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I think that the "brutally waitlisted" part could be addressed. Or you could cap membership until you can actually accommodate the new members. But both those o
by williamscales 9y ago
I think that the "brutally waitlisted" part could be addressed. Or you could cap membership until you can actually accommodate the new members. But both those options reduce short term cash inflow.
- peller 9y agoYea, for sure. I suppose that could either be a staffing problem, or demand outstripping (tool time) supply. In the latter case - if there was space/power available - perhaps they could have gotten a second tool. Or from an economics perspective, raise the rates until the demand cooled off a bit. (Of course that kinda sucks as a member, but it also sucks if you're paying and can't get access time to use the tools you want, so it's a bit of a balancing act)
- williamscales 9y agoYeah, this seems to support the story that they just expanded too fast and couldn't keep a handle on things. If they can get folks to pay $1k per year and actually come despite the crowding they can probably get almost as many folks to pay some amount more than $1k per year but not have crowding.
- cr0sh 9y ago> In the latter case - if there was space/power available - perhaps they could have gotten a second tool. Given that this was about a waitlist for the "how to use a laser cutter" class, getting another tool probably wasn't going to be economically possible. The TechShop in my area (Phoenix/Chandler) had six (!) laser cutters - all ULS 60 watt machines (I'm not sure what they had before they closed; I haven't been back in a long while). ULS is based in Scottsdale, so maybe they got a discount on the equipment or something - but regardless, those machines aren't cheap. They are quality machines (heck, the software alone is pretty amazing), and have a cost that reflects it.