[MR] NonMember Charges

[Logan]

semantics are so wonderful.  however, the spirit is what is important.  the
spirit of the law that we enacted was to benefit members.  if membership
produces no benefit as you and a few others seem to think, then lets get rid
of it all together.  nobody pay memberships ever again.  im sure then that
the sca as we know it will remain the same.  no changes at all.  we will
still have the .20 insurance and the newsletters and the people that work to
keep track of all the day to day needs of an operation the size of the sca.
somehow.

me, im happy to pay so little to get so much.  i also think that the other
people that get benefits should pay a little as well.  i think the $3
fee/tax/tariff or whatever term is needed to make it somehow feel like a bad
thing, is fine.  my opinion.  call it a tax if you want, i call it a tail.

regards
logan

-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org]On Behalf Of David W. James
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 7:22 PM
To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [MR] NonMember Charges


On Wednesday, August 21, 2002, at 05:27 PM, Logan wrote:
> if it were a "surcharge" the kingdom would receive the money.  as it is
> not
> a charge of any kind and is merely a discount the kingdom does not
> require
> that any monies be sent to it.  therefore it is a discount.

> regards
> logan

The problem with this reasoning, your Majesty, was explained to me many
years ago when I still lived in the East.  At that time a grassroots
effort virtually wiped out the misnamed 'membership discount' from the
calendar.

There is an old joke that goes, How many legs does a dog have if you
call its tail a leg?  Four.  Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one.

The fee for an event is calculated based on the costs of the event
divided by the expected number of people attending.  If your site costs
$2000, and you plan on spending $500 on a light lunch and such (the
feast, being optional, is calculated and charged separately), and you
expect, based on last years turn-out, 250 people, then you set your
charge at the gate at $10 (plus or minus some depending on the current
state of the local group's bank account.)  If Atlantia's law required a
true discount, then the groups would be losing money if they budgeted
this way and didn't get more people than they expected.

So, in fact, the autocrat has to budget as if all attendee's will be
members, then add $3 to the published price, if they are being fiscally
responsible.  And so the discount isn't.

Calling this a discount doesn't make it one either.  But it is more
socially acceptable.

David/Kwellend-Njal

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