Why not just admit that cleaning doesn't need to be done as often as our mothers told us? I no longer support any proposal for paid cleaners, members or not.
Maybe people will finally catch on that if they leave a mess, it stays a mess. As for "paying" people to do presentations... I'm not sanguine. Most people wouldn't do a presentation for a flat fee of $20. Offering it as a $20 savings will just let them bitch about the rate hike and grump about how much work you want for $20. Honestly, we're a bunch of lazy bastards. Don't worry too much over the expected rising costs: no one else is, and it'll kill you to take it all upon yourself. Whatever has to be done will get done when enough people care enough to do it. Be calm. Be patient. None of our problems at Skullspace are life-threatening. On Oct 1, 2012 10:22 PM, "Mark Jenkins" <[email protected]> wrote: > Allow me to present /The Jenkins Plan/ . > (originally inspired by our pending electrical costs, but with a rant > inspired by the maid thread tacked on) > ------------------------- > > In order to raise the inevitable revenues Skullspace is going to need to > cover: > * the cost of electricity at some point (landlord can use exit clause to > force it on us with 6 months notice) > * the heating costs we're about to start bearing for the first time > * the cost of paying back a electrical-renovation loan > > We should raise our membership cost to $60 a month, but make it easy for > folks to drop back to $40 a month if they achieve any of the following > community service requirements: > 1) Serve on the board > 2) Have shown and will continue to show exceptional commitment to our > infrastructure (the Colin Stanners exemption), by designation by the board > or > 3) Organize or co-organize an event/happening once per month or > equivalent (e.g. 12 week class has you covered for a year). Non-member > attendees at most of these events must pay an entrance fee. > > Most of the members who would opt for community service would have to > quality under #3. The board would need to limit the number of people it > grants an exception to under #2. > > My wild guess is this amount of community event organizing would allow us > to boost our long term dependable member numbers from the conservative 40 > number I threw out before to 80. I also guess that 65% of those 80 members > would opt for offering community service (so around 43 members each running > or co-running events) > > So, membership revenues go from: > 40*40 = $1,600 > to > 0.65*80*40+0.35*80*60 = $3760 > > A $2,160 monthly boost in membership $$. Plus rental/event access fees for > non-member event attendance. > > > Notice that I didn't include cleaning and garbage as allowable volunteer > exemptions. > > I don't think we should put cleaning and garbage as "volunteer" actions > because they really do just suck. The #1 way to nuke your volunteers and > other supporters is to beg them to do crappy work that they're not > interested in just for the sake of keeping the organization afloat. People > hate sacrificing themselves for an abstract ideal. > > There should be an incentive for volunteering (such as reduction from $60 > to $40) and that volunteering experience should be rewarding and > worthwhile. We should be channeling our free time and talents into high > level hacker organizing and infrastructure that makes people who come by > say "cool, sign me up". > > If anyone out there is feeling pissed about the hours and hours they've > put into volunteer work that they hate doing, I would like to say *stop*. > Just fucking stop working yourself towards bitterness and don't try to > convert that feeling it into pushing other folks into volunteer work > they're not going to like doing or even start doing. > > Find ways to have fun and boost membership numbers/revenues at the same > time so you can look back and say "I'm glad I did all that work, that was > an awesome experience!". Don't waste a moment of time comparing your > contributions to others in a volunteer driven organization with member dues > -- contributions will *always* vary, and vary considerably, so we have to > focus on volunteer contributions where we don't end up carrying about it > and we should also charge folks who don't meet some minimal standard of > community organizing a higher member fee. (they'll keep paying that fee > when its matched by better service) > > Nobody should feel the weight of the organization personally on their own > shoulders as a personal burden. Let the organization adjust however it > needs to not having you bear such burdens -- fuck martyrdom. > > We can pay for shit that members aren't interested in doing by boosting > membership revenues with an increase in fees and a targeted community > service requirement where we ask folks who want to pay less to directly > help bring in and retain members. > > So "paying for shit" has got to continue with the cleaning and garbage job > where the evidence shows we lack a foolish martyr. Let's pay for it with > real cash and make structural adjustments if necessary to bring in the > revenue to pay for things like this. > > And I don't have a problem with us making an internal hire for things like > this. If volunteers are having fun with meaningful volunteering and not > comparing themselves to a member who happens to be paid for shit work it > shouldn't be a problem. (If volunteers are complaining then it means > they're volunteering on the wrong stuff that we ought to be paying cash for) > > I do have a big problem with folks embracing the $40 per month price point > for cleaning and garbage just because it makes for convenient bookkeeping. > > $40 per month is just waaay to little to pay anyone, outside or inside for > that job. > > I don't have an impression for how it went before, but I think we're just > begging for bad quality of service if we stick with slave pricing. > > There's a myth that when Henry Ford doubled the wages of his workers his > company became way more profitable because the workers could buy his own > product. > > In reality, Ford become more profitable because it was easier to get a lot > more productive work out those workers once they were paid more. (with a > higher wages each worker become more replaceable, crappy workers who didn't > improve could be terminated or replaced by attrition with better workers > who wouldn't have been available before because they worked for higher pay > elsewhere) > > (This is why the minimum wage increases in Manitoba, now $10.25/h [growth > well beyond inflation in the last 5 years] has not been a employment > numbers disaster -- employers with super cheap labour are simply given an > incentive to make better use of the labour they've got. Apparently they > teach about hidden potential every business is always sitting on right away > in business school. See the chapter on "fair pay" from /Filthy Lucre: > Economics for people who hate capitalism/ by Josheph Heath for more info on > this subject) > > So, I would like to beg Dave Curry to summon a little more personal > dignity and withdraw the offer for $40/month. Don't debase yourself that > badly Dave, ask us for at least $80/month! > > At $40/month we're just setting ourselves up for sub-par regardless of who > we pay, inside or outside. Something like $80/month isn't very high either, > but it might be enough to get us more or less consistently at a minimal > standard we can live with. > > Dave, if it comes to pass that you keep offering that price, the members > approve of it, *AND* you do end up doing a great job for so little money, > you'll have become a foolish martyr for the wrong cause. Don't. Serriously, > stick to the Skullitron. > > > Mark > ______________________________**_________________ > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > Help: > http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/**index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss<http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss> > Archive: > https://groups.google.com/**group/skullspace-discuss-**archive/<https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/> >
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