Re: [Killietalk] Renewal, (was Re: AKA's BNL publication)

[lonlangione at comcast_net]

I have spent over 11 hours of work last weekend and today with more to come trying to be sure all memberships are up to date and getting things in order. This doesn't happen all the time, it's just that I am trying to compile a listing of the different types of memberships, ie. foreign, subscriptions, year to year, 5 year, exchanges etc..

We currently have a two month grace period that creates a lot of problems for me because of continually going back in and looking for those that have not paid. I really try to send out e-mail notices that dues are due, it is a bit laborious to do but I do it. I just sent a bunch last week. TO ED BRANDT: The reason you did not get a reminder is you were not late. Your dues were due on August 31st, And I received your check on August 31st. I made 10 personal phone calls today to long time members to be sure they wanted to stay on, this I do because I care not because I have to. Usually more than half of the e-mails notices I send bounce back to me.  As far as someone being embarrassed  because their name appears on a list, I can think of a lot more things to be embarrassed about

What I am proposing to do is this. In the October issue of the BNL I wlll send a list of member numbers and names that are due in October. No past due names, as these will eventually be eliminated, because if your name is on the list you have till October 31st to pay. You don't pay by October 31st, or e-mail me that the payment is on it's way, you are dropped. As it is now, we are sending 14 months worth of mailing for a years worth of dues. This system would eliminate that. Because if I purge non - paying members at the end of the month, when the publisher / mailing house gets the addresses for mailing the beginning of the next month, these names will no longer carry over. One thing I feel compelled to say is that when the JAKA's were backed up I made the decision not to drop anyone until they were caught up. Once they were caught up I dropped memberships that were not paid. I wanted everyone to get what they paid for.

With subscriptions, if your credit card information changes and you don't change it with paypal, the subscriptions fail. After contacting the member about this they get it cleared up and then re - do the subscription. Sometime this take weeks or even a few months. So if their membership was due the end of say April. The subscription service tries to pay the subscription and it doesn't go through. It can take a few weeks to get this straightened out. So it gets straightened out and they pay the end of May or even June, and now their subscription will try and pay next year the end of May or June when in essence their dues are due the end of April. Then I have to go back and check things out and e-mail back why you are not being credited from the June payment, that actually your dues were due from April. 
If you know the beginning of October your dues are due you should check to see if your credit card info is correct with paypal. Or if your dues are due in October, be sure that the PAypal subscription service pays the first of the month, not the last of the month. This would eliminate LOTS of aggravation for me, and we can catch it before we get into November.

The other thing I feel strongly about with listing the memberships due in the BNL is it will notify those members who do not have e-mail addresses or they have not updated their e-mail addresses.

I belong to many organizations, one in particular the York County Builders Association. They list the members due each month and it works like a charm.  

In closing, some mebers don?t feel comfortable with changing information in their membership information on the AKA website, if you do fine, if not let me know and I will be happy to change it for you and let you know when the changes have been made.


Any ideas, questions, complaints, please let me know, 

Thanks, Lonny

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Barry Cooper <bjc3 at centurytel_net>
> This is difficult to do. The eBNL is prepared as a PDF. It is then 
> emailed as an attachment to all of those subscribed. In other words, 
> every one of those members gets the same attachment. I see no way to 
> include your specific expiration date in the PDF document.
> 
> Having said that, as Tom Grady so succinctly confirmed, we have given 
> thought to this issue. My understanding is that our membership chairman, 
> Lonny Langione, does send out email reminders. These might actually 
> arrive shortly after your membership is due to expire, because we do 
> allow a short grace period in which members can renew. Also, all members 
> are reminded that they should make sure their email addresses are 
> current. Do so by logging on to aka.org and click on View Your Profile, 
> or Edit Your Profile, under the item The People in the left column.
> 
> I know that Lonny is considering options to publish a list of members 
> whose renewals are due in the BNL each month. I have some reservations 
> about this, only because I'm not sure whether members might prefer not 
> to see their names published in this context. It would be interesting to 
> hear on this list how members feel about this. Lonny, perhaps you'd care 
> to comment.
> 
> Furthermore, every member can check their expiration date in their 
> profile, accessed as above. In addition, we implemented the subscription 
> service, which allows you to authorize Paypal to bill you on an annual 
> basis. That way you don't have to remember or do anything about renewing.
> 
> As you can see, we've given quite a bit of thought to this, as member 
> retention is important. We will continue to think about it.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Barry Cooper
> 
> Barry J. Cooper
> Sweet Home, OR 97386
> 
> 
> 
> Wright Huntley wrote:
> > Thanks for the reminder, Tom.
> >
> > One small point. Our mail list always included, in the address, our 
> > membership expiration date. I notice that the electronic version does 
> > not have our expiration date. Has any thought been given as to how we 
> > will be reminded to renew our membership?
> >
> > Wright
> >
> > Tom Grady wrote:
> >   
> >> Hi Folks ...
> >>
> >> As you know - for the past several months the eBNL and the Paper version 
> >> have been sent to all those who are on the electronic mail list.  The 
> >> reasoning behind this was simply the initial inability to separate the 
> >> mailing list from the one used by the JAKA which was the one used for all 
> >> AKA mailings.  Thanks to the assistance of Barry Cooper's son, the technical 
> >> problems have been ironed out and in October, those folks on the electronic 
> >> list will only receive the eBNL and no longer get copies of the paper 
> >> version in the mail.  This is create a savings for the AKA in both the 
> >> publishing of the paper version as well as mailing costs.
> >>   
> >>     
> >
> >   
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