Combined payments

[milliemarlin]

With postage going up my income going down I have a small request. At about this time of year I send a cheque to the membership secretary and a cheque for my calendar to separate addresses. Is it possible to send them to one address? Can I total them up and send one cheque? I guess it all ends up in the same bank
Paul
PS: I know my record in adding up calendar + post and packing has been poor in the past and including membership will only make it more likely that I muck it up. So here is my first pass addition
Calendar £6.50+ p&p £1.20 + Subs for two £15.50 = £23.20
PPS: I know I should get with-it and use a transfer but then the question remains can I use one payment?

[milliemarlin]

Re: Combined payments

To answer my own question (call me Johnny no mates). The club accounts, for sound accountancy reasons, have to be separate. So you need to send separate cheques to two addresses or make separate transfers. My thanks to the committee for giving my idea a decent airing and explain the problem to me.
Paul

[neiltechspec]

Re: Combined payments

Disappointingly, your question didn't seem to attract much in the way of a response.

Even a "we'll look into it" or "sorry, can't be done" would have been better than nothing.

Neil.

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Combined payments

To answer my own question (call me Johnny no mates). The club accounts, for sound accountancy reasons, have to be separate. So you need to send separate cheques to two addresses or make separate transfers. My thanks to the committee for giving my idea a decent airing and explain the problem to me.
Paul

Its all far to complicated for me. But I guess these rules are made by the banks?

[milliemarlin]

Re: Combined payments

Hi Neil,
Thanks for your interest. I did receive a prompt reply and a considered answer outside of the forum. The MOC committee also looked into using PayPal but this was ruled out because of the high cost, security concerns and the availability of direct payments.

Hi Cameron,
It’s not that complex but finance is not something my brain can deal with. Give me a decent wiring loom any day.

Cheers
Paul

[Happy_Dave]

Re: Combined payments

Personally I believe the club, as it charges a fee, should embrace current payment methods. As for the accounting of the club I do not believe it is a company (please correct me if I'm wrong) so there is no requirement to keep individual accounts just general. Surely to assist maintaining and increasing membership (in the short term) a simple I'm paying for this 'x' accompanied by the payment reference number of say PayPal or sage pay to the designated marlin account (all done in the background from whatever you add from the marlin site 'shop') would suffice for the memsec or club 'accountant' to apportion costs to ensure transparency within the club in terms of the annual 'accounts' breakdown provided at stoneleigh? I presume the website as included within the last years accounts has this functionality built in to enable this change on a more permanent level beyond my temporary suggested fix?

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Combined payments

Now I can answer part of that one yes the website does have the facility for secure payments through a variety of means - the issue lies in someone having to physically do the work at the other end of the line - for example the mem sec has to sort out a membership list which isnt as easy as it sounds (for example a proportion of members never pay in a timely manner!). I know the counter argument is that e-payment would solve some of the issues and I assure you it is something debated regularly at committee level Also, whoever is doing the club goods has to administer whatever system they prefer to have in place and that also takes a finite amount of time. So the easy bit is putting the electronic process in place; the hard bit is making it work with the physical reality of collecting and collating and posting. My personal thoughts are that whoever has the elected job of memsec and clubgoods should do it the way they prefer. My personal preference is to do things electronically wherever possible but I accept the people at the sharp end may not share my enthusiasm for things done by 'puter.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Combined payments

The issue at stake is also member convenience. Those who try to join online are faced with the final option of paying by Direct Debit, or Cheque. Neither are options for impulse purchases, the real strength of Paypal. Those that the MemSec have been chasing may represent the loss of £140.00 or more for those who did not press the enter button.
Similarly for Club Goods where impulse purchases may have a significant impact.
Of course, impulse purchases will mean more work for the Vice Chair and MemSec, but would the treasurer not appreciate the additional income?
High cost and security have been used as excuses for not implementing Paypal. I am sure that the members would stand a 4% premium for purchasing online, more than covering Paypal charges against the cost of postage and an envelope. This could ve viewed as a penalty for those completing online and an advantage for those using traditional methods.
I, like many others have heard horror stories of Paypal transactions, I have heard the same for cheques and credit cards, but, if Paypal rules are followed meticulously, as with any other financial transaction, the probability of a security issue is reduced to near zero. If it was really problematic the trend for increasing Paypal transactions worldwide outside of eBay, would not be happening.

We are in the hands of the committee who have consistently rejected Paypal. If they are still of the pen and paper age and that is their limit of understanding, then that is what we must accept, but...

If potential committee members publish their personal manifesto prior to election time at the AGM, the members would have a chance to vote for the representative they think offer the most progressive view for the Future of the MOC.

My personal plans exempt me from both the election and voting procedure. online elections might be an option.....

[neiltechspec]

Re: Combined payments

Just remember ........

This club is run by unpaid elected volunteers, expecting them to have an increased workload could have an impact in various ways.

Is that right, that new members have to pay by direct debit or cheque ???. I pay my membership by bank transfer (have done for a few years now).


Also, personally, whilst I do use paypal outside of eBay, I do hate adding to eBay's (owners of paypal) enormous offshore profits !.

Neil.