Tim Hanke has come up with a proposal for USCF dues that is very
interesting and certainly merits discussion. I know that if the Board
passes Tim's proposal, that this will be historic, because I know
several of the most powerful and prominent leaders of USCF in the past
are vehemently opposed to the entire concept of non-magazine/tournament
participation memberships. Desperate times however call for desperate
measures and it may be that we are past the point of any longer worrying
if the old dues structure system can be made to work after 8 years in a
row of losing large amounts of money.

Ideally, everyone would love to leave dues alone and raise funds through
donations, but this pie in the sky solution to our problems is just
another form of denial, as the "Money Fairy", ranks right up there with
Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, and they ain't comin' either.

Here are Tim's proposals as published on his website:

USCF Membership Dues: A Summary

by Tim Hanke

Right now USCF has a huge variety of membership categories. Here is a concise summary of the membership dues categories
I suggest we adopt.

Adults

$25 for a Playing Membership (no magazine)
$49 for a Full Membership (includes new, high-quality monthly magazine)
$35 for a Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Kids

$15 for a Playing Membership
$25 for a Full Membership (includes quarterly magazine just for kids)
$15 for a Kids Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Tournament Membership

Non-USCF members could pay $3 per round (in addition to the regular entry fee) for the right to play in any tournament. Their
games would be rated, but they would get no other membership benefits.


This is so revolutionary as to almost be unimaginable for
traditionalists, but it would be interesting to crunch some numbers and
see what would need to happen to make it work and whether it could
possibly lose us money or cause decreases in membership and revenues,
(something which seems hard to imagine, given our recent financial
performance and membership declines in critical categories).

Twenty five for an adult to just play chess, seems reasonable,
particularly compared to the present "Economy" membership which
basically values Chess Life magazine at less than a dollar per issue and
sells a non-mag membership to an adult for 3 times what a child's
parents or coach would pay for the exact same thing. This also sets the
full membership with CL at $49.00/year, the same as it is now. Tim
doesn't mention commissions, so I'm unsure if they're being eliminated
or they're just not calculated into the revenue equation. Something
which definitely needs to be clarified.

On the Junior side of the equation $15.00 for a non-mag membership and
$25.00 for a full membership with mag, is fairly close to what it is
right now, with a modest $2.00 increase for those children who really
just want to play tournament chess.

Tim is offering a $3.00 per round fee for players who don't want to
spring for a full membership, which makes sense, because at $3.00/round,
a 5 rounder will cost $15.00 which is only going to make since to an
adult who wants to play in only one event, because if he plays in two
events or plans to, he would be better off just paying the $25.00/year
membership.

There is some gamble or risk involved here, particularly absent any
reliable long term research about membership beliefs or values. Many
USCF politicians, (present company included), believe that they know why
other members behave the way they do, what they want, what they dislike,
and there is nothing to base these feelings on other than anecdotal
evidence and our own beliefs. For years, USCF has been flying blind and
when we were the only game in town, we could miss our market by a
country mile and still hit close enough to hold the market share and run
surpluses, but markets have changed, and now days flying blind, leads to
millions of dollars in financial losses as we blunder from one decision
to another, hoping we'll get the right formula to make things work.

Best Regards,

Bruce

Bruce Draney writes:
Here are Tim's proposals as published on his website:
Adults

$25 for a Playing Membership (no magazine)
$49 for a Full Membership (includes new, high-quality monthly magazine)
$35 for a Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

$25 for a basic playing membership is way too high. I dropped out of
the USCF when the dues went to $30, and that included a magazine.
Keep it below $15. I've come to feel ok about including some kind of
publication in that so the member is reminded that the USCF is still
alive. That pub would be a quarterly 4-page or 8-page newsletter,
with contents about 2/3 from the player's regional affiliate and 1/3
from USCF HQ.

Tournament Membership

Non-USCF members could pay $3 per round (in addition to the
regular entry fee) for the right to play in any tournament. Their
games would be rated, but they would get no other membership
benefits.

This is so revolutionary as to almost be unimaginable for
traditionalists,

It's not revolutionary, it's been done before and it worked, and
getting rid of it was one of USCF's more boneheaded moves.

but it would be interesting to crunch some numbers and
see what would need to happen to make it work and whether it could
possibly lose us money or cause decreases in membership and revenues,

Such number crunching seems like a pointless exercise unless there's
data about whether new members would actually take such an option.
So some kind of surveys need to be taken.

