BMFA 'membership runs until 31st December...'

[jonryan]

Probably a rookie question, but why must BMFA cover, and with it (as far as I can tell) club memberships, run from the start of the year?

Isn't it likely that potential newcomers are more likely to give model flying a go when conditions are better? Having decided to give it a try, they approach a club, and learn that insurance will cost them a full premium, but will only run until the end of the year. Club membership fees seem to follow the same pattern. Anyone wanting to join in, say, October, would in effect be paying four times as much as someone joining for the first time in January.

Am I missing something here?

[Simon B]

It's ludicrous. I don't know any other insurance (and let's face it, it's the main reason people join the BMFA) that works like it.

Edited By Simon B on 17/02/2016 13:56:34

[jonryan]

That's what I thought Simon. Hard to think of anything more likely to discourage newcomers.

"Yes, sure you can join. Delighted to have you. That'll be £75 for three months club and BMFA membership, then another £75 in January. Oh, and your chances of getting much flying before the end of March are negligible but, hey, it's only money...what do you mean, you'll stick to Morris dancing...come back, we have great pub quiz evenings..."

[Flyer]

I recollect that the BMFA used to reduce the fee after (I think) July, and I know our club reduce the rates for someone joining part way through the year. And Simon, I think you will find if you take out motor insurance and cancel after three months, they will charge you a disproportionate amount too.

Also, most clubs 'allow' potential new members a few flights to see if it's for them. When you look at the investment in radio gear and flight equipment, the cost of membership is relatively small.

Ade

[Martin Dance 1]

Certainly the BMFA reduces its fees in July and I believe there was a further reduction later in the year. As far as club membership is concerned if someone wants to join in October we advise them to hold on to January. We also offer them the opportunity of a few trial flights and invitations to club meetings and to come to the field to watch and have a chat.

[John Lee]

For a club it ensures that all renewals take place at the same time in one or two batches. If BMFA renewals happened at random we would have to monitor expiry dates for 130 members throughout the year. I'd guess that most clubs keep their membership dates aligned to the BMFA calendar year.

[Geoff S]

It applies to most clubs I've ever joined - motor cycle, cycle, sailing and model aircraft. It just makes life a lot easier for the volunteers who keep the clubs going. My wife has been the treasurer and sometime membership secretary of our local cycle club (Derby Mercury) for about 25 years and to handle upwards of 400 memberships renewing throughout the year would be a nightmare. She already spends a lot of time in January handling cheques and cash as it is. When I was membership secretary a few years back we only had about 90 members and that was bad enough.

Geoff

[Steven S]

It's the same over here also [Canada], for our club membership and MAAC, our national organization.

[John Privett]

As already mentioned, the BMFA do reduce their subs on 1st July, and again on 1st September. In 2015 the adult subscription was £32, reducing to £24 in July and £16 in September.

Some clubs reduce their subs, most (probably) don't. My club's subs are only £10/year anyway, and on the odd occasion that somebody applies to join later than about mid-October I always remind them that they may prefer to wait until January.

Why do we do it this way? Well dealing with club and BMFA renewals is already enough of a job in a club with 240 members. If we had to stagger renewals throughout the year and keep track on those whose BMFA and club renewals were out of step with each other, then I know one club at least who'd be looking for a new volunteer to deal with it!

[Brian Spearing]

My club offers reduced subs late in the year roughly in line with BMFA's system, and the 13-for-12 month sub for people joining in December.

Slighty off-topic, winter is a poor time to get renewals as the urge to fly is lowest. It's too easy for someone who is not committed to model flying and who has to bear the usual Christmas expenses to just give up. Every year we see some people just disappearing and I wonder if they'd still be members if the club's year ran from say July to June. Maybe similar timing would help the BMFA to retain members too.

[John F]

The thing is with a renewal date they cannot win. Someone will still criticise no matter which date.

If the membership / insurance renewal is annual then any date at all will surely do? I doubt whether the renewal date in the winter had anything to do with retaining members and is probably wiser to do so in the winter as having a renewal date in the summer is asking for issues as the summer holidays away is bound to give folk cause to have a moan.

