Der Gasser- Letter to Editor

[Mike Andrews]

dmano wrote:

I enjoy tech'ing cars for the club. All cars should have to pass tech inspection by a tech inspector. I tech Barry's car for him when needed. Barry could not turn a wrench when I first met him 25 years ago. Since then he has become a very good mechanic/fabricator for his own cars but he still needs help now and then.

Get him a t-shirt that says...



lefty loosey - righty tighty





if we only knew someone in the t-shirt business

[Mike Andrews]

AMoore wrote:

I think lack of attendance boils down to economics. This leaves me with two questions:

1. What would the tracks do if we played hardball on the amount we pay for an event. There is more competition now.

2. How much of the cost of DE actually goes to support DE? Whether the overage is justified or not, I think the membership should know the answer to this question.

1) I don't know how hardball this is but a few of the tracks have asked how things are working out and have suggested that they could work with us. But I don't think that would play at all tracks. I'd bet that the Glen would love our weekend with them back...



2) That all depends on the track. The NJ tracks are the most expensive and Jefferson Circuit is the least expensive.

I do not have the budget in front of me but if memory serves me correctly it was projecting a profit of ~20K for the track program.

[larrybard]

Mike Andrews wrote:

I do not have the budget in front of me but if memory serves me correctly it was projecting a profit of ~20K for the track program.

So would it be unfair to say that DE is in a sense subsidizing some of the other RTR revenue-producing activities? Or, to put it differently, that some other RTR activities which charge fees may be operating at a loss (ignoring -- unrealistically -- some allocation of "overhead")?

Larry

(Please don't misunderstand -- I'm not suggesting that every activity should be profitable, at least short-term, to justify it.)

[Mike Andrews]

larrybard wrote:

Mike Andrews wrote:

I do not have the budget in front of me but if memory serves me correctly it was projecting a profit of ~20K for the track program.

So would it be unfair to say that DE is in a sense subsidizing some of the other RTR revenue-producing activities? Or, to put it differently, that some other RTR activities which charge fees may be operating at a loss (ignoring -- unrealistically -- some allocation of "overhead")?

Larry

(Please don't misunderstand -- I'm not suggesting that every activity should be profitable, at least short-term, to justify it.)

Larry,



The profit from the the track program is used to fund other club activities. Does that answer both parts of your question?

[larrybard]

Mike Andrews wrote:

Larry,

The profit from the the track program is used to fund other club activities. Does that answer both parts of your question?

Sort of. And let me apologize if my questions seem too confusing and/or intrusive. And thank you for your efforts to patiently respond.

By definition, I suppose, any profits from one program will be available for all other club activities (including other expenses of all kinds, such as printing and accounting services, etc.).

More specifically what I was addressing was whether the club roughly calculates the net profits/losses annually for each of its key programs (e.g., not just DE but also AX -- though I am emphatically using that just as an example that comes immediately to mind), and if there is some policy as to the extent to which each such individual activity ought to at least break even (e.g., on average over a period of 3 years).

This may be a deeply flawed question, but if membership dues were enough to pay for general overhead (such as accounting services, where there are no associated revenues), and DE was producing $20k of profits, would the $20k be enough to permit each 2 student instructor to participate for half the normal fee, for example?

Larry

[ccm911]

Wow!  Five pages of beating the living snot out of a point!  Must be a new record.

For Tech - Just deal with it.  When I was on the line, it was amazing what people tried to pass through as safe.

For Instructing - Deal with it.  As the economy clears up, you will all be back to one student in no time.

For Financial Reporting - Go to the monthly membership meetings and ask questions.

Did I miss anything?

[larrybard]

ccm911 wrote:

Wow! Five pages of beating the living snot out of a point! Must be a new record.

For Tech - Just deal with it. When I was on the line, it was amazing what people tried to pass through as safe.

For Instructing - Deal with it. As the economy clears up, you will all be back to one student in no time.

For Financial Reporting - Go to the monthly membership meetings and ask questions.

Did I miss anything?

Glad all those thorny issues were so easily resolved by you; thanks!

And sorry to have asked any financially-related questions other than at a monthly membership meeting. I didn't realize it was prohibited, or such a dreadfully and obviously poor idea.

Well, excuuuse me!

[dmano]

Mike Andrews wrote:

dmano wrote:

I enjoy tech'ing cars for the club. All cars should have to pass tech inspection by a tech inspector. I tech Barry's car for him when needed. Barry could not turn a wrench when I first met him 25 years ago. Since then he has become a very good mechanic/fabricator for his own cars but he still needs help now and then.

Get him a t-shirt that says...



lefty loosey - righty tighty





if we only knew someone in the t-shirt business

It is getting cold out might want to change that to a sweatshirt

[emayer]

larrybard wrote:

Mike Andrews wrote:

Larry,

The profit from the the track program is used to fund other club activities. Does that answer both parts of your question?

Sort of. And let me apologize if my questions seem too confusing and/or intrusive. And thank you for your efforts to patiently respond.

By definition, I suppose, any profits from one program will be available for all other club activities (including other expenses of all kinds, such as printing and accounting services, etc.).

More specifically what I was addressing was whether the club roughly calculates the net profits/losses annually for each of its key programs (e.g., not just DE but also AX -- though I am emphatically using that just as an example that comes immediately to mind), and if there is some policy as to the extent to which each such individual activity ought to at least break even (e.g., on average over a period of 3 years).

This may be a deeply flawed question, but if membership dues were enough to pay for general overhead (such as accounting services, where there are no associated revenues), and DE was producing $20k of profits, would the $20k be enough to permit each 2 student instructor to participate for half the normal fee, for example?

Larry

That's a very interesting line of questioning, I hope we're not out of line for engaging in this discussion. Brainstorming like this doesn't seem reasonable or practicable at a monthly meeting either.

Another way of looking at this is to ask: Is an increase in membership fees necessary to help cover other programs and permit retention of some of the DE profit toward reducing instructor track fees? I can feel flames already..... hock:

[Terry]

It appears that Chris has closed this thread, which he can do because he is neither driving nor instructing and is paying 0. I don't think "deal with it" is a constructive response to a real problem.