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I don't know why everyone can't be like me. When my local club puts out a call for annual membership dues, I take action and ante up by the next meeting. Arrogant? Perhaps, but I know of very few legitimate circumstances that justify becoming dues delinquent. Such negligence places undue burden on volunteer club officers, making a tedious task of what should be an automatic procedure.

For many clubs, the fall season reintroduces agonizing decisions of how to deal with dues delinquencies. Incentives versus penalties are pondered again.

A standard incentive is to incorporate a new-member initiation fee into your dues structure. Renewals received in a timely manner are discounted by the amount of the initiation fee. Delinquents, of course, are accessed the original new-member fee.

If you're looking for penalties, try accessing an additional $1 per month for each month of delinquency. After 12 months, require that the ex-member be reinstated only after going through the normal routine of becoming a new member. To make this penalty effective, the club structure must include a new-member initiation fee plus a membership approval process- a waiting period with a vote by the membership, or publication of the applicant's name in two or three issues of the club newsletter.

The lesser financial penalty of simply excluding the transitory delinquent from certain benefits of membership often becomes more of a headache than it's worth. Trying to monitor who is or isn't currently eligible for the club door prize, participation in the auction, library privileges, etc., is nearly impossible, and especially for larger clubs.

Some clubs quickly eliminate the delinquent from the newsletter mailing list. Unfortunately, this tends to squelch any possibility of reinstating that member, as the most important means of communication is consequently lost.