Also if it were a summer renewal date then that would mean that reduced membership occurs in the winter when folk are not flying and become even cheaper when the last, and arguably the most, flying days start.

Imagine the amount of late, reduced, membership numbers that come in expecting a reduced fee just when we arrive at the, on average, better flying days? Not exactly fair.

It is also easier to remember - new year = new subs.

[Peter Miller]

In our club the BMFA is done in December. Club membership is in March. At least this spreads the cost a bit.

The secretary has enough trouble getting all the payments in on time without having to try and chase individuals through the year

We do reduce the club membership fee about half way through the membership year.

[Simon B]

If they reduce the fee later in the year then I withdraw my comment. Always happy to be proven wrong

[jonryan]

How many clubs offer automatic on-line renewal? I have a number of annual or bi-annual subscriptions that work this way. An email warning turns up a few weeks before the due date, and payment goes out automatically. Or it doesn't if I cancel.

I visualise something like free club membership for the first month (incentive!), including insurance cover on some sort of 'guest' policy (no idea if this is possible, but it shouldn't be difficult). Would probably need a club model & radio, and an understanding that there would be no unsupervised flying. As BMFA have ~36,000 members I'd've though staggering payments would be better for them in terms of spreading the income over the year (quarterly payment option perhaps?), rather than it all coming in in one lump.


Or something.

[jonryan]

PS: Would it be possible for people to consider any positives to this and not just negatives? Please?

[Cuban8]

Posted by jonryan on 18/02/2016 09:25:15:

PS: Would it be possible for people to consider any positives to this and not just negatives? Please?

 

BMFA fees and club subs are for most people the cheapest part of the hobby - as an example, my club's membership and insurance comes to under £1.70 per week! You'd probably spend more in petrol (for your car getting to the field) and glow fuel on one single flying session for the same amount.

A Pete M. says in an earlier post, it would be a headache keeping track of renewals that were staggered across the year, and although membership secretaries' jobs are made easier now with the BMFA portal for club business, it all still takes time.

I begin in early December and have everything finished by early February - 115 members all paid up and ready to go now. 105 members had paid before the end December as we offer a £15 discount on subs received before January 1st. Only two batches to deal with, which cuts down on time and costs, and makes the whole process efficient and not onerous in the least.

Edited By Cuban8 on 18/02/2016 10:32:30

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Well "positives" sort of depend on where you are sitting! Like JP above I am responsible for collecting the renewals, renewing people on BMFA then posting out their BMFA cards when then arrive. For me doing that in one or two large batches at the start of the year, as opposed to having it round my neck continuously all through the year, is a major positive! Frankly, I agree with John, if that was changed the club would be looking for a new "volunteer"!

And as we have seen, BMFA cut their fees during the year - another positive.

By having a fixed renewal date everyone knows exactly when renewal is - another positive.

The only negative is that for the relatively small number of new members joining each year, if they join late they pay still full club subs - £40. OK, that may seem a bit hard. But the alternative is unworkable - at least by me. And as has been stated - let's say they join in June and have to pay £40 club subs - instead of a half year rate of £20 - what have they saved? £20. In the scheme of things setting yourself up to do model flying its a drop in the ocean.

So, a single minor negative for a small minority but lots of positives for the majority. I'm sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but I suggest you spend a year as club treasurer/mem sec with all of the admin and paperwork that's involved - and I promise you'd think the same.

BEB

[Dane Crosby]

We sort out our club membership in Dec/Jan. After all, the Wx in Cornwall often precludes flying which allows us to get shot of all the clerking and trivia over a few coffees when we meet up at the club whilst waiting for the gales and lashing rain to abate. This leaves the spring and summer free to fly, fly, fly.

[jonryan]

"The only negative is that for the relatively small number of new members joining each year, if they join late they pay still full club subs - £40. OK, that may seem a bit hard."

This is the bit I'm really thinking about.

