How does your club handle transient members?

Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

SF

At 13:56 15 November 2010, SF wrote:
Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

SF
In the UK we usually have a category of member called 'country member'
This refers to someone who lives a long distance from the club so that
getting there costs a lot and/or they typically would not be there very
often.
They usually get a cheaper membership because of this and as an
encouragement to come back. A typical price wouyld be 2/3 ordinary
membership

At 13:56 15 November 2010, SF wrote:
Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

SF

At 13:56 15 November 2010, SF wrote:
Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

SF

On Nov 15, 8:56*am, SF wrote:
Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. *It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. *Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

SF

Our club has an associate member catagory that costs $50/yr and
permits members to use club facilities 4 times a year.
It is limited to people who don't fly with us regularly due to
geographical issues.
FWIW- for someone who only flies with the club for a couple months a
year, likely the good season- why should they not pay like others to
help ensure there will be a place to fly? Maybe your club might want
to consider a dues structure for such members that ensures they
contribute their fair share to the fixed costs of keeping the club
going.
FWIW
UH

On Nov 15, 7:22*am, wrote:
On Nov 15, 8:56*am, SF wrote:

Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. *It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. *Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?


Our club has a category of membership for those that own their own
glider, they are treated just like regular members but pay only 1/2
the monthly dues.

We also have an intern membership where the initiation fee is half,
with the remainder due in a year.

For those that leave the area, there is an inactive status that keeps
them in the club, but they cannot vote or use the equipment.

Hope this helps;

aerodyne

On Nov 15, 8:35*am, wrote:
On Nov 15, 7:22*am, wrote:

On Nov 15, 8:56*am, SF wrote:

Our club has a small number of transient members that own their own
gliders and only fly with us a few months of the year. *It is rather
punitive to make them pay the full club dues every month in order to
offer tows for the month or two that they are in town. *Does anyone
have a club membership category and billing scheme that is fair to
both the club and the transient members in instances like this?

Our club has a category of membership for those that own their own
glider, they are treated just like regular members but pay only 1/2
the monthly dues.

We also have an intern membership where the initiation fee is half,
with the remainder due in a year.

For those that leave the area, there is an inactive status that keeps
them in the club, but they cannot vote or use the equipment.

Hope this helps;

aerodyne

I'm curious how the full dues paying members feel about the owner/
members paying 1/2 the dues. Our club used to do that as well, but
decided to do away with it.

Brad

I tend to agree with Hank. my feeling is that if you're in the club
you should be in the club. yes i suppose it could get frustrating
that you pay what seems like more dues than you are getting your
money's worth but everyone has to chip in. It is easy to fall in the
trap of thinking clubs are like FBO's. I know I have fallen into that
line of thinking in the past, wondering what my club could do for me
instead of what I could do for my club. I happily pay my regular
monthly dues to my "old" club so that I can get a tow if I ever get
back that way. My regular money is my way of chipping in since I'm
not around to help out.

Although after saying that I really appreciated being able to join the
Caprock Soaring club as an "associate" member or something like that
when I visited there over Labor Day. It was a fairly cheap join fee
(ended up about the same as a tow at a commercial operation) and
allowed me to get a tow so I could have a fantastic flight.

On Nov 15, 9:40*am, Tony wrote:
I tend to agree with Hank. my feeling is that if you're in the club
you should be in the club. *yes i suppose it could get frustrating
that you pay what seems like more dues than you are getting your
money's worth but everyone has to chip in. *It is easy to fall in the
trap of thinking clubs are like FBO's. *I know I have fallen into that
line of thinking in the past, wondering what my club could do for me
instead of what I could do for my club.

The thought is if you are flying your own ship, you are flying the
club equipment less, and not adding to the wear and tear.

Most of those that are in the reduced dues category are active at the
airport, doing work for the club, but perhaps fly the clubs ships a
few times a year.

aerodyne

On Nov 15, 12:16*pm, wrote:
On Nov 15, 9:40*am, Tony wrote:

I tend to agree with Hank. my feeling is that if you're in the club
you should be in the club. *yes i suppose it could get frustrating
that you pay what seems like more dues than you are getting your
money's worth but everyone has to chip in. *It is easy to fall in the
trap of thinking clubs are like FBO's. *I know I have fallen into that
line of thinking in the past, wondering what my club could do for me
instead of what I could do for my club.

The thought is if you are flying your own ship, you are flying the
club equipment less, and not adding to the wear and tear.

Most of those that are in the reduced dues category are active at the
airport, doing work for the club, but perhaps fly the clubs ships a
few times a year.

aerodyne

if the club owns the towplane they are using club equipment every time
they fly.