Regional clip collection sites have proven to be very effective and significantly reduce shipping costs. Where there are several alpaca breeders in a local area, they have organized regional collection points to take advantage of the reduced cost of larger shipments and freight company rates. If participating in a regional clip collection is not convenient, then individual UPS or Federal Express shipments are the other alternatives. If you want to be able to track the delivery of your clip make sure to ask for a tracking number.
If you send your fiber as an individual instead of through a regional clip collection site, ship via a method that will confirm delivery or can be tracked on line.
The shipments for regional clip collections must be arranged through the AFCNA office and there will be a record of delivery. If you sent your fiber through a regional clip collection, contact the clip organizer and ask them to follow-up with main office.
I sent my fiber in last year why haven't I heard anything?
The sorting/grading process takes place over several months and can span calendar years. AFCNA's fiscal year is September 1 through August 31. For accounting purposes, one year is completed and closed out before the next year begins. Depending on if the fiber was contributed at the beginning or end of the fiber collection period the results may not be reported for over a year.
Each year the alpaca fiber is collected at a central location. Each farm's fiber investment is sorted by huacaya and suri, by color and by fineness grades. This data is recorded in the individual shareholder's fiber account and will ultimately be used to calculate the distribution of profits that each shareholder will receive. The fiber is then either sold as raw fiber or processed into yarn and end products and sold. The final use of the fiber varies based on the needs of the AFCNA at the time.
Collection of clip has historically been a complex and expensive project. In 2007 AFCNA began actively promoting Regional Clip Collection centers by subsidizing part or all of the shipping costs. Freight (as opposed to shipping) charges are 50% or more less, but require much larger minimum weight, and must meet certain packaging requirements.
Regional Clip Collection centers are organized and operated by volunteers. AFCNA staff assists with arranging freight, including contracting with shippers and arranging pick-up times.
The "Members Only" area of this website (available when you are logged in) provides access to AFCNA members and a discussion forum to assist with communication and organization issues for those organizing a Regional Clip Collection center.
It is important to understand that there is at least a year lag between fiber submission and distribution of member statements, Marketing Division net proceeds, and Purchasing Division net profits. This has to do with the value added processes member fiber is put through. as an example:
2007 clip call ended January of 2008
Grading of 2007 clip completed approximately August of 2008
Member Statements, Annual Report and Ballots and distributions sent April 2009
Looking at the above, it is easy to see how a fiber submission sent in June of 2007 might appear to have "fallen into a black hole." In fact, it is simply a reflection of the long and complicated process of taking member produced alpaca fiber from farm gate to profit!
Why is AFCNA so particular about the size of boxes used to ship fiber?
There are two primary reasons we ask for consistency in the size of the boxes used for shipping fiber...controlling the weight of the boxes and being able to make the best use of the space used for stacking the boxes. When large boxes are used they often take more than one person to lift and carry them and when placed on smaller boxes, they cause the smaller boxes to collapse. When stacking if boxes of approximately the same size are used, there is less chance of the stacks getting out of balance and falling over.
These may not seem like significant reasons, however think about it this way. At any given time, there may be 1000 individual boxes in a holding or storage area. Visualize what that would look like with stacks of different sizes and weights of boxes.
