[JONAT] That pesky $45 tour fee...

[Mark Stephenson]

Continued from my registration form comments...

I know some people are struggling with the $45 tour fee. 

Now, as I think about it, here is where the $45 registration fee becomes
an issue. I expect there will be three from my vicinity doing more than
one sector. I'm guessing six (including the three) will run our complete
sector. I'm hoping for 20-25 cars to meet us either at the Grand Canyon
or Williams. Here's the rub: We have roughly a $45 Fun Run cost and
about $12/car to get into the Grand Canyon in addition to the $45 to
register for the tour. So, we have $90 or over $100 just in fees for a
long weekend, most of which is organized by the Rt. 66 Fun Run folks. If
we weren't joining an extant tour for half my sector, it might not be as
much of an issue, but normally if anyone in our club organizes a drive
for club members, there's no charge beyond the expenses of the drive. 

I have the feeling that the extra $45 will cut my turnout quite a bit,
especially since we have the British Euro Auto Tour weekend two weeks
prior. A lot of our club members participate in that. It only costs $50
and it includes breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack on Saturday.

So, since I'm setting this up as much for our local club as I am for
JONAT, I'm going to give local club members who are only taking my
segment or less the option of paying the JONAT fee. If they want the
JONAT goodies, they can pay the fee and register on-line. I'll encourage
them to do that, but if they don't want the JONAT stuff and the $45 will
make a difference if they join or stay home, I'll have them take my
sector or part sector as a club drive. Unless you have some really good
stuff for the $45, I expect that most of the Fun Run group will not pay
the JONAT fee.

Are other SCs are considering something similar? If so, JONAT won't
appear as successful as it will actually be. There probably isn't any
way to track this, but here is my suggestion. 

The $45 fee should be mandatory for anyone doing more than one sector. 

If an SC is setting up the route as both a JONAT and a club activity,
the SC has the option of allowing other members of a local club of which
he is a member to participate under the auspices of a club activity for
that one sector only. 

If the SC's local club's members don't pay the tour fee, they don't
receive any JONAT goodies.

If a participant registers through the website, they must pay the $45.
Members of the SC's local club who choose not to pay the $45 fee can not
register through the website. The SC will enter those individuals on the
JONAT website and inform them that they are taking part in a club
activity that coincides with JONAT, but are not actually part of the
JONAT. By listing them on the website, the SC is only informing JONAT
that these individuals are members of his local club and will be
present, but not as JONAT participants.

Note: "Club" as used above, is any local motoring club of which the SC
may be a member. The trip is still limited to Jaguars, except in the
circumstances we discussed earlier, which I think we agreed was last
minute breakdown or other unforeseen calamity.

Does that make sense to everyone? Is it a good idea?

The advantage of this setup is that we'll have a complete head count for
two years from now. We'll be able to say that "x" number of people
joined the tour (Clintonesque word parsing, I know, splitting hairs even
though they weren't technically JONAT participants.)

Mark - AZ