[HCoop-Discuss] Financial situation

[Adam Chlipala]

Michael Potter wrote:
> This is a straightforward solution and will maintain the equality of
> the group. What is the bottom line, the cost-per-member, for doing it?
>   

I've summed up the costs that have been billed directly to our bank account:
    http://wiki.hcoop.net/wiki/OneTimeCosts2007
I'm sure I've missed some that ntk has paid for directly, and I hope he 
can add those ASAP.  I want to include everything not yet registered on 
the portal.  But this is very close to the current sum.

With the sum that's there now, divided evenly, it would be $44.42 per 
member.  Using the pledge amounts on the portal, it's minimum $24.50 per 
member.

That doesn't sound so bad, but I have a feeling some members aren't 
willing to pay even $25, from past discussions here.  Should I post to 
hcoop-announce to see who isn't willing to pay his pledge-based share of 
that total, and we can try charging everyone for the back-charges at 
pledge rates and arrange special subsidization for people who "can't 
afford" their calculated shares?

> Isn't this a consumer co-op which exists to provide cost-effective
> resources to its members?
>   
and Tanveer Singh wrote:
> I may be wrong here, but AFAIK, the motivation to be in a coop and not
> in a shared webhosting package like the ones from dreamhost etc., is
> the costs.

Someone or other has said this before on one of these lists, but I'll 
repeat it and make clear my agreement: Cost-effectiveness is one of our 
important criteria, but absolute cost minimization falls below other 
criteria in importance.  Feature base and reliability matter more, for 
instance.  A person might want to join a co-op over an equally-expensive 
commercial provider because its democratic processes and readyness to 
expand to provide services that wouldn't make business sense because of 
their exoticness or high set-up costs.