in.

Now, jump forward to 2007. The Bunk1.com “Bunk Notes” system bundles and sorts the messages for us each day, allowing the OA to simply print them out and distribute them. This makes the daily email load much more manageable. And, even though “Bunk Note” credits are required to send email, Pecometh has paid to provide three (3) Bunk Note credits for each camper. That means that each camper family can send up to three basic emails free of charge. Additional Bunk Note credits can be purchased, if desired for $1 each. These can be used to send additional emails from other family members, send emails to other campers or add extras to emails such as puzzles and border art.

Even more exciting is the new Photo Gallery section of the Pecometh Bunk1.com site. As mentioned, we used to sell cabin photos for as much as $5 for an 8 x 10 photo. The Photo Gallery eliminates all that and makes cabin photos, as well as candid photos, available online to camper families at no charge. An access code is provided to the family at check-in so that they can access the password protected Photo Gallery. Photos can be viewed, and wallet-size images can be downloaded and printed at no cost. Favorite photos can be tagged and friends and family can be invited via email to view them. Photos can even be inserted in a Bunk Notes email and sent to a camper.

If desired, high-quality prints can be purchased for about the same price as Pecometh was charging for a cabin photo. In addition, specialty items such as coffee mugs and t-shirts can be purchased with a favorite photo imprint. We think this is truly a win-win for Pecometh and our camper families. No more wasted photo paper, more photos to choose from and families only pay for something they really want.

Now…full disclosure time. Pecometh paid a significant fee so these services would be available to our camper families without necessarily having to incur any additional cost. However, if additional Bunk Notes credits, prints or photo gifts are purchased, Pecometh will receive a commission. This will help us recover the cost of providing these services, but is borne only by those who want to purchase products or services. We’re giving it a try and are hoping that it will be a great thing for our camper families.

Comments

[R Palmer]

I'm very happy to say that we are enjoying using the Bunk1.com added features this year, esp. the photo gallery. It is difficult to be away from your child and have absolutely no contact...this new option sets a mom's mind at ease when she can see her child is happy & safe. I hope that the Bunk1.com features are as successful as Pecometh has expected and look forward to using it again next season.

Thanks so much!
R Palmer

[Jessa]

Bunknotes: Kind of pricey for extended family...

My little niece is a camper this week. As a former staffer (90&96), I REALLY want to see the pictures of her at camp and send her an email this week.

I followed instructions and registered with bunknotes as an Aunt. Whoa! I was surprised to find that I had to pay a minimum $10 to gain any access to pics/email.

My sister (the parent) was very disappointed to hear that I had paid $10 to email our girl, when I could have just used her login and added a $1 credit to send a note.

What to do?
Pecometh should advise parents of exactly how bunknotes works. (That their is a minimum $10 fee to register as a non-parent). In addition, why not recommend that parents create a FAMILY login/password combo when they register with bunknotes. Then the parents can email out that login/pass to friends and family and encourage them to use bunknotes on one account. This way, it only costs a buck for an aunt to send one email, not a ten dollar commitment to an 11-credit package.

Alternatively, Pecometh could (and should!) negotiate with Bunknotes to provide a more basic basic registration; one where you can buy bunknotes credits a la carte without a $10 committment.

I think it ultimately hurts the campers to put a $10 price tag on email from their extended family/friends via bunknotes.

jessa

btw; what is up with those comments below???

[Jack Shitama]

Thanks for the feedback, Jessa. Since this is our first year with Bunk1, we are striving to work through how to make this work for people. Your suggestions are helpful, especially for people who are unable to pay the $10 for email credits.

All in all, we like the idea of having the photo gallery available on a secure site, as well as the managed email, enables us to handle a higher volume of email. We did pay a significant fee to provide the three free emails, feeling that was adequate for a family. However, we didn't consider the extended family aspect. Bunk1 has been very good to work with, thus far, so we hope that we can make some adjustments that will address some of these issues.

The other posts are obviously people goofing on us. They've been deleted.

Thanks again!

Jack Shitama
Director

[Kassie]

As parent to a camper this week, (and former camper and staffer myself; married to a former camper and staffer Bear-what a hottie!) i am delighted with the opportunity Bunk1 provides with email BunkNotes and especially, the online photos. It really does ease the big old Cup of Worry for parents of first time campers!
If Pecometh does get commision for ordered pictures, I think you could REALLY get tons of orders if the photo gallery had more close up shots of a few campers at a time, with them looking at the camera.
I know i would buy all kinds of pictures/mugs/mousepads of my camper!...but it seems like most of the shots are giving parents an idea of activities that are going on throughout the day, which is neat to see but they're not really the type of pictures you'd order as memorabilia. Just a thought!

[Jack Shitama]

Yes...overall we think this is a step in the right direction. We're trying to make the adjustments that will make it the most user friendly. Bunk1 has been responsive, thus far. At Jessa's suggestion, Bunk1 has added a lower cost option for relatives: Photo Gallery access and three BunkNote credits for $6.95. We've also added a note to the handout parents get to let them know if they have relatives who only want to view photos, to instruct them to log in using the parent's user name.

As for pictures, we'll see if we can get some more close-ups. We do get a commission on photo sales, but that's not why we do the photo gallery. However, if parents are so thrilled that they want to purchase something, then everybody wins.

Thanks for all the great feedback.

[Judy Long]

I have paid for 3 children to attend camp. Why do I have less ability to communicate with each of my children than the other families that may have less children attending camp? This does not seem fair or equitable to me! Judy Long

[Jack Shitama]

Judy's correct, it is neither fair nor equitable for a family with three children to get only three email credits. This is a glitch in the system because our contract calls for each camper to get three emails, but the Bunk1 site assigns the credits by username/email address. Since it is nearly impossible to register under more than one username (as well as a hassle), this effectively limits a family to three credits.

However, Bunk1 is quite responsive and can manually add credits to an existing account, which is what we did for Judy. It shouldn't be too difficult to search our database for all the families who have multiple or return campers, but we'll see how it goes.

[T Shannahan]

This is my son's first year at Pecometh and I love the bunk1 feature. Sending an email is much easier, quicker and reliable than the postal mail and, as the other mom said, it is very reassuring to find your child in the photos. Keep up the good work and I hope Bunk1 continues to be a feasible option.