My buddy insisted we charge a $25 annual fee for our tool library, and he was dead right.

I argued it should be free, but after a year, that small fee covered our insurance and kept the 'borrow a drill once' crowd from draining our inventory. Anyone else find a small fee actually improves member commitment?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeththomas4d ago

Oh man, that's so true. We run a community seed library and had the exact same fight. Making it totally free meant people would just grab handfuls and never bring anything back. A five dollar suggested donation totally changed the vibe, it made people actually value the seeds and participate more. How did your members react when you first brought up the fee?

abby6984d ago

Wondering if you saw any pushback at first, like @elizabeththomas mentioned with her seed library. I mean, did people get mad or did they mostly get it once you explained the insurance thing? I've seen some free groups totally fall apart because nobody felt like they had skin in the game, even a tiny amount.

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