It's like taking a half million dollars and burning it.
CREDIT CARD CONTRIBUTIONS PROCESSING FEE 483,249.47
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/YE/C00432914/B_PURPOSE_C0...
What about stopping the money bombs and send check or money order by snail mail. And give the max you can afford.
It will save a heck of a lot of money in the long run.
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I guess the organizers
I guess the organizers should have searched for more alternatives, who know perhaps they would have found no fee balance transfers. This sure would have been a valuable option for the campaign.
The big banks at work
The big banks at work again!
That is disgusting. TskTskTsk.
Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Idea
Well, they could start accepting some of the digital gold currencies: Pecunix, GoldMoney, eBullion, and e-gold. These payment systems have a much smaller "spend fee" than credit card processors or Paypal. They are also better in tons of other ways (such as being 100% gold-backed).
Perhaps the reason the money
Perhaps the reason the money bombs don't bring in as much is because we had 3 of them in just over a month?
www.ronpaul2008.com
www.ronpaul2012.com
When you've run a business...
...then you can comment on overhead costs.
Meanwhile, you're being greedy in the wrong direction. If I offered you $10.00 for a quarter, are you saying you'd say No?!
On the other hand, what if I offer you the entire 10 bucks and you don't have to give me a quarter, but I require you to open the envelope, photocopy it and the check, input my name, occupation, address and the contribution date and time into a database, add the check amount with its date and your name onto a deposit slip, and guarantee you got it right? And make the deposit? AND... you have 17 seconds.
BUT WAIT, there's MORE!!! What will you do about the bank, having required me to use a commercial account, charges me 20cents *per*deposit*item*?!!!
Looks like you'll have to cut the value of the quarter saved to only a nickel and still do all that work - and also cut the time to 1/5th, meaning you have to do it flawlessly, in 3.4 seconds, 500-2000 times a day.
To save a nickel.
The function you are crying about is called "caging" Research it. It can't be done for 2.5% You didn't even identify all of the costs involved before you shot your wad.
I apologize for being abrupt with you. It's just that I've given up being nice to arrogant proactive ignorance.
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LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
www.LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
very thorough answer
from one who apparently knows from business experience. And others here have clarified that the credit card is the best way. I'm glad to learn this for two reasons:
1) I did not like to cost the campaign money they could use, if it could be handled another way
2) I really hate giving money to the corporate "banksters"... but if it is best for the campaign then I'll do it.
Thanks, Allen, for the information. True, I am ignorant and that is why I responded with a similar wonder about it all. My intent is to do the best for Dr. Paul. However, I don't know that the inquiries here were arrogant or proactive, nor that your answer was not nice. :-) You were very generous in taking the time to explain. Do you happen to know the answer to the following-- if it is not too much of an imposition upon you:
I wish there were another way... Maybe pay directly from my checking account like I do my bills? Set up an RP account and send the electronic payment by direct transfer. My bank does not charge me for this, nor my payees apparently, or my utility and mortgage payments would be short by the fee percentage.
Gwen Kraft
"Personal Liberty & Personal Responsibility" -- Dr. Ron Paul
Gwen Kraft
"Personal Liberty & Personal Responsibility" -- Dr. Ron Paul
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom." -- Bob Dylan
TANSTAAFL
ThereAintNoSuchThingAsAFreeLunch!
When you use BillPay, the utility pays a percentage from their end. It's worth it to them, for all the reasons I gave above. So no advantage, sorry.
BTW, in the 2 federal campaigns I've been involved in, I don't think this was ever done by the first, I know it wasn't in the second.
I doubt it could be, to tell the truth, just because in BillPay there's the probability of recurring transactions, even if the customer doesn't set it up to be automatic.
Not that people don't set up a monthly contribution schedule, some do, so they can give the most they're able without hurting themselves all at once. Usually, they just gave us their CC info and our finance person did the deed for them each month, and sent an email thanks to remind them.
Despite all that, it is better for the economy and your savings to use a debit card rather than credit. The cost to you of interest on a contribution is more than the caging cost to the campaign if you don't pay off your cc bill every month! Not to mention that carrying a balance on a cc gives the issuing bank an "asset" (your future interest payments) which they can then leverage into further fiat lending.
A bit more interesting trivia?
In the 2004 cycle not many people knew they could see the quarterly reports because it was the first year of McCain-Feingold (BCRA). So not much came of this expense. Also, in that campaign, it mostly was handled by hand, and what the caging service made it possible for me to do in 10 minutes in 2006, my predecessor was required to lock himself away in his office behind dire threats to anyone who might interrupt, for up to 3 weeks each time.
By 2006 the trolls knew how to nitpick and misrepresent data from the reports, and we took a lot of abuse from pretenders in other parties and socialists hiding in our own midst. They even demanded that the staff work for free, and verbally abused them by name on various blogs! These were usually young self-styled "anarchists" (democracy freaks who wanteda say in every detail of things for which they took no responsibility) who didn't have much worldly experience and so had no idea how much things really cost.
But then, in their defense, even most of the people who know that there are more than 150 taxes hidden in the price of a $3.29 loaf of bread are still shocked when they find out that the bakery only nets maybe a nickel a loaf. Or that most Fortune 500 corporations run on a mere 3% profit margin.
(Unless they have a protected market, of course--and of those, the best moneymakers are the ones for whom we send the military out to kill competitors.)
Oh, look, now you've gotten me started...!
