Tried rejoining Holbrook Gun Club

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I was a member in good standing at Holbrook for a couple years. I cancelled my membership because I took on a work contract that would tie me up for a year+ and I wouldn't be able to make it to Holbrook. I figured I would just rejoin at the beginning of the next year. I couldn't see paying for for something I wasn't going to use. I contacted the range and received an email. To rejoin I have to pay for the year I didn't use the range 2014 $150 + 2015 $150 + renew key card $25 for a total of $325.

Is this normal for ranges to charge you for the year you didn't use the range?
 
Most clubs either re-charge the initiation, or the dues for the period you missed, whichever is less. You shouldn't have to pay more than a new member joining up for the first time.
 
Just thinking it might be that paying for the year you didn't use might be cheaper than joining as a new member again.

That or it could be like some clubs out my way: they're full up, and other than the waiting list, the only way you could become a member-in-good-standing again is to pay dues in arrears.
 
I was a member in good standing at Holbrook for a couple years. I cancelled my membership because I took on a work contract that would tie me up for a year+ and I wouldn't be able to make it to Holbrook. I figured I would just rejoin at the beginning of the next year. I couldn't see paying for for something I wasn't going to use. I contacted the range and received an email. To rejoin I have to pay for the year I didn't use the range 2014 $150 + 2015 $150 + renew key card $25 for a total of $325.

Is this normal for ranges to charge you for the year you didn't use the range?

BRPC tried to pin me with this. A quick, polite, e-mail later to the guy who handles this stuff (nice guy) ... just had to rejoin, no duty to "pay dues in arrears" for the period of time I was not a member.

Make a polite call or e-mail. It's worth the effort.
 
it may be easier to pay as a new member, BUT need to then re do all the new member qualifications, safety, meeting,work parties, etc.

this is why sometimes its easier to pay for years in arrears to bring your membership back to current as opposed to starting over.

believe new membership would be 150.00(2015) + 150.00 initiation fee, 300.00.

that being said, better for you to pay 14 and 15, new card and don't have to start over as a new member.
 
I once belonged to a club that had a policy that if you let your membership lapse and then wanted to return, they could charge you full membership for all those missed years. It was enforced based on who you knew but the rule was there. After a 7 year absence (because i moved out of state) I came back to rejoin and just applied as a new member. Fortunately, no one remembered or I would have just walked away and found another more reasonable club.
 
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I once belonged to a club that had a policy that if you let your membership lapse and then wanted to return, they could charge you full membership for those missed years. It was enforced based on who you knew but the rule was there. After a 7 year absence (because i moved out of state) I cam back to rejoin and just applied as a new member. Fortunately, no one remembered or I would have just walked away and found another more reasonable club. .

A decade ot three ago, it was common for PDs to require gun club membership to get an LTC. This sort of policy discouraged the kind of member would rejoin the club once every time their LTC was up for renewal.
 
Is Hanson better than Braintree? I've been to Braintree many times but waiting on a range officer to use the outdoor range is a pain.
 
No one else thinks it's completely absurd that they charge such high prices and then making you pay for years your weren't a member?

When I lived in Texas, membership was $30 a year with no new member dues...


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I am a member of a club that makes you a life member after 20 years of membership, once you are a life member it is free. So they charge like this so that you don't "lose" your earlier years of membership. If you are argue the point they will just charge you like a new member and make you do the safety walk through, but you lose all previous years of membership.
The price seems high, but for what the club is providing you, it seems to be about the going rate from what I have seen.
 
BRPC tried to pin me with this. A quick, polite, e-mail later to the guy who handles this stuff (nice guy) ... just had to rejoin, no duty to "pay dues in arrears" for the period of time I was not a member.

Make a polite call or e-mail. It's worth the effort.

I wrote a letter and it wasn't on the polite side. I'm not going to pay dues for years I wasn't a member. They're not the only club in the area. They must not be hurting for money so I'll give my money to another club
 
That's pretty effed up!! I was a member for about 4 years and let my membership go 2 years ago. I moved and just didn't use that club much. Couldn't justify the money for not using the club. Now I'm back in Holbrook and was thinking about joining again, but now... I doubt it.
 
No one else thinks it's completely absurd that they charge such high prices and then making you pay for years your weren't a member?

When I lived in Texas, membership was $30 a year with no new member dues...


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This ain't Texas.

The rates are what the market will bear, by virtue of the fact that clubs can charge them. My Club has about 600+ paying members, @ $100/ year. That's 60,000 in dues each year. That's a lot of money. Then....property taxes (I'm guessing higher here than in the Lone Star State), insurance, utilities, wear and tear, and building up a slush fund for the inevitable expenses that are not recurring. Now, it's not so much money, is it?

Now...balance that against five hours of range time (one hour every six weeks) at a commercial range.


If you really want to think about an expensive club, IIRC Minuteman in Burlington is ~$500 year. For (AFAIK) Trap and Skeet, only. Of course, they have paid employees to do all the stuff that members do at regular clubs.

