Proposed AERC Membership Fee

[Gary Fend <garyfend@pacbell.net>]

Good morning campers,

I've read a lot of opinions from various factions as to  what is, in
their opinion, "fair".  Usually what is fair to one is screwing another,
but  before I tell what I consider "fair", let me say that I am quite
happy with the current fee structure.  My feeling is if it ain't broke,
don't fix it.  I have yet to see any data to show there is a problem.

My fair plan (FP) would start by all new members paying $5.00 for a
membership card and number.  Returning members would have to cough up
$1.00 for a new sticker for their card.  The endurance news would be
subsidized by the advertisers.   This should make the advertisers happy
even if they have to pay ten times as much since the circulation should
skyrocket once the cost for subscribers is cut from $65 to $1.   I don't
know if the authors of articles get paid or not but I do notice that
many of them are also advertisers so that in "fairness", they should pay
AERC for the additional exposure.

The AERC would collect most of its revenue under the FP from people that
actually ride in sanctioned rides.  At the end of the year the AERC
bills each rider, say, $0.20 per mile.  This would pay for jackets,
medallions, record keeping, and the ink for listing their name in the
ride results and awards standings.

As I said earlier, I like the existing structure but if fairness is the
goal,  what could be more fair than making actual users pay the dues?

Gary #11061
(But what do I know?  I've been a member of Ducks Unlimited for a long
time and have never been duck hunting.  Maybe if the season were in the
summer.......)