$100 is nothing to many of us… However, it stands in stark contradiction to what DMS is suppose to be about. Therefore, I strongly disagree with the concept. Also, $100.00 is a lot of money for some. AND it will not necessarily discourage the one time “members.”
There are distinct issues at play here, however we are mixing them as if they where the same in our conversational Van Diagram(Pun clearly intended.) In essence we are not speaking with the same dictionary.
The issues, which are separate and distinct that must be addressed are:
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One time Hit and quit “mEmBeRs” which are conducive to abusing DMS and degrading the DMS culture as a whole. Wholly undesirable individuals.
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Lack-Safety~Abuse, that such membership would create and the problems they would bring.
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Cost of use for the equipment-time, to ensure availability, discourage abuse.
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Training, an obviously Safety centric item that MUST be Required as it will reduce risk, liability and (realistically) injuries. Equipment Lifts are comparable to hammers, They are only as good as the operator, and a bad operator can cause SBI/Death to themselves/others easily.
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Culture of DMS… As most of the Solutions offered above change the Culture and they are hardly to be considered being “Excellent” to each other or DMS.
Since all this issues are related and loosely intertwined they are becoming confused. Whatever measure we employ, we must be cautious that we do not create unintended consequences.
Therefore - The easiest way to benignly address all of these, with out creating further issues, is to require multiple part training. Training to be offered once a month, and testing for said training offered the subsequent month.
Each session Should be started by TESTING everyone who is trained first… then, those that failed the test, or have not taken the training class can stay for the Training session. This insures that there is a two month window before anyone can use the lift.
This should also be an oportunity to introduce, formally, those trainees to the AUTOMOTIVE Shop, with testable knowledge. Such as what to do after an oil-spill at the space, where does the use oil go, What do we do with if our inoperable vehicle must be left overnight; how does one move an inoperable vehicle down the ramp?!? Etc.
I am working/researching on a way to inexpensively use the RFID tags to unlock and log equipment use. Until such a system is operational, it will be difficult and impractical to ENFORCE any type of pay-per-use or any other time management scheme. As an example of what I am referring to: We routinely have non members at the space, for starters. That thread is up to 43 post, and counting.
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