NRA has raised it's rates again!!!!!!!!

[ovenpaa]

yebbut what is actually going up at the NRA and more to the point if it gives better facilities or support what is the problem?

[meles meles]

No problem if they spend it wisely and effectively to benefit and protect our sport.

[essexboy]

I have been told by one of the clubs I shoot with, as of April the charge for a lane (point) will be going up by £5.00. While the additional cost doesn't really affect me to much, this could change the amount of times people who are running to a tight budget will be able to shoot and shows the typical small minded and lack of vision that is so entrenched amongst so called bright lights of industry and management. This total lack of vision and forward thinking shows that the employment of the new head guy at the N.R.A is the biggest waste of money since the hadron collider. If I wanted that type of leadership ( joke) I would have asked my 8 year old for the answer.
Why is it that every time it's the poor old members that get shafted, why don't they actually do what they are employed to do and find new sources of revenue or god forbid, think outside the box, how about lowering the range charge or at least keep it at low season rates during the whole year so more people can afford to book a range during the good months, perhaps they might just find that the higher usage of the ranges counteracts the lower initial cost. Too much to ask me thinks, just a whole bunch easier to raise the rates by 25% sign01

Essexboy

[karen]

I don't know what the rate rises are but they are certainly not 25%!

[Gaz]

how about lowering the range charge or at least keep it at low season rates during the whole year so more people can afford to book a range during the good months, perhaps they might just find that the higher usage of the ranges counteracts the lower initial cost.

A good idea. It was increasingly uneconomic for my old university club to hire even a single lane during high season because the hire charge was so high students weren't willing to cough up enough to cover it. Net result, fullbore shooting was seen as an expensive activity with very limited trigger time for the money spent. Thus, few bothered.

[Mike357]

Essexboy, give the man a chance he's only been in the job a few months. As is said before, if revenue raised now through range hire and other activities is reinvested then it is worth it.

[rox]

if it gives better facilities or support what is the problem?

There was an increase of 8.9% for a weekend high-season target with marker last year (which came as a bit of a shock having set the entry fees for the Easter meeting allowing for a [historically generous] 5% increase). If that rate increased by another £5.00 this year it would represent a further 6.8 % rise. There has to come a point where piling pain on shooters becomes counter-productive (if not reached already). Those who buy factory ammo have seen the prices shoot-up in recent years, and those who buy components haven't fared much better.

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[artiglio]

Afternoon ladies and gents,

The NRA like the rest of us is affected by inflation in its costs and needs to increase prices to cover this , in addition most shooters would like to see Bisley and the NRA improve which will require additional cash. So as long as there are steps in the right direction I've no problem with cost's increasing to some degree. So long a s a target is booked with 3 or more fellow shooters , the target/marker fees are one of the cheaper parts of a visit to Bisley, fuel and ammunition are far higher.
The only comment I would make is that perhaps these costs should be published earlier and circulated to members, so that they can decide wether they wish to continue membership.


Regards phil

[GazMorris]

Hmmmm.....

I'm prepared to give the new guy a chance but the NRA should do some thinking about price elasticity, i.e. how much demand goes up by when you lower prices. As there is no real restriction on range availability (utilisation rates are probably less than 25% by my guess) it is quite possible that reducing prices will actually result in a greater profit because a) the corresponding increase in demand will outweigh the reduction in price and b) the cost of range use only goes up very slightly with actual use (i.e. running 2 targets doesn't cost twice as much as running 1 target.)

It is, of course, entirely possible that this thinking has been done and the NRA has demonstrated to everybody's satisfaction that this won't work; however I doubt it. I'd be willing to wager a beer on the verandah of the North (or in the Surrey if your tastes run that way) that the process consists of assuming range use will be the same and then adding a cost price increase to the previous year's fees.

Gaz

[essexboy]

I don't know what the rate rises are but they are certainly not 25%!


Well if the uplift is across the board, at the moment the mid week afternoon low season rate is £18.00 if this rises by £5.00 that is a rise of over 25%!!!!!!!!!
After all the redundancies that have occurred amongst the poor sods on the front line at the N.R.A in an effort to balance the books if this is the best he can do then it just shouts of shallow thinking. I had my reservations on this guy, but I fear I may be correct, this job to him is nothing but a C.V filler.
To those that doubt my idea, all I can say is that it has worked for me, company turnover is up by £1.1m and profit up by 1%

Essexboy