Hi,
MEPBM has contrived a way to cut their work load, without cutting their paycheck. That pisses me off. Address the point, don't try to silence me!!!!! It won't work!!!!
Ultimately the point, or rather the reason behind the point, is that basic capitalism dictates that cutting your workload without cutting your pay is something that ALL companies and businessmem would be happy to do. This is a fact of life in the world we live in (like it or not).
By all means express a view - customer reaction is an important part of the capitalist system - but eventually the time comes when customers have to decide to accept a rise in prices or not (i.e. keep buying the product or take their custom and money elsewhere). There is of course another capitalist pressure at work here, namely the fact that the work done by clint & Co is currently under-rewarded in financial terms. The skills involved would normally dictate a much higher price than is being discussed.
The issue for me is not a basic increase in turn-fees, but the proposed differential pricing strategy. However I'm satisfied that this is something Clint & Co are addressing. Could someone who is opposed to a price increase (as opposed to differential pricing) explain why a business which offers a great product, alongside excellent service and commitment, should not seek to reward it's highly skilled employees at a rate more in line with what these people could earn elsewhere in the market? It's no good arguing that less skilled people would need less pay, because then the game wouldn't run. If PBM were a purely market-driven business, it wouldn't exist. There aren't enough players and we don't pay enough for turns. Happily there are a lot of people out there who enjoy gaming sufficiently to run PBM games, edit PBM magazines etc. If, despite this, there is a cogent argument against a rise in prices, then by all means let's hear it and discuss it in a gentlemanly fashion.
Colin.