[MR] The surcharge (fwd)

[Michael Houghton]

Howdy!

On Mon, Aug 26, 2002 at 11:41:46AM -0500, Craig Levin wrote:
[snip]
> 
> > I would also like to see
> > more benefits for membership.  One suggestion would be to convince some
> > merchants to offer discounts to SCA members.  This would encourage
> > membership by offering a tangible benefit, and would likely help their
> > business by attracting more customers.  I know I would prefer to patronize
> > a place that offers me a discount over one that does not.  Anyone who
> > doubts this effect, look around at restaurants the next time you're out
> > driving.  The ones with all the police cars out front are the ones that
> > offer discounts to law enforcement.  
> 
> I've noted that some people-the best examples are Quakers-are
> ethically barred from offering such discounts. 

I'm not sure I'd put it quite that strongly. For myself, I find the concept
of retail pricing varying according to who the customer is to be repugnant.
Variance based on how much you buy is a different matter. 

Our prices are our prices; they don't vary according to the venue. In a sense,
it is "our word is our bond". Neither are we inclined to haggle.

> One benefit I wouldn't mind seeing, if it's possible, would be to
> get personal accident coverage a la Markland (it's an extra for
> them, and I suspect it would be for us, too). While we're all
> trying to avoid hurting people and getting hurt, accidents
> happen, and it'd be nifty to have some sort of coverage to fall
> back on in case our medical insurance backed off. 

Yep. I don't know the details, but Markland has been offering this option for
years.

[snip]

yours,
Herveus
-- 
Michael and MJ Houghton   | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
herveus at radix.net         | White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA            | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
                          | http://www.radix.net/~herveus/