Salina Region, just north of Wichita Region, charges $15 flat.
We get a significant number of Wichita Region drivers at our events.
Obviously charging $5 more than you do for your events is not a deterrent.
Nor does it seem any deterrent when you charge your own members $5 more for
events at WGP where you have to pay lot rental.
IMHO, $10 for an autocross has got to be one of the biggest bargains in the
Nation! You are one of the last holdouts at that price! You need not
apologize for raising it. (We both consider "member rate" to be SCCA member
rate, not just Region member rate.)
Our $15 is the rate for nom-members as well. With our schedule of 8-9 events
(NOT including Divisionals here), someone cannot make up the difference of a
$55 membership by running all our events at a $5 reduction (and most do not
run ALL the events anyway), so it is not really an incentive. With your
schedule of 15 or so events, that incentive becomes a little more possible,
but IMHO still not worth the hassle.
I would rather NOT put up a financial roadblock of a higher entry fee, which
is really nothing more than a financial hassle to exactly the person you are
trying to entice. It is not so much difference in price to put the event out
of someone's reach, but it is enough to create a "you vs. us"
differentiation that makes the newbie perhaps feel a little less welcome. We
want to entice him to part with that $55 for a membership, and then to get
involved with SCCA. That, to us, is a lot more valuable than the extra $5 we
can pluck from his pocket for a single event. So, from his first event, we
want that newbie to feel like he is one of us. That includes being treated
equally, from the moment he walks to registration and pays his first entry
fee.
That's a justification I'd offer for adopting Option 2. The fact that it
still gives you the desired budget surplus (a "surplus" only in the sense
that you now have some newfound equipment budget) should be a point to sway
the board that the extra $5 is just not needed. Suffice it to say that our
$15 (and with generally smaller turnouts than yours) gives us ample budget.
--Rocky Entriken
-----Original Message-----
From: Loren Williams <Loren@kscable.com>
To: autox list <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Thursday, December 14, 2000 8:21 PM
Subject: Solo Entry Fees
><solo chairman hat>
>
>Out here in Wichita Region, we're looking at the possibility (almost
necessity)
>of raising our entry fees. Currently we charge $10 for members and $15 for
>non-members for regular events. ($5 more for events at our one site that
charges
>a lot rental) Our rates have been the same for many years, with the
question of
>raising them being mentioned almost every year since I got involved 5 years
ago.
>This year, our Solo program barely broke even. (in fact, I blew my budget
by
>$160) Next year, I want to be able to afford equipment purchases and
repairs
>that we all want while staying well within a budget.
>
>We have many options. My favorites are the simplest ($5 increments, easy
on the
>Registrar), and give the best results:
>
>Option 1: Raise to $15/20 for all events. (absorbing the cost of the lot
rental
>into the overall budget) $20 seems awfully steep for an entry fee,
remember,
>this is Kansas... cost of living is pretty cheap. This option gives us a
$2100
>budget surplus.
>
>Option 2: Raise to $15 for all comers at all events. (absorbing the cost
of the
>lot rental into the overall budget, and not gouging non-members) Given
that our
>total entry generally consists of about 20% non-members, we don't lose much
by
>doing this. This option gives us a $1700 budget surplus.
>
>Our board of directors seems to be inclined towards sticking with their
>traditional policy of "non-member fees must be higher than member fees".
>Getting Option 1 past them probably wouldn't be too difficult with the
given
>budget. I'd like to find some justification/argument to support a $15/all
entry
>fee.
>
>What are other regions/clubs doing? Is there any good philosophy behind
why
>you're doing it?
>
></solo chairman hat>
>
>--
>Loren Williams | Loren@kscable.com
>'96 Mazda Miata | Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
|