200$ member fee increase

[bubbaskyjacker]

As we stated in the recent newsletter, For well more than a year USI has been losing cash at the rate of about $1,000 per day and will be bankrupt in about a year if nothing is done to turn the organization around. Diablo has taken an aggressive stand to get USI to address the problems and to establish an audit and strategic planning committee to develop ways to provide for the long term survival of USI.
It is already apparent that changes are necessary on both the revenue (pricing, utilization, etc.) side as well as the cost (payroll etc.) side of USI. As a starting point, USI has announced the below increases.


EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - USI has announced the following increases:

Shotgun Fees:
$7.00 "Member" Discount
$12.00 "Non-Member"

Public Rifle/Pistol Fees:
$12.00 "Member" Discount
25.00 "Non-Member"

EFFECTIVE May1, 2022 USI is instituting a new "shooting card" in order to take advantage of club member discounts. The INITIAL price for this card is currently set at $200 per year.

This means that we will all need to have both a club membership and a USI shooting card to get the member rates on the range. Club members that do not buy the USI card will be charged the "non-member" rates. There are many other details for USI to work out as well in the coming weeks.
For questions and answers please watch for another email blast from the Board on where you can express comments and opinions

[DocSkinner]

Funny how the other 4 clubs are primarily shotgunners, and how amazingly their day fees are so low.

and for those that don't know, all the clubs get equal vote in managing, REGARDLESS of how much larger the club may be. SO you have thousands of members? 1 vote. 200 members? 1 vote...

What would help would be a breakdown of where the money is CURRENTLY going to see if there is fat to trim before asking for more gravy to cover it with.

[macbolan]

Families share the Shoot card $200.00 fee?

Having a daughter who I shoot with regulary I'm wondering if my having the $200.00 shoot card will allow me and my daughter to get the discounted range fees or do we both need to pay $200.00?

Thanks

[MuayThaiJJ]

This doesn't sound like an equitable solution, and if they go through with this they will lose a LOT of customers...

Who do we speak or write to in order to combat this?

[mjsweims]

I'm a member of Diablo. This will increase my yearly expense from $25 to $225 an 800% increase.
I only shoot trap now (3 rounds per week, most weeks) and the new rate is certainly not acceptable to me. The trap ranges are inferior to Martinez and Livermore. Even if I purchase a USI membership my shooting cost will be higher than shooting as a non-member at Livermore.

[peregrine312]

What was the point of becoming a member if getting reduced range fees became waived in lieu of compounding a $200 fee on top of it? Sounds like all members got scammed since we weren’t notified of this mid-year change before signing up. A lawsuit seems in order, honestly.

[slamfire]

Member since 07 can't shoot action pistol other than steel challenge which I don't shoot anyway. An occasional round of trap which is already overpriced is not worth the proposed fee increase to me so I'll be letting my membership expire. See you at Richmond.

cheers

[reagan8]

They are going to lose even more money with that strategy. On top of not updating their website to let people know that masks are no longer required (which has kept me away), the $200 fee would actually make it MORE expensive for many of us.

With the cost of ammunition being so high these days, I would only be shooting 1x per month. (Honestly, even when ammo was relatively inexpensive, I probably only averaged 1x per month)

12 trips * $25 = $300; (12 * $12) + 200 = $344

Yep, not going to happen.

[MuayThaiJJ]

I foresee 75% loss of customers. Maybe 1/4 customers would actually buy into this...

[Crf450rr]

Is this fee per person or per family?

[Crf450rr]

This sounds more like mismanagement

[LateForDinner]

OK, lets take a look at the business side and leave the attitudes out. If we cannot agree on the good of the range and clubs, an entity divided against itself will fail.I am all for supporting USI but at the rates proposed we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

[mjsweims]

OK, lets take a look at the business side and leave the attitudes out. If we cannot agree on the good of the range and clubs, an entity divided against itself will fail.I am all for supporting USI but at the rates proposed we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

Agreed.
The rates proposed are a very sudden huge increase and will likely drive off shooters. Has this been considered.
Has a smaller increase been considered, that will reduce the cash hemorrhage, and then gradually increase it if necessary. Presumably some of the reduced income is due to the reduced amount of ammo and reloading products.
USI has been losing about $1,000+/day. This cannot be a sudden occurence. Why has it not been addressed before - maybe the board make-up should be changed?
Another issue is the overly long downtime in the rifle and pistol ranges. What caused this and how has that been addressed?
Are efforts being made to attract shooting events? On the trap side other clubs have at least one event per month that brings in many shooters.

[fredieusa]

I'll be letting my membership expire with DAP because they (USI) are making things overly complicated. I have shot 1 steel challenge match there, that's it, 1 trip in the last 3 years. Was paying my membership just to support a local range..

Shotgunners need to get a life. In Richmond, we keep them under control. Everywhere else, there are generally a pain in the neck.

[fawndog]

What business loses $1000 a day, and for years, and just now let's members know ?
How ?