On 2014-01-27 17:17, Brittany Postnikoff wrote: > If we allow people to pay in advance and they decide to quit, what then?
We refund them. Always have. We find a way. :) Here's another suggestion: instead of giving people a discount for paying in advance, why don't we charge people an administrative fee whenever they pay us? If they pay us monthly, it's $45. If they pay for 6 months, it's (6*$40) + $5. etc. That more accurately reflects the real world. :) Ron > know the natural response to this idea is that we give them their money > back, but this is not always easily done as funds may be tied up elsewhere. > SkullSpace is stable and will be able to survive on our current earnings > plan and we do have savings, but savings does not equate to money that is > easily dispensed. When considering plans it is important to note the > extremes and whether we can ride through that easily. For example, 10 > people pay a bunch of money up front for the year, two months later we make > an investment to the space such as a lazer engraver or what have you. Month > three those people decide to quit and all of a sudden we have to dispense > over four thousand dollars to people leaving. This is a possibility we need > to be aware of. > > The other point about making a piece of software to do automation is great. > Considering we are a hackerspace this is a wonderful idea! The offer to > maybe turn this into a Ruby project is great as well. If someone would be > willing to step up and create an operations team for this, they would be my > temporary SkullSpace hero. (Until next obstacle comes and someone helps us > clear it) I for one volunteer as a tribute to help get part of this done. > > I would really like to see us stay as a month to month organization because > that would best display our expenses and incomes in a directly parallel > comparison. We are not a big corporate entity that is amortizing things > over years or other large periods, so I would like to say even in "real > world" scenarios, which SkullSpace definitely is, that this is likely not > feasible due to the size, structure, and purpose of the SkullSpace > community. > > --BP > > On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 4:58 PM, Aemilianus Kehler <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Ian... There will always be more costs to those that can't budget properly > > and prepay in advance... You'll see this in every possible business > > transaction.. Or how about we just go straight to run in a credit system > > like most of the business world and offer a deal to those that day their > > debt early... Perfect to get those in accounting the practice it as it > > would be in the "real" world... One thing I never understood in business.. > > Borrow from us and repay with 2 weeks and you get a better deal than just > > paying for it straight up... Uhh what? > > > > Cheers!! > > > > > On Jan 27, 2014, at 3:44 PM, Mark Jenkins <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >> On 27/01/14 03:02 PM, Ian Trump wrote: > > >> IMHO Monthly PAD is preferred - less overhead to worry about, tracking > > >> anniversaries of renewal or issuing refunds. Were a Month to Month > > >> organization. Discounts are a pain in the ass and punish those who don't > > >> have sufficient means to up front $480.00 > > > > > > Even with banking fees, anyone we can get on PAD is ideal for > > administrative reasons, but some people are always going to turn it down as > > an option and pay irregularly. > > > > > > So how best to deal with them. > > > > > > Getting people who aren't on PAD to pay in bigger chucks should reduce > > the admin overhead in dealing with them. It's not fair to Skullspace to > > have so much admin overhead, which technology can help with, but can't > > eliminate. > > > > > > But a 1/6 discount (10 out of 12 months example) [16%!] is going too > > steep, enough that it does feel like a kick in the teeth to everybody else. > > > > > > Should be big enough to incentive some people who are already paying > > irregularly every month to step up and do this (bi-monthly, quarterly, > > annual), but not so big that we got people dropping their monthly PADs or > > big enough that people who pay irregular feel it out-paces the admin burden > > they create. Sweet spot might be closer to where those PAD bank fees are > > at, like 2%... not 16%. > > > > > > And however done, shouldn't strike me as bylaw territory, should be in > > the board's purview. > > > (Bylaw fix needed if the board doesn't have some discretion on this... > > not formally moving something...) > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > > > Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss > > > Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ > > _______________________________________________ > > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > > Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss > > Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ > > > _______________________________________________ > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss > Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ _______________________________________________ SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/