Twenty five for an adult to just play chess, seems reasonable,

No, it's too much.

particularly compared to the present "Economy" membership which

You mean "only when compared", not "particularly compared".

Tim is offering a $3.00 per round fee for players who don't want to
spring for a full membership, which makes sense, because at $3.00/round,
a 5 rounder will cost $15.00 which is only going to make since to an
adult who wants to play in only one event, because if he plays in two
events or plans to, he would be better off just paying the $25.00/year
membership.

$15.00 of USCF fees (on top of the rating fee) to play in a 5-round
Saturday rapid tournament is ridiculous, but $3.00 to show up and play
somewhere, even a single 1-game "event" (i.e. weekly chess club game)
isn't so bad.

So I'd propose offering a 1-day membership for $3.00. That allows you
to play in a weekly club game or a 5-round one-day rapid event for the
same $3.00. A two-day (weekend) event would be $6.00 regardless of
the number of rounds.

Adults

$25 for a Playing Membership (no magazine)

Sounds good.

$49 for a Full Membership (includes new, high-quality monthly magazine)

Make it a webzine.

$35 for a Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

A bargain at any price!

I'm glad to see that Tim is working on some new ideas, but
Chess Life is like a giant advertisement. We should want people
to read it. I think the kids' dues are too low. Why make it
so much lower than adult membership? I assume that kids
would (or should) receive a publication. It should be voluntary
to subsidize children whose parents are unable to pay for their
membership.

Bruce Draney wrote:

Tim Hanke has come up with a proposal for USCF dues that is very
interesting and certainly merits discussion. I know that if the Board
passes Tim's proposal, that this will be historic, because I know
several of the most powerful and prominent leaders of USCF in the past
are vehemently opposed to the entire concept of non-magazine/tournament
participation memberships. Desperate times however call for desperate
measures and it may be that we are past the point of any longer worrying
if the old dues structure system can be made to work after 8 years in a
row of losing large amounts of money.

Ideally, everyone would love to leave dues alone and raise funds through
donations, but this pie in the sky solution to our problems is just
another form of denial, as the "Money Fairy", ranks right up there with
Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, and they ain't comin' either.

Here are Tim's proposals as published on his website:

USCF Membership Dues: A Summary

by Tim Hanke

Right now USCF has a huge variety of membership categories. Here is a concise summary of the membership dues categories
I suggest we adopt.

Adults

$25 for a Playing Membership (no magazine)
$49 for a Full Membership (includes new, high-quality monthly magazine)
$35 for a Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Kids

$15 for a Playing Membership
$25 for a Full Membership (includes quarterly magazine just for kids)
$15 for a Kids Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Tournament Membership

Non-USCF members could pay $3 per round (in addition to the regular entry fee) for the right to play in any tournament. Their
games would be rated, but they would get no other membership benefits.

This is so revolutionary as to almost be unimaginable for
traditionalists, but it would be interesting to crunch some numbers and
see what would need to happen to make it work and whether it could
possibly lose us money or cause decreases in membership and revenues,
(something which seems hard to imagine, given our recent financial
performance and membership declines in critical categories).

Twenty five for an adult to just play chess, seems reasonable,
particularly compared to the present "Economy" membership which
basically values Chess Life magazine at less than a dollar per issue and
sells a non-mag membership to an adult for 3 times what a child's
parents or coach would pay for the exact same thing. This also sets the
full membership with CL at $49.00/year, the same as it is now. Tim
doesn't mention commissions, so I'm unsure if they're being eliminated
or they're just not calculated into the revenue equation. Something
which definitely needs to be clarified.

On the Junior side of the equation $15.00 for a non-mag membership and
$25.00 for a full membership with mag, is fairly close to what it is
right now, with a modest $2.00 increase for those children who really
just want to play tournament chess.

Tim is offering a $3.00 per round fee for players who don't want to
spring for a full membership, which makes sense, because at $3.00/round,
a 5 rounder will cost $15.00 which is only going to make since to an
adult who wants to play in only one event, because if he plays in two
events or plans to, he would be better off just paying the $25.00/year
membership.

There is some gamble or risk involved here, particularly absent any
reliable long term research about membership beliefs or values. Many
USCF politicians, (present company included), believe that they know why
other members behave the way they do, what they want, what they dislike,
and there is nothing to base these feelings on other than anecdotal
evidence and our own beliefs. For years, USCF has been flying blind and
when we were the only game in town, we could miss our market by a
country mile and still hit close enough to hold the market share and run
surpluses, but markets have changed, and now days flying blind, leads to
millions of dollars in financial losses as we blunder from one decision
to another, hoping we'll get the right formula to make things work.

