Car stickers and cards

[honeysmun]

In another post I asked if we had car stickers to which Colin kindly explained why not because of the cost,
I wondered if someone could do a simple logo for us to print out ourselves and Lily Freye came back saying that her son was a graphic designer and might be able to help with this, this got me thinking about cards with the same logo on. When I met other cocker owners and get cocker chatting I find so many of them have never heard of COL Although i give them the web site address i bet a lot of them have
forgotten it by the time they get home. One day during our holiday last year we were stopped by two  young gentlemen
 who made a fuss over our two girls Honey and Holly, it seems as that they were getting a cocker puppy in 4 weeks time  (it was only 5 weeks old at the present time)       
they were so excited about it and asked so many questions, I told them all about COL and the did write down the web site, but how much easier it would have been to give them a card, another thought is asking our vets if they would display one on their notice boards, they must get a lot of cocker owners in who like me when I had my boys Taffy and Merlin didn't know of COl, a place where you could go when you need help, advice, cheering up when everything is turning upside down, laughting
together at the funny little things our darlings do (that other no dog people cannot understand) but most of all confort and big hugs when we have to say goodbye to our loved ones. COl is not just a site of Cocker info it quickly becomes our family.
Perhaps another place might be pet stores, like Pets at Home etc. might display a card
just out of intrest I always carry printed out 
cards of Many Tears which I give out ( I try and buy lots of things that they need for their collection
 point at car-boots and people then can see that I am being honest, I find then they nearly throw in other items or sometime charge very little.)
Sorry getting off the point.
 Please can we have something like this to let everyone know about this great site
           

[Colin]

It's not just the problems of finance that puts us off having more COL merchandise but that experience has taught us that the time, effort and work that we've put into such things isn't always reflected in the subsequent demand... the recent fridge magnets and christmas cards for example. All of the mod team work for a living so whenever we organise things such as the calendars, photo competions, fundraising etc it's done in our spare time. Not that we mind of course but there is a limit to how much time we are able to give.

Re car stickers - they are really useful for rescue centres to raise awareness but I must admit that personally I'd have reservations about putting a Cocker sticker in my car for fears it might draw the attention of dog thieves. Maybe that's just me being paranoid though. 

I can see how business type cards might be handy for handing out to other Cocker owners on walks though and it is something we've thought about in the past. Maybe it's something we could look into - although it would need to be an image file that everyone could print out for themselves. If you leave it with us, the mod team will have a chat about it and get back to you.

Can I ask - would anyone else be interested in a COL business style card that you'd print out yourselves ?

Thanks

[honeysmun]

Thank you Colin,
 I never really thought about car stickers drawing thieves attention i wonder if they target people like us who have two dog crates always left in the car.( need them everyday) I never thought about that, bit of a worry, mind you we never leave the girls alone, we make sure that one of us stays in the car with them. better save than sorry.
anyway Colin I would like to take this chance to say a big thank you to all the mod team, for the time you give and help when need.

Val

[Mudmagnets]

Can I ask - would anyone else be interested in a COL business style card that you'd print out yourselves ?

 No, not really, not sure when/where I would use them. (no offence meant here - you all do a great job  )

[Helen]

Can I ask - would anyone else be interested in a COL business style card that you'd print out yourselves ?

 No, not really, not sure when/where I would use them. (no offence meant here - you all do a great job  )

no offence taken - I feel the same 

[Joules]

Can I ask - would anyone else be interested in a COL business style card that you'd print out yourselves ?

 No, not really, not sure when/where I would use them. (no offence meant here - you all do a great job  )

no offence taken - I feel the same 

Me too 

There is nothing to stop anyone printing off some slips of paper with the COL web address on to hand out to people if they want to is there.     I can quite see that it is an extra job that the Mods etc could do without 

[jann]

Can I ask - would anyone else be interested in a COL business style card that you'd print out yourselves ?

