This is for everyone, so please respond if you are inclined.
We have always run the membership from the date of payment through to the same date of the next year. That means if you joined on July 4th 2007, your membership would be up for renewal on July 4th of 2008.
The problem with this system is obvious once you start trying to keep track of who paid & when they paid in order send a renewal notice. When whoever is in charge of keeping track goes off on a big job or otherwise gets distracted, it can get screwed up pretty quickly. People are missed in this system and then they don't get the newsletter or their new bumper sticker and they get pissed at the lack of organization, yada yada. My thinking is to immediately offer those folks the position of Keeping-Track-Of-All-Things, but few take up the challenge.
I've been trying to come up with a better system and haven't found one yet.
If the memberships all come due at once, with a reasonable grace period, on the first of the year, what do you do about new members who sign up in September? We have a new member who asked when his will expire. What do we say to him if we have this? Should we offer first-time members a free ride for the rest of the year when they sign up late? Maybe, but there are consequences to that.
So if you have an idea, or know how somebody else does it, please chip in some advice. I know I could sure use it.
For now, your membership is good for a year from your sign-up, but we really do need to consider an alternative process to relieve the record keeper.
Let us hear from you.
happy holidays, good health and peace for all.
Mike McVay
Why bother remembering or keeping track of membership dates when the computer can do it for you. Exactly how I'd do it would depend on the number of members.
My first reaction is to use the more robust option of using a PHP script and MySQL database on the web server and have the script notify both you and the member that the membership is about to expire.
A much less robust option would be to enter member expiration notices in some application directly on your computer. Outlook would easily handle this task for you.
we have had a meeting in november real regular for over ten years or more in puallup mabye
December 29 2007, 8:07 PM
we go back four months from there you belong for the year and as much as four months and then it comes in then{november} it should expand to a larger meeting and give some drive ins a chance to pay at the door?........just thinking with my finger here........