Best Regards,

Bruce

Forget the "kid's magazine" concept. It never worked in the past, and let's
just try to get ONE decent periodical off the presses. And quarterlies...why
even bother.

PBusw13724 wrote:

Can I just clarify something... I will probably be visiting the US on holiday
soon - if my itinerary allowed me to take in one of the tournaments I see on
the USCF site, then just for that one tournament I would have to pay $49 USCF
membership. Is that right?

thanks
Paul Buswell

Depending upon how old you are, there are several possibilities. I'm
going to assume you're not under 21 and you're not over 55 and that
you've never been a USCF member before.

Right now there's the regular membership which indeed sells for $49.00,
although an authorized USCF affiliate can sell it to you for $45.00.
There is also the "economy" adult membership which is only $39.00 or
$36.00 if you can find an authorized affiliate to return a small
commission to you.

There is also a 6 month trial membership which can be purchased by
someone who's never been a member before. It costs I think someone just
said, $32.00/year, but is good for only 6 months.

Now if you're under age 15, you can join for $13.00 or only $12.00 if
you can get someone to pay you a $1.00 commission. Or if you're feeling
really generous you can join for $25.00/year if you're not yet 20.

Best Regards,

Bruce

Depending upon how old you are, there are several possibilities.

Thank you for explaining them - the detail is appreciated.

Paul Buswell

No.

SNIP



Adults

$25 for a Playing Membership (no magazine)

Less than now

$49 for a Full Membership (includes new, high-quality monthly magazine)

Same as now

$35 for a Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Less than now.

Perhaps the playing membership will attract back a few members. But it will
lose revenue overall, and will encourage members to give up the full membership
for the lesser number, leading to a further loss. $35 is unlikely to encourage
a plethora of magazine subscriptions, so it also leads to losses.


Kids

$15 for a Playing Membership

Possible

$25 for a Full Membership (includes quarterly magazine just for kids)

Some will drop out. The question will be if states decide to go with unrated
events.

$15 for a Kids Magazine Subscription (no membership rights)

Tournament Membership

Overall, looks like a money loser.

Kevin L. Bachler

On 26 Aug 2003 11:33:04 -0500, Bruce Draney wrote:

Tim Hanke has come up with a proposal for USCF dues that is very
interesting and certainly merits discussion. I know that if the Board
passes Tim's proposal, that this will be historic, because I know
several of the most powerful and prominent leaders of USCF in the past
are vehemently opposed to the entire concept of non-magazine/tournament
participation memberships. Desperate times however call for desperate
measures and it may be that we are past the point of any longer worrying
if the old dues structure system can be made to work after 8 years in a
row of losing large amounts of money.

Is this an old proposal or a new proposal? This is basically the same
proposal Hanke made before he was elected.

In any case, Bruce is all wet. He should know better. The board cannot
pass this. The dues structure is in the by-laws. Only the delegates,
who meet once a year, can amend the by-laws and change the dues
structure.

This provision was put in the by-laws just to stop every crazy dues
proposal such as this one from being passed by a 7-member board (now
only 6 members).

Sam Sloan

Sam Sloan wrote:

On 26 Aug 2003 11:33:04 -0500, Bruce Draney wrote:

Tim Hanke has come up with a proposal for USCF dues that is very
interesting and certainly merits discussion. I know that if the Board
passes Tim's proposal, that this will be historic, because I know
several of the most powerful and prominent leaders of USCF in the past
are vehemently opposed to the entire concept of non-magazine/tournament
participation memberships. Desperate times however call for desperate
measures and it may be that we are past the point of any longer worrying
if the old dues structure system can be made to work after 8 years in a
row of losing large amounts of money.

Is this an old proposal or a new proposal? This is basically the same
proposal Hanke made before he was elected.

In any case, Bruce is all wet. He should know better. The board cannot
pass this. The dues structure is in the by-laws. Only the delegates,
who meet once a year, can amend the by-laws and change the dues
structure.

This provision was put in the by-laws just to stop every crazy dues
proposal such as this one from being passed by a 7-member board (now
only 6 members).

Sam Sloan

You are mistaken Sam. The Delegates were so concerned about the
survival of the USCF, that they even gave the authority to the Board to
set the dues rates, this next year, although the Board had better be
careful in the exercise of that precious right.

Best Regards,

Bruce