 No, not really, not sure when/where I would use them. (no offence meant here - you all do a great job  )

no offence taken - I feel the same 

Me too 

There is nothing to stop anyone printing off some slips of paper with the COL web address on to hand out to people if they want to is there.     I can quite see that it is an extra job that the Mods etc could do without 

   Just what I was thinking too   

[J]

Agreed on the cards but personally I woule be more than happy to buy a couple of car stickers although I fully understand the whole supply/demand/cost issues too.

[SkyeSue]

This might sound really sad, but I quite like car stickers that say something about the driver....so, anyone seeing mine would know Im a member of the RSPB, and support our local lifeboats, and am a member of the Woodland Trust, and I think I would be quite proud to have a car sticker that said I was a member of Cockers on Line 

I would also be happy to print off cards to give to people; I myself was introduced to COL by another member I happened to meet on Skye, and she took the time to write the website address on a post it note. It remained in my pocket for weeks, till I decided to wash the jacket and then I found it and decided to have a nosey. I wonder, if she hadn't taken the time to write it down for me, whether I'd have ever bothered looking it up.

I think Chloe is very lucky that I found COL 

[Deeside Cocker]

We  have met quite a few Cocker owners who have never heard of COL and I thought at the time I wish I had a business card with the web address to hand out. Just never thought anymore about it.

But my constant harping about COL does work as our lovely cocker friends " Ainslie " know how I do go on lol.

Phill , Shirley and Ellie
Deeside Cocker

[mark1]

I'm also a fan of car stickers but am slightly thick and after recently buying a car with privacy glass sent off for a 'help for heroes' sticker only to find you can't see it  

I think if I was recommending the site to someone I'd just tell them to google Cockers online, it seems the way we find everything now.

I totally understand the cost/demand element of producing merchandise so it's probably not practical

[SkyeSue]

I'm not being cheeky, honestly, but I'd be interested to know how much was raised through donations, and what the plans are for spending it? Not that I'm necessarily advocating car stickers and cards, but am just interested to know where the money goes. Apologies if there's already a thread about this, if so, I will scurry off into a corner 

[Colin]

The site has run at a loss for years - Stuart making up the shortfall himself, with the occassional help of the mod team to help buy new software etc. The recent donations will go towards the monthly running costs, if there's anything left over it will be put back into the site in some way. The money raised from the fridge magnet sales will go towards buying (and posting out) rosettes for the photo competition. Rest assured no money will ever go into anyone's pockets, the site is strictly non-profitmaking. There would be plenty of scope for making money through pop-up ads etc but we've always rejected the idea, we want the site to remain as non-commercial as possible. The same goes with the calendar - a very small amount went to COL last year, the rest to charity. This year all the money went to charity. Both years I put up the money myself to have the calendars printed, Helen financed the christmas cards.

[Jane S]

The site has run at a loss for years - Stuart making up the shortfall himself, with the occassional help of the mod team to help buy new software etc. The recent donations will go towards the monthly running costs, if there's anything left over it will be put back into the site in some way.

Absolutely. Everybody who uses COL as a free resource needs to understand that it's not free to run and never has been and as it's got bigger and busier, our bandwidth usage has risen dramatically. Stu has subsidised this cost for years now with the help of occasional donations from members & the Mod Team but he can't be expected to do this indefinitely, hence the "donation drive" recently. Most busy forums will need income to be raised somehow, either from voluntary donations, compulsory membership fees or advertising revenue - they could not survive otherwise.

 

[ggilly]

Interesting thread and as it happens there are already business cards out there with details of COL on them. When we met up for a final walk with Annette Buddy and family before they left for their new life down under Annette gave us a box of cards that they had had printed. 
I have just double checked what's on the cards and they are very simple, they give the full web address and then have a single line that says 'Online forum for Cocker owners' Luckily there is also a line on the back that says Business Cards are FREE at www.vistaprint.co.uk
I've just checked online and yes they still exist and are still doing free business cards.

I shall be taking some along to ringcraft tonight to give to the two new cocker owners that have just started and I have promised some to 5's Company to keep in her grooming salon.
Thank you Annette and Buddy