Would this work?

booom

Right, so, I was in a club the other day with the brother in law who's thinking of taking up the sport- he likes the idea of target /gallery rather than hunting. Anyway we went off to see a fella together. As you can imagine in this climate, the costs (membership rather than equipment) gave him pause for thought. I said i'd have a word with someone else who has a club and came back with a better figure but still one that made the difference between getting started or not. My question is- would it be possible/viable to have club memberships co-owned. Not sure if I'm making this one clear- picture a timeshare, but a membership. Each person would have their own insurance and designated dates on which they could use club facilities (eg, every second week). If you think about it, you could even have joint ownership of a firearm to be used. Anyone have any ideas as to how, or if at all, this could work. I would imagine cost is a prohibitive factor to a lot of punters these days and can only imagine those clubs who are feeling the effects would see this as a solution to their dropping numbers. Thoughts anyone?

fitzy700

seems like a great idea i think you could be on to something
there if a lot of people wanted to do something like that id
say they would have to listen anyway :rolleyes:

Sparks

'course, there are costs to running a club and they don't timeshare
€1000 for the club licence, €1000 for the range licence, power, heat, maintenance, targets, insurance and so forth.

robertpatterson

I think the problem is the initial outlay
If instead of having to pay the new membership charge you could instead pay the years subscription and then over the next three or four months you pay th erest in instalments it would take the pain out of the big lump sum
If you dont keep up your instalment payment the club have the right to forfeit your membership and any money already paid so its awin win for them,they get the money and if theres any hassle they keep the money and youre out

fitzy700

lads i hear what yere saying but to be honest most people
cant afford the fee's i cant use a range because i cant afford it
but if there was something like a time share or double membership
.ie (2 people using the range at different time's) i would be able to
afford it, id say like a lot of people around the country so if it were to happen i think a lot more people would be using clubs and ranges and the numbers would come back up

Sparks

Another problem is the legal prohibition on temporary memberships - the PTB expect that all shooters in a club will have annual memberships.

However, it might satisfy both needs if you paid the club membership fee with a direct debit - that way it's a contract to the club so that's an annual membership, but it's not paid all at once.

It would mean more work for the club treasurer and a painful transition year though.

fitzy700

something like that might work

bazza888

what happens when theres competitions on etc who gos that day both of ye?
why not then let lads pay half membership and use club every other weekend aswell?i dont think timeshare would work,and cant imagine clubs doing it. paying bit by bit is a good idea but then you get guys who will pay the first few payments then stop after they get a license and never come back.it took me 2years till i could finally join a range with one thing or another popping up just when you have the money together to join.would love to join a gun club but all the ones near me are to expensive and i cant afford to be in range and gun club.

Spunk84

I used to this in the states but with pheasant clubs. Myself and the uncle where members of a few clubs. Each club was 600dollars for 25 pheasants so instead of buying 2 memberships we bought one and spilt the bird quote. As long as we where insured the clubs didn't mind, it was bringing alot of revenue in for them that way.

So say on a Sat I would shoot up at the club near his house and then the next week he would shoot one near mine. The 5 clubs would of cost me $3000 for the season but by doing a double shared membership it cost me $1500. This is when I had money

robertpatterson

I think some of the clubs are strapped for money and a way to generate members is to let new members pay over a number of months
It might be a headache for someone but if they want the business they have to adapt their membership rules imo

booom

I know of one club where you pay a sort of entrance fee (which is actually quite reasonable) but then they hit you for nearly 1/3 of that figure bi-annually for the first few years. I take their point in that any club must have a cetain capital at its disposal for works, improvements etc. it would be interesting to see how many new members it would take to arive at the same kitty if the whole thing (the cost incurred over the years required) was divided by two.

bazza888

i cant imagine anyone would pay the whole membership on there own if you could divide it among 2people,id imagine most people would think to themselves why am i paying say 400 a year when those 2 guys pay 200 each for the same privilages and facilities?and then he would go get someone to share with aswell instead of paying 400. I agree taking the payments by direct debit would be good if you could get it to work as lots people are lacking money now

ianoo

i think the initall fee should be spread out over the first 12 months with a direct debit set up ,it would take the pain out off it and encourage more people to actually join a range ,
i myself would like to join the midlands but couldnt afford to fork out the initall lump sum especially now :rolleyes:like most people ,but if i could spread it out it would be manageable(i hope):)
dont think it would work to share a membership but maybe a reduced access membership like the old style "country membership"in golf clubs might be worth looking at ,where you might only be able to use the range during the week or 1weekend a month for a reduced membership rate ....

ian

booom

that's an idea- a sort of 5 day membership with reduced voting rights or something similar.

Sparks

booom wrote: »

that's an idea- a sort of 5 day membership with reduced voting rights or something similar.

Temporary memberships aren't allowed by law...

booom

i had a 5 day membership of a glof club and it wasnt deemed to be temporary. i had very few voting rights but it was still a membership- mayby theres some legal issues involved but having restrictions on a range of membership activities or privileges didnt make it temporary. a gym membership is another example of how you can decide which amenities you want your membership to cover, with some people opting for more facilities than others; technically, even if you avail of a single thing (swimming pool as an example), you get a membership card, even if it states the restrictions.

bunny shooter

booom wrote: »

i had a 5 day membership of a glof club and it wasnt deemed to be temporary..

But you don't need a firearms cert. for a golf club :P

Also, golf clubs or a gym are not regulated by legilsation in the way rifle ranges are.

Grizzly 45

But going by some media reports of the carry on in one of the better heeled clubs in Ireland.Both should be regulated and liscensed even more than gun clubs!!:eek::P

robertpatterson

As i understand it the mnsci isnt open during the week

bunny shooter

robertpatterson wrote: »

As i understand it the mnsci isnt open during the week

It is for members from Wednesday - Friday, inclusive, with some qualifying conditions

deerhunter1

bunny shooter wrote: »

It is for members from Wednesday - Friday, inclusive, with some qualifying conditions

what if with shared membership and both of you wanted to shoot the same competition

fitzy700

i think if it were to happen you could go to the competition if it was on
the week you were using it or if you wanted to realy go you could pay more that week in way of a (fee) or something i think that way you would have more people going to the competition's too.

but to be honest i dont think that's going to happen i think us (poor folk)
will have to keep looking over the wall for a while :rolleyes: