Open letter to the National Trust

This is my first blog for the #weeklyblogclub on twitter. More of which later.

I thought I’d start with an open letter to the National Trust. I love the National Trust and think they have some of the bestest places in the whole country. However I do have a problem with the membership fees. Let me explain

I used to be a member of the NT. I join under their get 12 months for the price of 9 offer, which they still have for direct debit membership. So an initial £62.63 (current price) was paid). However the next year the price went up to the full amount (currently £83.50). Now I do not begrudge paying this amount for myself and my fiancée to become members of the NT. However it is a lot of money to fork out in the one month the membership is due. Especially as my membership was due in December. With Christmas as all that it was a tight month money wise anyway. So unfortunately I did have to eventually cancel my membership.

Since then I have spoken to a couple of people in the National Trust about doing some sort of quarterly direct debit. I already pay for a few magazine subscriptions this way and the National Trust already have a direct debit system in place but this is only paying annually rather than quarterly. However I appreciate that there are issues with a quarterly direct debit scheme. Extra admin and the possibility that people will only pay for the two quarters covering the summer months and cancel their membership for the winter months. So I have though of a solution.

People joining the National Trust pay for their first years membership up front. For me and my fiancée that’s £62.63. Then in 12 months time, people can opt to go on to either half-yearly or quarterly direct debit payments. Thus ensuring people don’t just join for six months at a time as they pay for the first year up front. Also in the case of half-yearly payments it could be done that the first of these payments comes out in the autumn. Thus ensuring that in order for people to make the most of this money they have to join for the next 6-months as well. National Trust get extra members like myself with not much admin overheads. Everyone’s a winner?