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The future of the BSA


Ojoman

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Now will recharter go this year? With bankruptcy on the back burner now playing the waiting game and fees/costs increasing will it be an increase in numbers?

My thought is that there will be a decrease in numbers as has been the trend other than last year. 

One LC by me is even charging a late fee if the charter is late or incomplete.

 

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17 minutes ago, 1980Scouter said:

Now will recharter go this year? With bankruptcy on the back burner now playing the waiting game and fees/costs increasing will it be an increase in numbers?

My thought is that there will be a decrease in numbers as has been the trend other than last year. 

One LC by me is even charging a late fee if the charter is late or incomplete.

 

Haven't heard from the Troops, but recruiting for our Pack has been phenomenal after a big crossover year.  The current Webelos 1 and 2 classes are small, so Troops will have to get creative on recruiting the next couple years and won't be able to rely on crossovers alone.

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29 minutes ago, BlueandSilverBear said:

Haven't heard from the Troops, but recruiting for our Pack has been phenomenal after a big crossover year. 

Glad someone is being successful. The packs I have talked to are having issues with recruiting. Lot of folks cannot afford the $140 fee that national and council is charging.

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56 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Glad someone is being successful. The packs I have talked to are having issues with recruiting. Lot of folks cannot afford the $140 fee that national and council is charging.

Our Pack hosted a recruitment event a few weeks ago and I'm so glad no parents asked me about how the $100+ membership fee is used. I didn't want to have to explain it funds a bureaucracy that has little or nothing to do with the experience your child will have in Scouting this year ... figured that'd be a bit off-putting.

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The price is nothing. Literally super cheap compared to most anything else. It's $80 a year, councils can match that and bring the total to $160. In comparison it's the heart of high school football season right now and the average family spends $671 a season on football; that's right $671 for 12 weeks of participation(about a million participants a season). The couch potatoes are about to spend $167 a year for Disney+ (just over 147 million subscriptions in the US). 

Scouting is cheap compared to just about anything else you want to compare it to; sports, gaming, tv. 

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29 minutes ago, Tron said:

The price is nothing. Literally super cheap compared to most anything else. It's $80 a year, councils can match that and bring the total to $160. In comparison it's the heart of high school football season right now and the average family spends $671 a season on football; that's right $671 for 12 weeks of participation(about a million participants a season). The couch potatoes are about to spend $167 a year for Disney+ (just over 147 million subscriptions in the US). 

Scouting is cheap compared to just about anything else you want to compare it to; sports, gaming, tv. 

Costs and relative value for any youth activity are pretty dependent on where you are, what kind of council and unit you are in, and how involved your scout and family want to be in it. You can spend thousands on a couple seasons of a travel sport; you can spend thousands on a HA trip or jambo type events. One of the initial sticker shock problems with scouting is that there is no gradual on ramp; you pretty much pay the same to try it out as a cub scout as you do to rejoin as a seasoned troop level scout. That's not the case with most other youth activities geared for the elementary level age groups and it is a deterrent. 

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1 hour ago, Tron said:

The price is nothing.

OK, then please DM me for my Venmo info and send me the registration fees for our 55 Scouts @ $155 each.

That's $8525.  Now, that does not include all the adult registrations.  So, if it really is nothing, please send along the fees for our 35 adults @ $65 per, for $2275.

Approx total for our unit (it will be a bit more...) is $10,800.

And, if you choose not to send it to me, I'll give you my council info and you can mail them a check for deposit into our unit account.

Since, after all, it is nothing. 

P.S.  https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-statistics/

Edited by InquisitiveScouter
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Here again we see the result of the concept that what goes up must go down being proven to be wrong it appears.  It is just another element of our messed up culture.  Everybody wants more income, and everybody expects nothing to cost more.  The two do not work together.  I continually have asked, for decades now, how high is up?  We might ask too how low can we find ourselves falling?  And that can be applied to more things than those monetary.  

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It is a cost, nonetheless.

And, unfortunately, parents often do not see value for the cost, depending on the dedication of unit-level volunteers.

And make no mistake... it is we volunteers who create the great majority of any value realized.

So, I ask myself often, why do I work so hard to create a great program for Scouts and families, when others literally get wealthy off of my efforts, while providing little to no value-added to the equation??

It is a bitter pill to swallow.

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