"Tim Hanke" wrote in message ...

snip

It's not "obvious" to everyone that "the B&E Biz is too expensive to run
in-house." Other people in this country sell products; why can't USCF?

Obviously the USCF can sell products, it just can't sell them at a
profit in a competitive market. This is because the USCF is
inefficient and this is not likely change due to the way the USCF is
governed.
Other people publish chess books profitably but the USCF can't.
Other people run profitable chess servers but the USCF can't.
The USCF should stick to its monopoly markets and avoid losing
battles with more efficient organizations.

What's obvious is that USCF is inefficient in how it processes orders. To
address this problem, USCF needs better computer hardware and software.

This is the George John theory and it is wrong. The USCF is
inefficient because it is badly managed, the computer problems are a
symptom not a cause.
Also the USCF lacks the economies of scale of some competitors like
amazon.
James B. Shearer