For Thursday NEFFA Contras at the Concord (MA) Scout House, full price is $8 (regular) and $5 (ages 22 and under). About the time of the waltz before the break, we start collecting $3 from all comers. With about one hour to go, we put out an "honor box" with "suggested $2 donation" on the top with the expectation that people will make their own change.
Our thinking is that we don't want the Price/Benefit ratio to be too high for people who may be considering arriving at or after intermission. We'd rather have them dancing (effectively replacing the people who leave early) so as to maximize the fun. An exceptional situation happened some years ago when July 4th landed on a Thursday. Our pay policy that night was "Suggested donation: $1 per half hour" with the full expectation that people would be arriving late or leaving early for fireworks displays in various communities. Dan Pearl
