RFID Reader Update

[Nabil Hanke]

Two things -

The hassle last week appeared to be caused by a local time distortion where the raspberri pi ran backwards. Or not. But we did add in a debounce function to the inside "let me out" red button so that it should be more noise robust. (I suspect that's the actual culprit to the time distortion)

Second thing:

I have now implemented an automatic daily update to the RFID reader that will disable access when any membership expires. We do have a grace period of one week, but please don't game it. If your card does not open the door, this may be the cause.

For clarification, the access list has previously only been updated manually.

[Tim-S]

Math time!

It's now possible to game the system by getting a monthly membership, and always letting your membership lapse by 6 days before renewing. If you started this on Jan 1, renewed on Feb 7, Mar 13, Apr 19, May 25, Jul 1, Aug 7, Sep 13, Oct 19, Nov 25, and Dec 31, then continue the cycle, you would save money. Specifically, you would save almost 2 months' worth of dues every year. That's $80, ignoring the random 1 day (since we ended on Dec 31 instead of Jan 1). If you buy a one-year membership instead of gaming the system, you save $50 every year.

This means that you can save $30 per year by setting recurring calendar notices, carefully timing your payments, and possibly missing out on voting rights and other member benefits if a member meeting or other event were to fall on the wrong day. You'd also be acting like kind of a jerk, and we wouldn't like you quite as much.

All I'm saying is yeah, don't game the system. It's honestly probably not worth the hassle -- especially since the board is willing to offer reduced rates if you struggle to pay dues. However, if you'd like to feel like you are gaming the system, we're completely ok with you buying a 1-year membership before the end of December to take advantage of the lower rates before they go up. That actually might save you $80! A 1-year membership is $400 if purchased before the end of the year, compared to $480 for 12 monthly payments at the new $40/mo price, or $430 for a 1-year membership at the new rate.

Also, thanks Nabil, that's something we really needed to automate.

[David Champion]

Does the system support emailing reminders, or have a way to check status online?

-dc

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[Tim-S]

I have a long-running work in progress software project to overhaul our online system. It already supports viewing your paid-through date, updating the paid-through date when you renew your membership, renewing your membership using Paypal (Dwolla support is pending), and a few other things.

My goal is to finish this by the end of the year so that it's ready by the time we ask people to re-do their recurring payments to reflect the new membership rates. However, until it's ready to use no, we do not have email reminders or an easy way to check membership status online. If anyone knows PHP or is good at making websites non-fugly, I could use a hand. I think I'm on track to have the basic functionality done in time but I won't have time (and lack talent) to make it non-fugly.

[Nabil Hanke]

Well.... I could actually do an email reminder thing. Not too hard to do. But still not nearly as integrated as what Tim is putting together.

I'd rather not have that reminder shooting out of my email box though... We'll have to trigger it from the treasurer account, maybe we an set it up Tuesday.

[Bailey Mader]

I wouldn't want to send reminders to people who have automatic payments set up.... but we could figure something out on Tuesday.

Bailey Mader
runne...@gmail.com

[Matt Stanton]

Why not set the system up so that it will look back through the login log, and if the person who is re-upping membership during a grace period has logged in during that period then their new month of membership starts at the beginning of the grace period instead of just "now"?

That way the grace period really is just a grace period... An amount of time that you are still allowed access because we trust that you were planning to submit payment the day membership lapsed, but forgot or needed a couple days to get your paycheck deposited.  Also, that way if you didn't make use of the space you aren't being charged for that time.

Seems fair enough to me and easy enough to do if the rfid system has access to the billing info and keeps an access log.

-- Matt (N0BOX)

Sent from my <advertisement for worthless mobile product>

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[David Champion]

IMHO - a renewal date is a renewal date. If you are due on the 1st of November, but pay late on the 15th, your next renewal date is still the 1st of December. That way there's no "gaming the system".

-dc

[Ray Scheufler]

Dave, that was the plan that I remember discussing with the rest of the board.  I believe that is the algorithm that will be implemented in Tim's CRM system.

Ray Scheufler

[Tim-S]

On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 4:04:11 PM UTC-6, Ray Scheufler wrote:

Dave, that was the plan that I remember discussing with the rest of the board.  I believe that is the algorithm that will be implemented in Tim's CRM system.

 

https://github.com/tshearouse/WMMS/blob/master/business_layer/payment.php
See: private function UpdatePaidThroughDateForUser($userId, $itemType)

I think there's something like a 1-week grace period built in to the door access. There's also a corresponding 1-week payment lag where, if you pay late, your membership is extended from its expiration date rather than today's date. If this doesn't match what we want, someone either let me know or tweak the code and send in a patch / pull request.

 

[Bailey Mader]

Correct. The membership renews from your expiration date unless you lapse far enough out that you weren't a member for a significant period. Like someone was late paying by 3 weeks, but he clearly hadn't used the space in that period, so payment went forward from that date. If he'd been using the space, it'd be expected he catch up on his dues. I hope I can trust you to talk to me when situations like this happen so we can work out what you're paying for to everyone's satisfaction.

The grace period is for cash payments to get picked up and for me to get to the digital payment records and mark them as paid, so no one gets locked out because I was slow on the admin side of things. Will be less of an issue in the future as we automate things, but the potential for hiccups means we'll keep the grace period in effect.

Also, never hesitate to approach a board member if you need to negotiate your payment for a period due to financial situations. If you value the community, we'll work something out so you can still be a part of it.