Team Pink are the team of the Executive Officers and Assistants who are responsible for the running and development of the National Student Scout and Guide Organisation.
Joe Barnes
I’m Joe, currently studying a PhD in Biomedical Tissue Engineering at the University of Liverpool. I started in Scouting when I was six, and never left; I’ve been in Liverpool SSAGO for 6 years now, on committee for 2 of those and now I’ve stepped up to offer you the best merch around...
I'm always contactable at quartermaster@ssago.org if you have any questions / suggestions!
Quartermaster
February 2022
Report
- Neckers: We have neckers now!
- Popup Shop: A pop-up shop was opened to allow people to buy neckers and badges. This involved a full stock recount and updating the catalogue on the website. Some orders are still outstanding from this but will be dispatched shortly.
- Uniform Badges: We need to restock the uniform badges, the current design is decades old and is no longer in line with the updated Scout uniform badges - diamonds are for top awards, SASU badges should be rectangular like the network badges. I have suggested new designs and passed to Leon for finalisation.
- New Merch: I have contacted companies with regard to getting new merchandise; travel mugs, bobble hats and sunglasses are on my list at the moment, but as always you can suggest ideas via merchandise@ssago.org
- Viking Rally: The shop was open in person at Viking Rally, when I wasn't cooking hundreds of sausage rolls!
Aims
- New Merch: Continue getting new merch options into the Shop.
- Re-open shop.ssago.org: I am in the process of contacting people with order issues and out of stock items so that the full SSAGO shop can re-open and be running properly in the next few months. New uniform badges will clear out about half of the remaining orders.
- POS Efficiency: I'm working with Oli to make the shiny new electronic Shop system work more efficiently for us, including being able to use it as a more integrated till at Rally, which will make stock control much easier and mean that hopefully none of these problems we’ve had will happen again...
July 2021
Report
- Clearing old orders: There is a backlog of nearly 100 orders in the Shop that need either extra items sending out, or are waiting for new stock to arrive before I can complete the order - so thank you for being patient. I am in the process of sorting out the outstanding orders offline, but work has got in the way in the last few weeks.
- Neckers: Several suppliers have been / are being contacted for samples based on the closest matched swatches; the supplier with the best quality/cost combination will receive a very large order of neckers!
- Badges-at-home: I have most of the outstanding badges that people have ordered, most orders are waiting for badges that are stranded in the Netherlands before being posted out to people.
Aims
- Reopening the Shop: My number one task is to get the shop back up and running efficiently. However, Oli has announced that the same problem that has caused some issues with other parts of the SSAGO website has completely destroyed the shop, so the Shop may well not be back online for some time. Once the backlog of orders is sorted, I will look at taking orders directly if the website isn’t back open then.
- Restocking: By the time the shop reopens, I aim to have a full barrage of your favourite merch ready to buy (who remembers what a SSAGO necker looks like?! :'( )
- Long term: POS Efficiency. I'm working with Oli to make the shiny new electronic Shop system work more efficiently for us, including being able to use it as a more integrated till at Rally, which will make stock control much easier and mean that hopefully none of these problems we’ve had will happen again...
February 2021
Report
- Clearing old orders: There is a backlog of nearly 100 orders in the Shop that need either extra items sending out, or are waiting for new stock to arrive before I can complete the order - so thank you for being patient. While the Shop website has been broken I haven’t had access to these, Oli has now given me a spreadsheet so I’m wading through that to work out how each order can be sorted, contacting people and making changes / refunds where necessary.
- A massive stock take: such fun! I noticed that I haven’t got many recent event badges - I can’t think why… If any event committees have left over merch or badges, these should be with me once your accounts have been handed back to exec so please get in contact with me about how I can get them from you.
- Neckers: I’m still waiting for an agreement on the best colour and quality match from all our options for necker suppliers, as soon as a decision is made the order will be placed.