I'm happy at Southborough....and I can even reserve my badge number [laugh]
 
"It's Massachusetts" isn't a good reason for people to charge an arm and a leg for services. Braintree has over 5,000 active members. Do the math there. And most times you have to beg borrow and steal to get a range officer. I can understand a small club that needs the money. But you can't tell me a range like Braintree is making a healthy profit.


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"It's Massachusetts" isn't a good reason for people to charge an arm and a leg for services. Braintree has over 5,000 active members. Do the math there. And most times you have to beg borrow and steal to get a range officer. I can understand a small club that needs the money. But you can't tell me a range like Braintree is making a healthy profit.


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Braintree R&P is not making a profit per se, they are putting money away for the very expensive improvements that they need to make from time to time. At $100 a year, I think it is a pretty reasonable price for what I get as a member. As to range officers - do you volunteer your time to be a range officer? It is quite a commitment with no return other than a warm feeling inside.

Finally, "It's Massachusetts" IS a good reason for costs to be higher. What doesn't cost more here than it does in Texas?
 
I was a member in good standing at Holbrook for a couple years. I cancelled my membership because I took on a work contract that would tie me up for a year+ and I wouldn't be able to make it to Holbrook. I figured I would just rejoin at the beginning of the next year. I couldn't see paying for for something I wasn't going to use. I contacted the range and received an email. To rejoin I have to pay for the year I didn't use the range 2014 $150 + 2015 $150 + renew key card $25 for a total of $325.

Is this normal for ranges to charge you for the year you didn't use the range?

I haven't read through the other replies yet, but most clubs give you an option. Pay all past yearly dues or pay a new initiation fee. It would have been worse if they closed the membership rolls to new members and put you on a waitlist.
 
No one else thinks it's completely absurd that they charge such high prices and then making you pay for years your weren't a member?

When I lived in Texas, membership was $30 a year with no new member dues...


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You think its bad, look at the price of Plymouth. Not only do you get raped on the initiation/fees for the first year, but you have to pay each time you go shoot. I was a member of Holbrook too. Not any more. The pres couldn't be bothered to get me a new membership card after I lost my wallet and he told me to keep texting him. Which I did. And he never had the time to get me a new one. So I left. I did like it there too. Miss George being in charge [hmmm]
 
You think its bad, look at the price of Plymouth. Not only do you get raped on the initiation/fees for the first year, but you have to pay each time you go shoot. I was a member of Holbrook too. Not any more. The pres couldn't be bothered to get me a new membership card after I lost my wallet and he told me to keep texting him. Which I did. And he never had the time to get me a new one. So I left. I did like it there too. Miss George being in charge [hmmm]

WTF, and they can get people to join?
 
I have been a member for 35 years,the club purchased an additional 46 more acres of land to increase the buffer zone.
A couple hundred thousand dollars in improvements,like bringing in water and sewage from the street, new bathrooms. An elevator was installed for handicap access to the pistol range a safe room was added in case a fire break on the range. That was just in 2014.
I could go on and on, Many more improvements are on the books for 2015.
It take a lot of money to run this club the operating budget is huge.
A 150.00 a year buys you a lot.
Moral of the story, you should have paid the 125.00 last years rate.
 
WOW!!!

There's a bunch of whiners who don't think twice about dropping a couple of hundred bucks on a Saturday afternoon on ammo yet bitch at membership fees in some of the most expensive real estate areas in the Northeast that allow the rest of us a place to shoot.

Find a cheaper hobby like knitting or tea clubs.
 
WOW!!!

There's a bunch of whiners who don't think twice about dropping a couple of hundred bucks on a Saturday afternoon on ammo yet bitch at membership fees in some of the most expensive real estate areas in the Northeast that allow the rest of us a place to shoot.

Find a cheaper hobby like knitting or tea clubs.

Gun Clubs in MA are generally organized on the "membership" rather than "customer" model. Try joining a country club - they may call you a "member" but, unlike a gun club, it's a business with owners who are looking to make a profit running the club - and you don't get to elect the board of a country club. Country Clubs are sort of like IDPA :)
 
WOW!!!

There's a bunch of whiners who don't think twice about dropping a couple of hundred bucks on a Saturday afternoon on ammo yet bitch at membership fees in some of the most expensive real estate areas in the Northeast that allow the rest of us a place to shoot.

Find a cheaper hobby like knitting or tea clubs.

So sorry people complain. On a message board. First time it's ever happened!
 
I missed a year at Westford, and they wanted me to pay the initiation fee and go through the full initiation process all over again. I decided to go elsewhere instead.
 
I seem to recall Holbrook having some bylaw that lets you freeze your membership when you're going to be inactive. I was a member there for a few yrs, before I moved to NH. You probably should have asked that question before you let it lapse... they send out notices for literally months when dues come up.

Holbrook is light-years better than Hanson, so if I were you I would just suck it up and pay the fees.
 
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