As a secretary, I was never much a fan of walking around with people's credit card info, but imagine my surprise as I'm opening my secretary's kit/bag and find out that USBC is no longer taking credit card payments. Wouldn't that be a nice thing to tell members before they show up first night? Where was that press release? Did so few people participate that it didn't matter?
BowlingFans:As a secretary, I was never much a fan of walking around with people's credit card info, but imagine my surprise as I'm opening my secretary's kit/bag and find out that USBC is no longer taking credit card payments. Wouldn't that be a nice thing to tell members before they show up first night? Where was that press release? Did so few people participate that it didn't matter?
As an association leader, I knew about this going in to the center workshops that I attended and passed this information to those league officers in attendance.
The option to pay by credit card still exists but only at bowl.com where there is a secure interface.
cheers
We actually had a bowler in my league who NEVER WOUND UP PAYING HIS DUES AT ALL because of the credit-card situation.
Chris Bretz joined the league with about 10 weeks left in the season, and he filled out a membership application on his first night of bowling, and he used the credit-card option in making his payment.
The league secretary sent in the card to the association manager, who in turn, notified the league secretary that his office would not accept credit cards.
So the league secretary came to me, as league president, and notified me of the situation. I, in turn, contacted the AM and asked him how to proceed. The AM repeated his stance that he wouldn't accept a credit-card payment, and I notified both the bowler and the league secreatry.
The secretary questioned why (because the application clearly had a credit-card option) the payment couldn't be made by credit card, but he finally collected a $20 bill from Mr. Bretz. So I assumed that the secretary would, and did, turn over the money to the local association.
However, in the meantime, the secretary (who was re-elected at the end-of-the-season payoff meeting) was transferred out of town and a new secretary was elected. And when the new secretary was going through the previous secretary's records, he found the $20 bill still paper-clipped to letters and other stuff pertaining to Mr. Bretz' application.
The new secretary asked me what to do, and I contacted the association secretary, who indicated that IF Mr. Bretz was going to bowl in the league THIS year, to simply use that $20 for his 2008-09 payment. Mr. Bretz DID bowl on opening night last week, so I suppose that will be the way the situation will be "resolved."
But, that means that someone bowled last season and got a yearbook average WITHOUT ACTUALLY PAYING HIS DUES.
Wow! Really? Stop the presses!!!!!
What good is a yearbook average if he was never a USBC member?
cicada49: Wow! Really? Stop the presses!!!!!
No kidding! Big news of the world!
throwadigm, you would be surprised at the number of bowlers who do not bowl in tournaments, don't want to pay their dues, bowl in two or more leagues and put down on their applications that they paid in another league everytime. Winlabs will not allow entering of an average for the yearbook if there has been no payment made. I used to chase those folks down and make them pay or not allow them to bowl the following season.
Don Gates
Don,
Not only will winlabs restrict unpaid bowlers from the average listing but it will print a list of unpaid bowlers, their leagues entered, and the secretary w/phone number. So the tracking is very easy now. I usually run this report around Nov/ Dec. after most of the leagues have been processed and the majority of added bowlers are in.
Ray, yep, I would go get 'em and they pay up cause I let them know what could happen if they don't.
ThrowaDIGM:What good is a yearbook average if he was never a USBC member?
He has paid his 2008-09 membership dues (with last year's $20), so the yearbook average would come into play should he enter any upcoming tournaments.
Keep in mind that the bowler ATTEMPTED to pay his dues, so nothing was really his fault.
Cards sold after March 15th or 1st (or some date similar) are dated for the next season anyway, so, it's not like this bowler is getting any membership(s) for free.
MightyFish: ThrowaDIGM:What good is a yearbook average if he was never a USBC member? He has paid his 2008-09 membership dues (with last year's $20), so the yearbook average would come into play should he enter any upcoming tournaments.Keep in mind that the bowler ATTEMPTED to pay his dues, so nothing was really his fault.
Bill it doesn't matter if his dues are paid this year with last years money. If his dues were not paid last year his average is not legit. Now that he used last year's money for this year if he wants a legal 2007-08 average he would still have to pay last year's dues. You can check on bowl.com to see if he had a membership for last year. If it doesn't show him paid he has no 07-08 average.
Dear Ray:
I tend to agree with you that the average SHOULDN'T be legit.
HOWEVER, I'm not the one to make such a final determination.
All I can say is that I did everything I could as a league president to take care of the situation.
IF the league secretary didn't follow my instructions to send the $20 to the association manager, OR if the AM said it's OK to pay this year's dues with last season's $20, who am I to press the matter further? And it's not up to me to determine whether or not the bowler's average from last season counts or not.
After I issued my previous post, I checked the Find A Member feature, and Chris Bretz was not listed.
However, his average from last season is listed in the yearbook; hence, I assume it has become part of the association's official records.
