FYI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 12:22 PM Subject: [Texascavers] NSS dues going up To: Cavers Texas <texascavers@texascavers.com>
NSS DUES ARE GOING UP JANUARY 1. membership class dues now/new regular $36/$40 associate $25/$30 basic $15/$24 family regular $7/$10 family associate $7/ $8 sustaining $108/$120 life $720/$800 All people under 17 must be associate (or family associate) members. Full-time students may be associate if they wish. Family members do not receive publications. Basic members receive almost no publications (it's a rotten deal). Of the current sustaining dues, $79.20 is credited toward eventual life membership. You are paying $72 over regular dues, so sustaining membership amounts to a time-payment plan toward life with a 10% discount. The corresponding credit for future years, with the new sustaining dues, is $88. Of special interest just before a dues increase is that the life membership fee toward which a sustaining member is paying gets locked in to the life membership fee at the time he becomes a sustaining member (provided he stays a sustaining member). This means, for example, that someone who joins or renews now as a sustaining member will pay off life membership in 8 years--probably even fewer, as sustaining dues and hence the annual credit toward life are likely to increase again during that time. Of course, someone who has credit toward life membership may pay off his balance and instantly become a life member at any time. There are also slightly discounted dues for all classes listed above except life if you pay at once for two or three years--also worth noting just before a dues increase, since you can get the current rate for the additional years. There are also some more membership classes I haven't listed. If you think this looks messy, you should see the full details in section I of the NSS bylaws. Some idiot has put the NSS bylaws in a place on the NSS web site that can be visited only if you're already a member, though. The two- and three-year old and new rates can be found in the minutes of the November 2008 Board of Governors meeting. Of course, those are also inaccessible unless you're already a member.... Why is that stuff secret? I have NSS membership brochures, with most of the necessary numbers, at UT Grotto meetings. If your grotto doesn't have them at every meeting, beat somebody up. You can also join on the Web at caves.org. I haven't looked to see how well explained the membership rules and fees are there. -- Bill Mixon Feel free to forward this important stuff to other lists, etc.
