| Chess One 2005-08-19, 8:32 pm |
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"Bruce" <bdraney@novia.net> wrote in message
news:1124412184.488442.81460@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
quote:
> My personal opinion was that the demise started with the ill fated
> decision to raise adult dues in 1995 to $40.00. At $30.00 per year
> growth had been steady and in fact the peak of adult membership was mid
> 1995.
In another newsgroup 2 months ago I wrote that if CL were not a tax on
ratings, the threshold to play rated chess in the USA would still be $30.
People hated the idea because of 'the need to communicate with members'
argument.
Similarly, if CL could be purchased as a stand-alone subscription for $27.50
then paradoxically it may sell more copies, by virtue of those people who
want to read a chess magazine being able to buy CL unbundled for less than
$59.
Phil Innes
quote:
> Prior to this dues hike the past trend had always been a flood of
> renewals at the old rate, followed by a temporary fall off before
> membership slowly started rising again. It didn't happen however in
> 1995. Instead the decline was continuous and lasted for over 8 years,
> not a single one of which after 1996 did the USCF realize an
> operational profit.
>
> It also did not appear to be blamable on any particular political
> group, Board or ED. All of them were failures until the USCF finally
> axed their B&E staff and outsourced it.
>
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