[Ansteorra] Fee Increase and other Business...

[ld.blackmoon]

greetings

the main difference is perceptions .
both before and after the fact.
you can call a outhouse a throne room, but once you take a closer look, its 
an outhouse , no matter what you call it .

most people will complain about the nubie tax, umm ... non member 
surcharge,but they will pay it
( yes even the members who left their renewed card on the table at home , 
because they can't "prove" they are members even if they are listed in the 
kingdom newsletter as officers ( which requires a membership ) ) .
but if they believe that you "didn't tell them the full truth", or that you 
" ripped them off ", they will not trust you again, and in many cases won't 
come back .

the original problem arose ( imo ) because people didn't believe they were 
getting a good return on their investment, and / or , the cost went above 
some peoples spendable income.
so they stopped getting memberships to go to those 2 or 3 events a year, the 
bod saw this as a loss of income, and created the non member surcharge to 
cover that loss , because it was more appealing to keep the members they had 
, than to possibly scare off new members with a price hike.

( when I started in the sca in 1982 ,I was unemployed and , I rode a bike, 
so my transportation to events, and my site fees , and my food was all 
supplied by the people I went to the events with, later after I found a job 
, got a membership ( yes due to finances I no longer have my short # but I 
still have the card )
and found that I really liked a lot of the people in the sca, I myself did 
the same thing , passing it on as it were.
but since the non member surcharge was imposed ,I cant afford to do that, 
and I have seen only one person do that at an event since.)

while I can see the " historic " value in keeping the sca inc. in 
California, from a financial stand point , moving the corporate office to 
someplace more centrally located, with lower cost of living, lower taxes, 
and fewer people having the " lets sue them all , let god sort em out " 
attitudes.
the sca inc could reduce operating costs by quite a bit.since the chart that 
was posted earlier showed that almost 40 % of op.costs were bod related, ( 
yes, it was split up between wages, and bills ) followed by kingdom 
newsletters at 20 %

there has been much talk of member acquisition and member retention, but has 
anyone stopped to think about " why " people go to events ? or join groups 
??
or why they stop ???

but since we have to inforce the nubie tax , what is to stop people from 
holding bake sales, garage sales,junk sales etc. and donating the money to 
pay the nubie tax
for peoples 1st event or 2 ?? by then people will know whether or not they 
like the sca, and can decide on whether  to get a membership or pay the non 
member surcharge ... just a thought .

Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun
Arthur
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donnchadh Beag mac Griogair" <donnchadh at cornelius.norman.ok.us>
To: "Jay Rudin" <rudin at ev1.net>; "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." 
<ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 1:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Fee Increase and other Business...


>I really fail to see the difference between a non-member surcharge, and
> a member discount.  Either way, it's $5 I don't have to pay if I'm a
> member, or that I do have to pay if I'm a non-member.  The only
> difference I see is a matter of semantics in the same vein as a glass
> that is half empty or half full.  There's the same amount of liquid
> either way.
>
> As to why it makes a difference to me is purely a matter of perception
> to our new members who are just trying us out.  One phrasing has more
> positive connotations, the other has more negative connotations.  Given
> that the same money is collected, the same way, from the same people.  I
> would prefer to use a phrase that may be more welcoming to new people.
>
> The question can also be asked, what harm is there calling it a member
> discount?  I don't have to like NMS (in fact I don't), but since I can't
> avoid it, I would still rather use the most inviting terminology I can
> towards newcomers.
>
> Baron Donnchadh
>
> On 2/18/2010 11:36 PM, Jay Rudin wrote:
>> Why is there such an effort to pretend that a surcharge imposed by the 
>> corporation is not a surcharge imposed by the corporation?
>>
>> It isn't a temporary membership, and doesn't function like one.  It isn't 
>> a members discount, and doesn't function like one.  It isn't a variable 
>> site fee, and doesn't function like one.
>>
>> Yes, we'd like the SCA to be more welcoming of newcomers.  And yes, of 
>> course the SCA would be more welcoming if we didn't charge more for 
>> invitees, but we do, and political spin cannot make that look like 
>> anything else.
>>
>> It's a surcharge.  It really is.  Let's commit ourselves to telling the 
>> truth.
>>
>> Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin
>>
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