During 2021, GCG committee undertook a review of our membership rates and expenses involved in running our committee. The conclusions were as follows:
- Although we hold reasonable reserves, against a backdrop of escalating materials costs (journal printing) and postage costs, the cost of fulfilling certain categories of membership actually exceeds the price of the membership
- In particular, members who receive their publications digitally are in effect subsidising the production and postage of a print run
- It is not appropriate to draw-down our reserves to cover these shortfalls, as the price increases are likely to be permanent, not fluctuations
- Overseas digital members should not be charged a different rate to UK digital members to receive the same product
- We can achieve further cost and efficiency savings on the journal cost by producing one larger edition per year, instead of two smaller ones
Consequently, we have decided to separate the provision of a printed journal from the main membership rate, and charge a surcharge to cover printing and postage. Under this scheme, members who receive their content digitally already will see no change in the amount they pay, or may even need to pay less. Those wanting to retain printed journals will need to slightly increase the amount they pay as follows:
GCG membership (electronic publications): £20 (or local equivalent as calculated by PayPal); plus surcharges:
- UK printed journal +£5
- Overseas (non-UK) printed journal +£15
- Concession -£5
The new rates will become applicable during 2022 for renewal into the 2023 year.
The presentation below was shown to delegates at our 2021 AGM, and summarises our findings:
Membership - new structure for 2022 onwards
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