Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Director at Large

On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 13:19:04 EDT, SandyDSA@xxxxxxx wrote:

>In a message dated 10/1/2002 10:07:13 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
>bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

>>   I fail to understand what is so onerous about paying a
>> non-member fee and why a non-member should receive equal benefits to those
>> of paid members. 

>No kidding! That old commercial "membership has its privileges" has a flip 
>side - NON-membership should have its costs. 

But, why should the non-members pay for the members' privileges?

>There is no motivation for 
>people to become a suuportive member of any organization if there is no cost 
>for NOT. 

Ah, but if it is a good organization (as the AERC is) there is a great
motivation to become a member:  to enjoy the many benefits of
membership (that non-members do not get).  That should be sufficient,
coercion should not be necessary.

>Simply put, Girl Scouts pay a  fee - 4H members pay a fee -  YMCA - 
>and if you DON'T pay a fee you DON'T get to participate. My take is that 
>non-members should be tickled to pay the fee and aprticipate with no 
>commitment to the organizations that are committed to maintaining these kind 
>of events and groups. Let's not even TALK about the costs of non-members 
>going to rated Arabian shows! EEK! bad enough for members!
>San (who pays several hundred a year, between IAHA, CVAHBA, AERC, AHRA, 
>ASHAI, ETI......)

Non-members pay the same per-rider sanction fee as members.
Non-members do not get the same benefits as members. Why should
non-members pay for member benefits?  It's all too common today, it
seems -- "Make somebody else pay so I won't have to."

The AERC for many years was a newcomer-friendly organization; I
proudly told prospective recruits to endurance that the AERC did not
disriminate and non-members were welcome at AERC rides. Today, we tell
newcomers "OK, you can ride in our ride, but ya gotta pay extra."
Something special has been lost.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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