Membership dues and subscription fees are always due and payable in advance. The Society divides its annual renewals into a quarter system, so that roughly 25% of the membership will receive a dues notice in a given quarter, depending on the quarter in which they originally joined or subscribed. The quarters are April-June, July-September, October-December, and January-March.
New members and subscribers get the issue of the Journal that is current in the quarter in which they sign up. By the beginning of the quarter in which their renewal falls, therefore, they should have received the four copies to which their annual dues or fees entitle them.
Renewal Notices
In order to avoid billing in arrears for the Journal, the Society sends renewal notices approximately ninety days before your membership expires. The expiration date printed on your dues card or subscription acknowledgement is the last day of the calendar quarter in which your anniversary date falls. For instance, if your membership expires on March 31, your dues notice will be sent on January 1, and will be payable no later than March 31.
There is one notice sent to members and subscribers, which, as noted above, is sent approximately ninety days before the due date. Failure to pay by thirty days after the due date results in an automatic suspension of membership (including forum access rights) or of subscription without further notice. The Secretary-Treasurer may, at his discretion, send a notice of arrearage after the due date.
Note further that our renewal notices bear a due date that is approximately sixty days after the billing date and thirty days before the expiration date (e.g., for a billing date of January 1, the due date is February 28, not March 31). This is because of a quirk in the production schedule for the Journal which requires that we turn in our mailing lists thirty days before the end of the quarter. In order to be on that list, we must have your renewal in hand no later than the last day of the month prior to your expiration month.
Suspension
Suspension for non-payment of dues occurs 30 days after the expiration date (e.g., if your expiration date is March 31, you will be suspended on April 30). While membership is suspended, forum access is also suspended. We do not delete forum accounts in order that they can be reactivated when a suspended member pays his arrearage and is restored to full membership.
Restoration from Suspension
Members and Subscribers whose membership or subscription has lapsed may renew their memberships/subscriptions in the usual manner. There is no need to make a specific request for restoration; simply sending in a renewal, either online or by mail, will suffice.
For those renewing current memberships or subscriptions, or the same lapsed LESS than 90 days
Your membership will be renewed normally, without a skip in your Journal issues. Those whose memberships are lapsed less than 90 days will experience a delay in receiving their next Journal, as it will have to be mailed from the secretary after he receives the overruns of that issue from the printer.
For those whose memberships or subscriptions have lapsed for MORE than 90 days
- Memberships and subscriptions lapsed 90 days or longer will be renewed as of the date of renewal, and your next renewal date will shift to the end of the calendar quarter in which you renewed. (For instance, if your due date was March 31, and you renewed July 10, your next renewal date will be September 30 of the following year.)
- You will receive the Journal issue that is current at the time you renew as the first of the four issues for your renewal year. (For instance, if your due date was March 31, and you renewed July 10, you will not receive the Spring issue of the Journal, but you will receive the Summer issue and the three issues following that.)
- If you renew 90 days late, you will miss one issue (as above). If you renew 180 days late, you will miss two issues. And so forth.
- Back issues you have missed may be ordered separately (depending upon availability) from our online store.
What changed, and why?
Until April 1, 2020, we allowed members to renew up to a year late and still receive all of the Journals for the lapsed year. This caused three problems:
- The cost of postage has risen to the point where this is simply not sustainable, particularly for members living outside of the US, but also for US members who would normally receive their Journals via less expensive bulk rate mail, rather than more expensive 1st Class; and
- Most of the time, members in that situation would renew for only one year, meaning the secretary was forced to immediately bill them for another year, or they would lapse again.
- Additionally, the policy forced us to carry unpaid members on our “active” roster for far longer than we should have done, which made it difficult to keep track of membership numbers and trends. With this change, we will no longer carry members as “active” who are in arrears for more than 90 days, rather than for a year as was previously the case.
More Information
Questions regarding this policy should be directed to the Secretary-Treasurer.
(May 6, 2012) (December 24, 2015) (April 1, 2020)