[HCoop-Discuss] Financial situation

[Rob Linwood]

On 4/29/07, j.c.hallgren at juno.com <j.c.hallgren at juno.com> wrote:
> I'm going to throw in my $0.02 now...
>
> I DO realize that financially we're in a bad way, but I also know that
> my site that I host here runs on a showstring budget also, which
> allows for a max of about $5 per month in hosting costs...I see that
> in last few months, my costs have been well below that due to many
> more members than when I joined in Jan 2005, so making up the
> difference wouldn't be that much of a problem...however, should the
> costs go above that $5 a month, I might have to look elsewhere as
> there could possibly be some other provider who gives me the four
> things I need, which are:
>
> [...]

By the same token, HCoop provides services at far below the cost of
for-profit enterprises; part of the low cost is because certain
members have pledged more than others, or have paid for co-op expenses
out-of-hand (namely Adam).  Essentially, while keeping monthly fees
artificially low, we (the members of HCoop) have incurred an almost
$5000 debt to certain members of this organization.

While I understand that the low cost of hosting with HCoop is a major
draw to it, it is simply unfair to expect that an extremely small
number of members will continue to shoulder the lion's share of the
cost in exchange for keeping monthly fees low for everyone. To be
quite honest, even if the fees doubled, I doubt you could find a host
of similar value anywhere, let alone one run democratically. And I
know that while we are attempting to increase membership, it is not
clear to me that members who do not wish to pay a fair amount of the
costs involved in running the co-op add much value to the
organization, outside of any volunteer efforts they might bring.

In short, I am all in favor of adding additional charges for both A)
building up savings for growth/emergencies/etc., and B) repaying those
member(s) who have in essence lent the co-op extremely large amounts
of money (for which I am grateful). Having money in savings would
allow us to flatten out future price spikes, which would in turn allow
us to keep monthly prices at a predictable rate in the future.  For
the time being, we are in a financial crisis, and if fees must be
greatly increased for a time, so be it. Having a co-op now, and in the
future, is worth it.

-rob
-- 
Rob Linwood -- rob at linwood.us
http://rob.linwood.us/