I started looking for a club last year. The folks at Sedgemoor couldn't have been more welcoming when I approached them last October. The advice was to join in January, which I did, and I've managed three Sunday morning supervised flights with my rookie's model since, the club instructor doing the take-off and landing honours and trying not to wince.

How much enthusiasm is there to attract new flyers? What sort or recruitment drives do clubs hold? My thought is that people such as myself would be far more likely to respond to a 'have a go' session if it meant you didn't have to worry about frostbite, and could have a number of sessions in order to get a real feel for things.

PS for any other beginners reading this: My sim is a terrific investment. It gives a pretty realistic sense of the real thing, and particularly helps with orientation.

[kc]

Clubs don't have recruitment drives because they don't want to increase membership too much! More members means more noise and bigger chance of complaints. Small is better.

However clubs almost always make room for anyone keen enough to find their way to the field.

The fee problem means we all have paid some fees without benefit in months of membership, but........is there any other hobby or sport where you get free tuition from experts? When I started ( more than 30 years ago) I got tuition from a fellow member. Only a year or so later I found out he was one of the top aerobatic pilots in the country and for many years always in the top 10 at the Nationals. Free tuition from one of the countries best pilots! Only in aeromodelling.

Edited By kc on 18/02/2016 11:11:28

[Cuban8]

Posted by kc on 18/02/2016 11:10:30:

The fee problem means we all have paid some fees without benefit in months of membership

Edited By kc on 18/02/2016 11:11:28

Again, it all depends on the club and the individual. Quite a few of my club mates will not let let the weather or field conditions bother them at all and they fly all year round come what may.

Most clubs have regular club nights, model nights quizzes, guest speakers, or even an indoor venue, so although not the same as being on the field and flying, you can at least take part in the social side of the hobby whilst the weather's rotten.

Personally, I hang up my tranny at the end of October and retreat to the workshop until March or April.

[kc]

I was referring to the few months when one first joins a club.

I am an all the year flyer - just returned from a flying session - bitter cold & stiff breeze yet there were 2 other keen types and we all had a couple of flights. Need to keep in practice......

[Keith Lomax]

Commenting as the BMFA Treasurer, and the person responsible for proposing the fees to the AGM, and also for devising the current system ...

We used to charge the full fee but issue a credit note that could be used against the next year's fees. This became a huge admin workload for both the BMFA and clubs, so I simplified it a few years ago.

If you join after July 1st, you will get a discount of 25% rounded to the nearest £. If you join after September 1st, the discount is 50%, rounded. If you join after December 1st, you pay the following year's subscription and get the remainder of the current year free (which has been the case for at least 20 years)

We still have to pay the full year premium to the insurers (because it is a single group policy) but you will not get back issues of BMFA News.

The idea of a rolling annual membership has been discussed many times. As other posters have commented, most of the membership admin is done in clubs, so we try to keep it as simple as possible for them. Additionally, if you have members in your club who join the BMFA either through another club or as a country member, your club officials would then need to keep checking that everyone flying is a current member. What if no club committee member is on the field on the day, and you are flying with another member, should you check that they are still insured before you fly?

So for 2016, based on the increase of £1 that was approved at the AGM - January to June full year £33, July-August £25, September - November £17, December - next year's fee.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I think the system is fine - but maybe not the timing for those on a limited budget.

I'd imagine that it would cause all sorts of short term headaches, but a renewal date aligned to the "financial year" in April might make more sense. As well as moving the BMFA and (logically coinciding) club subscriptions away from the financially demanding festive period, spring may well be the time when a young man's mind turns to the delights of the flying season (amongst other things!) and could well make a difference to drop-out rates.

[jonryan]

Commenting as the BMFA Treasurer, and the person responsible for proposing the fees to the AGM, and also for devising the current system ...

Keith, is there a mechanism for people to pay monthly or quarterly? Or perhaps, as I mentioned above, to possibility of a 'trail month'?

It isn't so much the cost of club membership and insurance as that people may be reluctant to have a go at model flying if they have to stump up for a full year, only to find they don't get addicted (yes; it could happen... ).

Then again, one comment up thread suggests there is some reluctance to attract newcomers at all. I find that a bit sad.