Historical Alternatives:

• Sneaker Mail:  You can always send newsletters home via backpacks, but…our local volunteers tell us that less than one-third of their parents receive information sent home via students. Printing costs and publishing efforts end up as hallway litter.
   
• Bulk Mail: All you have to do is purchase your annual bulk mail certificate, fold, stuff, and sort your newsletters by addresses in groups of 50, label the zip codes outside the sending post office zone, weigh your mailing so you can fill out the bulk mail forms, deliver all those boxes to the post office, and write that check. Our local volunteers tell us it takes the full 10 days to get the newsletters to the recipient once the post office accepts them. So by the time parents get a chance to read the newsletter, it is history, not news and your overworked volunteers burned out! 
   
• First Class Mail: You fold, stuff and deliver to the post office, and your newsletter delivered in 48 hours (usually). First Class is so expensive that some local organizations limit mailings to twice each year. This defeats the overall objective of keeping parents informed!

Internet Alternatives:

• Free E-list Services: Great idea, but risky implementation. If an advertisement for “Hot Singles in your Area” or “This Web Cam Captures Everything” would embarrass your local organization, you might not want to take the risk of using a service that gives you no control over its advertising. (Those are actual examples of banners placed on free E-lists!)
   
• Fee-for-Service E-lists: Although there are many Fee-for-Service E-lists available, pricing, service and ease of use vary. We have the harried volunteer stories to prove it!