Wow. From a consumer POV, that's a great idea. I am trying to figure out what the downside would be from a business POV and if you'd want to put any limitations on it, but ...

at face value, it's really neat.

All in all, I think it would be a good thing to offer, as it's a way to get more people in the door and trying the facilities. If people feel they can try out TechShop with a minimal outlay, they'll be more willing to give it a shot. Of those people that do, some we'll never see again, true. Some will likely buy punch cards (and take SBUs) on a "once in a while basis". And some will realize that TechShop is just what they've been looking for, and will sign up for a membership.

There are a few nice things about this:

* Due to the punch cards, TechShop will have gotten *some* revenue from each of those three groups of people versus none from any of them

* Any person that signs up as a member after "kicking the tires" of TechShop via punch card is a person that TechShop might never have reached, and a membership that TechShop might never have sold.

The reality is that members will come and go, and that coming up with ways of getting people aware of TechShop and encouraging them to walk in the door is going to be vitally important to TechShop's long-term prospects. This also has the benefit of being "advertising" that brings in some dollars instead of being a net expense...

Ed

Depends on who's asking...

Matt

I know I would be very interested in getting a punch card membership. The monthly membership is to high for me as I would only be able to come out once a week as I have two small kids at home. I would love to join, had a great tour of the facility but $99.00 for four visits is way to much.

Let me know if you ever decide to add this type and I will join up.

Thanks,

Philip

Really? $25 for a day's access to $300,000 worth of tools is too much? Most people spend more than $99 a month on their cable bill. TechShop's not *cheap* but if you make it a priority then it's fine.

If the frugal engineer-types are so "obsessed with the concept of value" then maybe they could just plan ahead and buy a day pass where they can get everything done they need to. You know, efficiency and all that.

TechShop Menlo Park tried the punchcard idea. It didn't work for many reasons. Right at the top is that with that scenario, they got folks who did not feel they were really part of TechShop and tried to cram as much into one day as possible. This led to not cleaning up and abusing machines.

There was more, but this was enough for me to decide it was not a good idea. Some lessons we do not have to learn ourselves. Both this and the no music in TechShop we learned from HQ.

"Right at the top is that with that scenario, they got folks who did not feel they were really part of TechShop and tried to cram as much into one day as possible. This led to not cleaning up and abusing machines."

As an argument, this makes no sense. A punch card is essentially a series of one-day passes, packaged together at a "bulk" price like a 12-pack of Ho-Ho's.

A single one-day pass would be even more prone to attracting folks who do not feel that they are really a part of TechShop, and who try to cram as much into that one day as possible, even more than with a punch card member, who at least have motivation to keep coming back for the life of the card. Yet unless it's changed since last I heard, you still sell one-days.

Doesn't make much difference to me; I signed up on Day One for a year, but that argument doesn't follow.

JC

Wow, this thread has gotten heated.

For me, it comes down to how many days I can make it there per month. I have a family and an intense job, so I'm just not going to be one of the people who can make it to the TechShop more than a handful of times per month. A day pass is $30 and a month is $100. If I think I'm going to be able to make it in more than 3 times in the following month, I'll buy a month membership. Anything less than that and I'll buy day passes. Due to business and family travel I only made it in twice in December, so I bought day passes both times. To me, a punch card should show management that I'm interested in being part of TechShop so much so that I'm paying for my day passes ahead of time. I'm willing to give you my money in advance to save a couple of dollars.

But the punch card appears not to be an option, so let's move on. If you can make it to TechShop more than three times in a month, buy a monthly membership.

I know that with a day pass I still feel like a member.

Matt

A punch card would be like a 12-month membership where you can pick any 12 individual months over the course of two or three years. Useful for people who live in the area only part of the year (if you spend your winters in Florida, for example). The TechShop would get the money in advance.

Anyway, it seems like some bad apples in California have taken this off of the table for us. I'll be in to buy my January month in the next few days, probably early next week.

Matt

Sorry to open up this old topic, but I'm a prospective member who probably falls into the "value obsessed engineer type" mentioned above. It sounds like, from this discussion that the concern is that people who rarely come to TechShop are seen as not valuing it, and therefore take less care of the facilities. In that case I'd propose making the one-off purchase price tied to the amount of time spent at TechShop in the past 90 days:

0-1 days (prior): $30
2-5 days: $25
6-14 days: $20
15-30 days: $15
31-45 days: $10
46-90 days: $8

So, say I average spending Friday - Sunday every third weekend (so about 52 days a year, or about 13 days over a 90 day span)
days 0-2: $(30+30+25) = $85
days 3-5: $(25+25+25) = $75
day 6 and ongoing: $(20+20+20) = $60 each continuing weekend

That ends up (at $86+) with a small savings over a monthly membership, and I have enough flexibility to come and go in bursts as I need, while still feeling like I belong. Whereas if I spend every *other* weekend (so about 19.5 days/90 days):
days 0-2: $(30+30+25) = $85
days 3-5: $(25+25+25) = $75
days 6-8, 9-11, 12-14: $(20+20+20) = $60
days 15 and ongoing: $(15+15+15) = $45 each continuing weekend

Which ends up (at $90+) with even less savings over a monthly, with the same feeling that I can not have to worry about having a month where I "wasted" a membership fee. Oh, and I think I'd treat a monthly membership as equivalent of 15 days for the record keeping. That way if I started out with a monthly and I needed an extra week I'd automatically fall into the $15 category for dailies.

I hope the value of this scheme is fairly obvious, as it keeps the truly occasional daily at the higher rates, but the "regular non-member" still has a sense that they get benefits by participating more often. Clearly the breakpoints and prices at each tier would need to be adjusted to fit your goals, and you would definitely have to have a computer keep track of this kind of thing though :)

Sorry for the long-winded post.

Alan,

We really appreciate your bringing all those people, even though I had to get up early to give them a tour. Twice! (:^)

Pretty much every topic can be seen from different perspectives. For me the "expensive" viewpoint makes no sense. To quote gunnk from above:

Let's say you come in only once a week for four hours. That's it, no more. That's 16 hours a month or $6.18 per hour. If you do not think TechShop is worth $6.18 per hour, I submit that you simply don't need TechShop at all. Like gunnk said, what would it cost to rent any one of our machines from ToolMartRentals (if they existed) for a few hours?

The fact is that most of our Members do not come here every day or for long hours. We feel it is still a good deal for the money. You do the math figuring what you think you might use it and compare that to what you really think using any of the half a million dollars worth of tools and equipment is worth.

We have Members that only come to use the laser. What would it cost, per hour to rent one or access one from a company that did only that. $6 per hour? I don't think so! $10? $25? $50? At $25 per hour to rent a laser you would only need to use ours for 4 hours a MONTH for it to be a good deal. Use it more and the value only gets better. Use it less and the day pass makes sense. Two hours on a day pass makes it only $15 per hour.

For that matter, if someone only had a small amount to do, they could pay someone else to do it for them. What would that cost? I know machine shops charge in the neighborhood of $50 to $80 per hour around here and online services are similar.

How about the incredible value of becoming a part of our TechShop community or the vast amount of knowledge and resources they offer? We don't charge a penny for that.

In this light, how does TechShop look expensive to anyone? You either see the value of TechShop or you don't. We're not for everybody, but I think we are a better deal than we are getting credit for in this conversation.

If you go on vacation for a few weeks, does your cable bill stop? And how much is TechShop Membership compared to your cable bill or Starbucks habit? It's all about perceived value. If the perceived value is there, you will become a Member. If you do not, you won't. We hope you do.

Thanks,

Scott