[SCA-AE] NMS--wider consideration

[Rob Baldassano (Eirik)]

I agree with Iain that changing policy to flip the pricing scale around to be "full price", "member price" "teen price" "Youth price", "Toddler price" and "Expected comps" can get very confusing. 

For instance. (I know this is an erroneous example but it proves the point)...

Lets say that there is an event that reads
Site fee (including NMS as part of site fee)
Regular gate fee: $10
teen gate fee: $9
Youth gate fee: $8
Toddler gate fee: $7
Under 6 gate fee: $0

Member discount (NMS): $5
Reigning Royal site fee: Comp

Let's say that a Royal couple (Local Baron and Baroness) attends an event. 
The Local group policy is to comp royals for their site fee. 
The royals have forgotten to bring their membership cards, so they are not elligible for the member discount. 

How does the local group handle this then? 
Do they charge the royals $5 each for NMS? 
Do they waive the NMS fee for the royal entrants? 

And what is then done with the NMS for the discounted price gate fees (teens, youth and toddler).
Or would we change the policy so that Member discounts are member discounts across the board? 
realizing that the NMS fees would then skyrocket and the attendance of non-member minors would drop dramatically. 

--- 
I am not advocating that people should not get their memberships. I think that the membership affords too many positives to be taken lightly. 
Instead I am looking at the financial aspects of what is being proposed for how to handle NMS fees and "positive spin". 

If you want to put a positive spin on the NMS, you tell people. "While you are welcome and we encourage you to attend, it would be beneficial for yourself if you were to become a member. 
Membership is currently $35 a year for a single person. A family membership makes it less expensive for each successive person. The discounts afforded, and access to the newsletter, plus the ability to run for office, if you should decide that you would like to do so, are just some of the benefits of membership. 
Not to mention that you no longer have to pay the NMS fee when you attend events, thus giving a deep discount for your membership. 

I recently had a conversation with some one after calculating out their NMS fees and other things that they participated in, and it turned out that they would have saved more money from joining up when they were first thinking about it, and would have had enough to buy a pavilion by now, if they just would have become members.

So yes, the NMS can be a pain. But it is an incentive for people to join our society and take part in the grandeur that is the current middle ages. 

Other posters have said that we need to change the NMS so that it's more positive. 
I am all for calling the additional funds collected a Member Discount, but let's get real folks. 
We're volunteers. Unless we employ an accountant to handle gate, why make things more difficult for the people working gate? 

--Eirik
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Herre Eirik Haarfager Goransson / Rob Baldassano
Web Administrator - AEthelmearc Kingdom Chatelaine; 
Member; Marshal - Baronial Marshal; Brewing Guildmaster ; Herald @ large - Barony Endless Hills
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