Questions for Dsteele

[hops_scout 9]

Dave, my mom and I were discussing joining a Venture Crew... The advisor(a friend of ours, but we havent talked to him about it) gave us two registration forms: one for me and one for her.

 

Here are the questions: Does she need to fill another one out for her because she was a den leader in Cub Scouts and do I have to pay an additional $7 or whatever it is even though I am a registered Boy Scout?

 

Just wondering

[dsteele 20]

Hops:

 

Yes, you do have to fill out applications. Both of you. The only question is whether you have to pay a fee or not. If you're both currently registered and it's a multiple registration -- meaning you're both going to be registered in the troop and in the crew at the same time -- you don't have to pay the fee in both places.

 

If you are registered in the crew and want to maintain registration in the troop, you can elect to pay in both places. Even if you pay in only one place, the troop or the crew, as long as you reach first class before leaving the troop, you can earn your Eagle.

 

DS

[acco40 95]

I believe no matter what, they will need to pay a fee. The question is if it needs to be the registration fee ($10?) or a transfer fee ($1). To my knowledge, if a youth or adult adds another "position", a transfer fee of $1 is levied.

 

Now that said, if the man-o-steel disagrees with my view he is probably correct. Always defer to the professionals when it comes to rules, regulations and policy.

[Overtrained 10]

The $1 transfer fee is if you transfer units, not if you multiple register.

 

An example would be a scout who moved from Milwaukee to Toledo can transfer his registration for a dollar. This keeps his unique identifier number.

 

 

[dsteele 20]

Overtrained is correct.

 

I do have to admit I get a kick out of watching some Scout Executives talk about the $1.00 transfer fee. Many Scout Executives want to keep the dollar because, unlike 15 years ago, the transfer is entered electronically and locally by the council registrat. The Scout Executives think we should be able to keep the dollar -- but, alas, it goes to Texas just like registration and Boy's Life fees.

 

DS

[Twocubdad 665]

What's the point of the transfer fee? Is it just "found money" for national, since they don't do anything to earn it? Can't anyone figure out that the cost of handling that dollar from the Scout to the unit to the council to national far exceeds it's value? Or does national just not care since they get the revenue but not the expense?money but not the work?

[Fat Old Guy 11]

"Can't anyone figure out that the cost of handling that dollar from the Scout to the unit to the council to national far exceeds it's value?"

 

That would be true if each dollar was handled individually. However, there are thousands of Cub Scout to Boy Scout transfers each year. In the aggregrate, it doesn't cost that much to handle the money and National gets more bucks.

 

About 20 years ago I ordered some camera equipment from a mail order company and they overcharged me by $1. I called to complain and the guy gave me a hard time about refunding my buck. I stood my ground and got it back. I later called the BBB to complain and they referred me to the police. It turns out the company was being investigated for fraud because they'd been overcharging everyone by $1 and it was adding up to millions.

[dsteele 20]

I was chuckling when I wrote about Scout Executives complaining about not being able to keep the transfer fee in their council. Actually, the transfer fee is a registration fee. Councils can not charge a fee for membership, only the corporation can do that. If the council kept the transfer fee or were allowed to keep the transfer fee it would be a violation of corporate by-laws. registration fees are a primary source of income for the national council which does no fund-raisers like local councils do.

 

This is to prevent a council from deciding that they could drop FOS, popcorn, United Way, special events, etc. by simply charging each family a hundred bucks to join.

 

Believe it or not a fee of $1.00 is enough to stop folks from switching units every time they get cheesed off at the Scoutmaster or committee, but small enough that it doesn't really prohibit anyone from transferring. The transfer fee has been $1.00 for at least 15 years now. It probably doesn't cost a buck to actually do the transfer into the computer at the council office. As to the cost of processing being more than $1.00, not really. It's done through electronic fund transfers and not hand addressed envelopes physically mailed to Texas one at a time. (That's an exaggeration for the sake of fun . )

 

DS

[Twocubdad 665]

You guys are making my point for me. You're right, at the top of the pyramid, there's no effort or cost involved at all. And if only five percent of scouts transfer a year, that's a quarter-million in found money going to national.

 

But starting with the Scout, think about all the hands that dollar has to pass through: his den leader, the cub master, the pack treasurer (who has to account for the deposit, write a check and record the expense), the counter person at the Scout office, the council bookkeeper, etc. Compare that to submitting the application alone: Scout, den leader, cubmaster, registrar (all of which can be handled by mail). Just because most of the people in the process are volunteers doesn't mean their time has no value.

 

And I don't believe that the dollar is any sort of deterrent to frivilous transfers. If I'm cheesed off (is that a Wisconsin thing?) at my SM, the time it takes to complete the application will give me much more pause than attaching a dollar to it.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Big_Dog 10]

DS, 'nother question...

I started scouting in one council and have since moved to a different one. The first council participated in Scouting for Food and the one I'm in now doesn't. I really liked that program for a number of reasons. Can the troop and pack in our town decide to participate in this national good turn? We are probably one hundred miles from our neighboring council that does this, so we can't participate with them. I believe the combined knowledge of this august group of scouters will be a big help!

 

..YCVT..

Thanx

BD

[Bob White 20]

DS correct me if I am wrong but, Scouting for food is no longer a national Good Turn program but is suppored on a District or community level, and can be done independently by units or as a multi-unit coordinated service project.

BW

[dsteele 20]

Bobwhite is correct. It started out as a National Good Turn in the late '80's and proved to be very difficult to coordinate. I remember really having to hustle to get the youth, food and unit participation count to National Sunday night to the Chief Scout Executive could make a report on the Today show Monday morning.

 

After it stopped being a National Good Turn, many council continued and continue to do an annual food drive and the Scouting for Food name is still widely used.

 

And, yes, your unit can do it on your own.

 

DS

 

Twocubdad -- yes, national uses the buck to offset other expenses that keep the national council afloat.

 

Dave

[Big_Dog 10]

Ok, that makes sense and is probably the reason I had such a hard time finding information. I tried 3 different councils and kept getting sent to voice-mail. One more piece of info I need is: where can you order the bags so they will have your info on them?

P.S. i sure like you folks, must be 'cause y'all are scouters!

 

YCVT

bd

[dsteele 20]

Most printers of any size can print the bags for you. You could also type up a flyer to stuff inside bags donated by a local groccery store (the manager may like the idea of using it as advertising.) This is different than seeking corporate donations (which is a different ball of wax.)

 

There may be a set up charge for the printing and I would suggest, if you can find a way, to plan the printing to last multiple years. This is to get the quantities you're ordering high enough to get the price per bag to around 2 cents or less a piece.

 

Do me a favor, however. No matter how windy the day may be, do not allow the Scouts to put bags in people's mail boxes. The United States Postal Service expects to collect postage on anything in those boxes. Mail boxes do not belong to the homeowner, they are considered federal property.

 

I've found that the feds have very little in the way of a sense of humor when it comes to using federal property.

 

DS