Like our piano service businesses, when you raise your rates, you mostly lose the lowest level of your clientele and keep the bottom feeders out of range. I think most technicians underestimate what they can charge. I don't think we should underestimate members willingness to pay for a top notch organization. If you are a full time technician $450 a year is a drop in the bucket in your yearly expenses. Ryan Sowers <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 10:05 AM, Coleman, Jim <<a href="mailto:jcolem21@utk.edu">jcolem21@utk.edu</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US"> <div> Alan & All, About 3 years ago my report to Council stated that for PTG to be a dues based operation the dues would have to be around $350. Since then the cost of doing everything has gone up. In today’s dollars they would probably need to be $400-$450. Personally I think that is where we should be (and it would still be a bargin) but as Dale Probst has stated, we do not know what the fall-out would be in terms of losing members. See you in KC! <div> Jim Coleman, Jr RPT Staff Piano Technician University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN <a href="tel:%28865%29%20748-0998" value="+18657480998" target="_blank">(865) 748-0998</a> <a href="tel:%28602%29%20989-0005" value="+16029890005" target="_blank">(602) 989-0005</a> </div> <div><div class="h5"><blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt"> <div><div><div><div><div><blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt"><div> </div> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div></div></div> </div> </blockquote></div> -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA <a href="http://www.pianova.net">www.pianova.net</a>