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LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
www.LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
Time to do it the old fashioned way..
Any problem with mailing a wad of notes? Or do the banks charge for that also? Since most donors are ~$100 seems the obvious solution.
Two problems, and Helmuth's Q
1. There's a reason the Post Office tells people not to mail cash....
2. The handling of cash is even more work. The bills have to be spread and photocopied showing serial numbers but not any bill in full, and then the rest of the deposit procedure follows.
The limits for cash are low, maybe more now but 50 anon and 100 with a name in 2006, so that part isn't a problem for the $100 contributor.
If an anon exceeds the limit, the surplus has to be surrendered to the gov't, or given to an approved charity in some cases. Half of that is really bad.
And all that is IF the money arrives (think about what's behind problem #1).
Helmuth, FEC regs consider gold and silver coin to be in-kind commodity contributions which have to be "sold" or evaluated at market value in FRAUDS and the total FRAUD amount reported, including fees paid or discounts given to get rid of the stuff. So gold actually costs more to receive than BS.
Guys, for those of you who love the details (or trivia), the campaign manuals with all this info are live on the web at:
http://www.fec.gov/info/publications.shtml#guides
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LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
www.LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
Irony
Guiliani spent $1,139,088.20 in Q4 on "political strategy consulting".
Remember Brewster's Millions? Was his campaign not the perfect way to blow a huge wad of money? Don't be surprised if Rudy's crazy uncle left him $300 million.
2.5% is a bargain
If you can come up with a cheaper cost of fundraising, you will have a hell of a career. Most charities and campaigns have "cost of fundraising" ratios north of 20%. Check Guiliani's records - he probably spent $3 million to raise $14 million.
How much does a stamp cost?
How much does a stamp cost? Paypal only costs like 33 cents.
As I've pointed out before...
Don't send small amounts several times a day as some have advocated. It just makes more work and costs more to process.
Sending electronically is the most cost-effective.
IMissLiberty
You can reach voters in California, here: http://consequeries.com/California-voter-guide.php
AT last...
...the voice of reason!
All these silly $17.76 donations and the like, just send all that you can as soon as you can, as we are $3M short!
seems this is minor expense
seems this is minor expense compared to other methods. East and speed of online payment would actually be cheaper. Good comments below.
Trust in God, but tie your camel tight.
"Socialism needs two legs on which to stand; a right and a left. While appearing to be in complete opposition to one another,they both march in the same direction." - Paul Proctor
Cheapest fund-raising there is.
I seem to recall that for most campaigns -- once they get past their initial "seed-money" they have to spend between $150 and $350 for every $1,000 that they raise through normal "fund-raising" techniques (those $1,000 per plate dinners and such -- costs them a couple hundred dollars per plate by the time they pay room rent, food & service costs, flight and hotel costs for campaign staff, etc.
So the Ron Paul campaign proves there is a better and CHEAPER way... because even if it was 1/2 million in 4th Qtr -- that was to raise essentially $20 Million, which is 1/40th of the funds raised, or about $25 per $1,000 raised.
In other words one heckuva lot LESS than what it costs other campaigns to raise money.
If you wanna help LOWER that cost, then send one $100 donation instead of two $50 donations -- (lower billings tend to be hit with "minimal processing charges" which are a higher percentage of the total received).
I have wondered the same
It looks like payroll and payroll taxes are less than the credit card processing fees. And the payroll covers everyone, not just those opening mail and making deposits. It might save Dr. Paul a sizable amount if we sent checks or money orders. Has anyone already asked this of HQ?
Gwen Kraft
"Personal Liberty & Personal Responsibility" -- Dr. Ron Paul
Gwen Kraft
"Personal Liberty & Personal Responsibility" -- Dr. Ron Paul
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom." -- Bob Dylan
NO WAY
because i dont like cactus or the number 10, especially twice
Just what does your comment
Just what does your comment have to do with saving money... a heck of a lot of money?
It all depends
on how the pricing is structured. Paying staff to open envelopes and enter data also costs money.
It was all paid to companies
It was all paid to companies such as Paypal.
If people gave the max they could afford all at once by check or money order there wouldn't be that many envelops to open or checks to process as opposed to donating piece meal.
It would be a heck of a lot more cost effective.
Donations would be half
And there would be HALF the amount of donations that there are now. The processing fees are 1/40th of donations totals. You know what, I can live with that. For 200K donations If each one took 1 full minute to open, seperate, data entry. That would be 3333 man hours * 10 dollars and hour 33K dollars.
That doesn't count bank fees, banks DO charge commerical fees for processing large amounts of checks.
The half a million was a steal considering how much publicity the money bombs and constant donation ticker got us. We would have NEVER received even close to that amount without it.
Should Paul shop around for a cheaper processor, possibly. But not at the expensive of realtime donation numbers.
The money bombs no longer
The money bombs no longer bring in the kind of money they did in their hay day.
People need to come up with something else that is cost effective, while still raising money.
Thats because the moneybombs
Thats because the moneybombs post teaparty were not advertised enough. One reason the teaparty moneybomb did so well is it was heavily advertised in print media. There was an awesome pro-RP full page ad that cost close to 100k dollars that ran for 2 days in USA Today(reaching well over a million people) that advertised the teaparty moneybomb, that is why that moneybomb did so well. Every moneybomb afterward did not have that kind of massive print advertising, so they fell short. Internet advertising alone is not enough to raise the millions we need.