[HCoop-Discuss] Goals and policies

[Adam Chlipala]

docelic wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 05, 2008 at 08:06:58AM -0500, Adam Chlipala wrote:
>   
>> Now that I think of it, this does suggest starting the freeze-drying at 
>> the point of balances less than deposits of 3 months' dues, so that we 
>> never bill members amounts that we're not sure they will ever pay.
>>     
>
> I am opposed to closing down service for anyone as long as their
> balance is on the plus side, at least 1 cent.
>   

How is that point of view practical?  As treasurer, I have a lot more 
exposure to the way that people pay and don't pay, in contrast to the 
way that we volunteers, as unusually responsible members, might assume 
that they pay. :-)

It's reasonably frequent that someone decides to leave the co-op, and 
does so by turning off his HCoop e-mail and never having anything to do 
with us again.  With your suggestion, for _every_ such member, we end up 
with an uncollectable debt to the co-op of three months' expenses for 
that member.  People treat their relationship with us the same way they 
do with other online services.  The difference is that most others have 
automatic recurring payments, where services are shut down when the 
payments stop.

> We are already sending them notices when they approach < $10 balance,
> and I think that should be enough. Sending notifications 'in advance',
> but without terminating their service, is a good thing to do and will
> also give us all rights to close their accounts/services as soon as
> they reach 0.
>   

This just isn't how real people operate, on average.  Especially as we 
grow, I don't think we afford to follow any policies that force us into 
legal debt collection procedures to avoid racking up pointless deficits 
as a result of irresponsible members.