Re: Credit Card Charges

[krandall@world.std.com]

At 08:52 AM 10/2/98 -0700, you wrote:
>As I understood Bob's message though, the problem is that with under 15
>transactions per month, they're clamping it at $15 minimum, right? Which
>would seem to imply that we're paying a flat fee of $15 per month to have
>the privelige of the Visa account whether we use it or not.  It might be
>good to see (as opposed to percentages) actual numbers of our visa
>expenditures.
>
>If this is the case, then it would seem that further limiting credit card
>purchases doesn't really solve any problems.  If we're under 15 credit
>card memberships per month, it's as though 15 people used them.  Once we
>go over 15 per month, we pay a dollar more for every person.  It sounds
>like from what Bob was saying that we're getting about 4-5 people using
>the service each month.  I guess what I'm saying is that you should look
>at: 1) do you think these 4-5 people won't join if we take out the
>service? 2) Are these 4-5 people allowing the society to break even on the
>service + printing, etc?

I think this would a very useful way of assessing the problem.  Do you have
any idea on these question, Bob?  

Also, what is our actual, per annum cost for VISA service.  Even if it's
costing us a lot per person now, as the organization grows, as I understand
it, the cost per transaction will drop.  Obviously, if our dues structure
does not support the cost of VISA, we can't continue to do it.  If we are
able to continue to end each year with a little more in the bank than the
year before, I think it's a valuable enough service that we should try to
keep it in place.    I think the more truly "international" we are, the
broader range of ideas will be available to our members.

Karen