- Badges-at-home: I’ve helped the badges at home team with keeping track of payments and some of their badge ordering.
Aims
- Reopening the Shop: My number one task is to get the shop back up and running efficiently. However, Oli has announced that the same problem that has caused some issues with other parts of the SSAGO website has completely destroyed the shop, so the Shop may well not be back online for some time. Once the backlog of orders is sorted, I will look at taking orders directly if the website isn’t back open then.
- New items: We have some ideas for new items to add to the shop; not just more green clothing! This includes the possibility of notebooks, sporks, tea towels etc! As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see in the shop, or questions about orders or anything I can do for your event or club, get in touch at quartermaster@ssago.org.
- Long term: POS Efficiency. I'm working with Oli to make the shiny new electronic Shop system work more efficiently for us, including being able to use it as a more integrated till at Rally, which will make stock control much easier and mean that hopefully none of these problems we’ve had will happen again...
November 2020
Report
- Liverpool Guild of Students has finally let me get the shop stock home, so I’ve been working my way through a complete stock-take of everything we have, which will be updated online before the shop opens.
- I’m waiting for an agreement on the best colour and quality match from all our options for necker suppliers, as soon as a decision is made the order will be placed.
- A few people have sent me ideas of what they want to see for sale with the SSAGO logo emblazoned on it, I’ve been investigating options for new items. I don’t want to end up with stock that won’t sell (Yes - like the flip flops. No - I’m not reordering flip flops!) - so I’ll be asking for expressions of interest shortly, before I place any orders.
Aims
- Reopening the Shop: My number one task is to get the shop back up and running efficiently.
- Clearing old orders: There is a backlog of nearly 100 orders in the Shop that need either extra items sending out, or are waiting for new stock to arrive before I can complete the order - so thank you for being patient - my first job as soon as I am able is to get those orders completed and reopen the shop once again!
- Restocking Neckers: National neckers that properly match the old ones will be available to buy soon! I have never been so excited about neckers.
- New items: We have some ideas for new items to add to the shop; not just more green clothing! This includes the possibility of notebooks, sporks, tea towels etc! As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see in the shop, or questions about orders or anything I can do for your event or club, get in touch at quartermaster@ssago.org.
- Long term: POS Efficiency -: I'm working with Oli to make the electronic Shop system work more efficiently for us, including being able to use it as a more integrated till at Rally, which will make stock control much easier for me.
September 2020
Report
- The last year has been a whirlwind for me, but I have now moved house and there is plenty of room to keep all the SSAGO shop organised and running more efficiently.
- I've sourced swatch cards for every necker supplier I could find, and I'm working with Oli to make sure we can get the best quality, closest colour match for when the shop is restocked - I can’t wait to get that job ticked off and have hundreds of neckers in stock for everyone who’s asking for them!
- After being unable to run the shop myself at the last Rally, all the stock was put into storage in our Guild of Students for me to collect... then everything shut down and I haven't been able to access it yet! Sadly, that means that this last term has been a pretty quiet one for me - but that will all change soon!
Aims
- Completing existing orders: There is a backlog of nearly 100 orders in the Shop that need either extra items sending out, or are waiting for new stock to arrive before I can complete the order - so thank you for being patient - my first job as soon as I am able is to get those orders completed and reopen the shop once again!
- Reopening the Shop: As soon as I regain access to Liverpool Guild of Students, I will perform a full stock check and reorder anything we need so the shop will be back full of merch soon.
- Neckers: National neckers that properly match the old ones, will be available when the shop re-opens. I personally can’t wait because it has taken so long to get a match that people will be happy with...
- POS Efficiency: I'm working with Oli to make the electronic Shop system work more efficiently for us, including being able to use it as a more integrated till at Rally, which will make stock control much easier for me.
- New stock: We have ideas for new items to add to the shop, watch this space! As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see in the shop, or questions about orders or anything I can do for your event or club, get in touch at quartermaster@ssago.org