Cyberspace Communications finances for February, 1999

Mar 1 16:21 UTC 1999

Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances
through February 28th, 1999.

Beginning Balance     $3,624.83

Credits                 $975.00         Member contributions
                        $251.76         Auction proceeds
                         $62.95         Miscellaneous donations
                         $30.00         Proceeds from the Grex store
                         $16.50         Silly Hat Fund donations
                   ------------
                      $1,336.21

Debits                   $63.00         Pumpkin Rent for February
                         $66.36         Electricity for January
                        $366.29         Phone Bill
                         $18.48         Sales & Use taxes for 1998
                         $12.00         Check from December bounced
                          $5.00         Fee for bounced check
                         $35.00         Renewal of grex.org
                         $53.23         Reimburse Scott for backup tapes
                        $300.00         Our first insurance premium
                   ------------
                        $919.36

Ending Balance        $4,041.68

Since we got all the spare parts we need through donations, I wrote to all the 
people who sent money in for the Spare Parts Fund last year (excluding the 
ones who designated their money for 501(c)3 application expenses, since we 
actually did use their money) and asked them what we should do with it.  I've 
heard from all but one person.  Here's the disposition of the $816.00 which 
was in the Spare Parts Fund last month:

        $670.00  goes into the general fund as miscellaneous donations
         $54.00  goes into the UPS fund
         $27.00  goes to pay the membership dues of the donors
         $60.00  (from scott and aruba) will stay in the fund for now, and 
                 will go to pay for a membership for our donor in California,
                 if he sends in some ID
          $5.00  will stay in the fund because I haven't heard from the donor 
                 yet.
        -------
        $816.00

So our current balance breaks down as follows:

$3,743.82               General Fund
  $119.00               UPS Fund
  $113.86               Silly Hat Fund
   $65.00               Spare Parts Fund

The Grex Store activity looks like this:

                         Cash                                    Stock
                     ---------                                ---------
Beginning Balances:  ($123.60)                                 $340.90

                       $30.00   <--  Items sold  <--            (15.00)

       Balances:      ($93.60)                                 $325.90

We had 4 new members in February (isarkar, jinx00, sachinr, and gath990) and 
2 returning members (jor and laotzu).  We are currently at 100 members, 92 of 
whom are paid through at least March 15th.  (The others expired recently and 
are in a grace period.)

Well, I didn't think we could top January, but we had a phenomenal month in 
February.  I can't put it down to a single cause, but we took in a lot of 
money.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in February:

alan, andyb, aruba, atticus, bruin, coyote, davel, eeyore, gath990, gregory, 
gypsi, happyboy, i, isarkar, jiffer, jinx00, jor, kami, katie, laotzu, mcmud, 
mitton, mooncat, n8rxs, orinoco, otaking, otter, quail, raheim, russ, sachinr, 
scott, snow, srw, stern, steve, toking, tpryan, valerie, the Grex walkers, and 
one person who asked to remain anonymous.  Wow!

Thanks everyone!

If you or your institution would like to become a member of Grex, it only
costs $6/month or $60/year.  Send money to:

Cyberspace Communications
P. O. Box 4432
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-4432

If you pay by cash or money order, please include a photocopy of some form
of ID.  I can't add you to the rolls without ID.  (If you pay by personal
check, we consider that a good enough ID.)  Type !support for more info.

response 2 of 15:

Mar 4 23:50 UTC 1999

We didn't bounce a check - we received and deposited a check which
subsequently bounced.  I suspended the membership of the person who sent us
the check, and he promised to replace the check and pay the 5 dollar fee. 
Haven't heard from him since.

response 4 of 15:

Mar 7 22:40 UTC 1999

Banks levy bounced check fees both ways, on the person who wrote
the check and on the account that tried to deposit it.  Supposedly
it's to cover the costs associated with handling the additional
paperwork.

response 6 of 15:

Mar 8 02:20 UTC 1999

Mary is correct.  Banks do this to the person depositing the check because
it costs them to process a bounced check.  The bank the check is drawn on
charges a fee 1) because it cost them to process the check and 2) to penalize
the customer.

response 8 of 15:

Mar 10 22:00 UTC 1999

Banks make a huge amount of money from bounced check fees -- far in
excess of the costs of processing bad checks. They have clever tricks
to maximize the fees, also -- such as processing larger checks before
smaller checks.

response 10 of 15:

Mar 11 05:27 UTC 1999

I did hear a report on NPR a while back about a woman who was suing her bank 
because (she claimed) they had a practice of doing what Aaron described in #8.
It sounds perfectly legal to me, however, so I don't know why she thought she
could win a court case over it.

response 12 of 15:

Mar 14 02:36 UTC 1999

re #11  Only checks that clear on the same day.

response 14 of 15:

Mar 16 00:02 UTC 1999

(It was.)