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Grex > Coop9 > #94: Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances through 4/30/97 |  |
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aruba
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Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances through 4/30/97
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May 7 02:14 UTC 1997 |
Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc.
finances through April 30th, 1997.
Beginning Balance $3,829.85
Credits $108.00 Member contributions
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$108.00
Debits $60.00 Pumpkin Rent for May
$83.00 Electricity for April
$20.00 Innovative Concepts phone line
$396.69 Phone Bill
$2.94 Bank service charge
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$562.63
Ending Balance $3,375.22
Our current balance breaks down as follows:
$3,257.22 General fund
$60.00 UPS fund
$58.00 Silly Hat Fund
We had one new member in April (adania). We are currently at
94 members, 89 of whom are paid through at least May 15th. (The rest
expired recently and are in a grace period.)
We have been on quite a roller coaster this year: January was great, February
was pretty bad, March was pretty good, and April was terrible. We've already
collected more money in May than we did in April.
Thanks to everyone who contributed in April:
adania, bmoran, bruin, giry, jshafer, krj, powercow, and robh. Thanks!
If you would like to become a member of Grex, all it takes is $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.
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| 25 responses total. |
aruba
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response 1 of 25:
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May 7 22:13 UTC 1997 |
By the way, as !support will tell you, you can now get a free copy of Misti's
Grex handbook with a contribution of $18 or more.
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orinoco
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response 2 of 25:
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May 7 22:29 UTC 1997 |
I can't resist--what's the silly hat fund?
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i
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response 3 of 25:
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May 7 22:43 UTC 1997 |
More interesting would be an explanation of the $400 phone bill.
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aruba
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response 4 of 25:
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May 7 23:24 UTC 1997 |
We received several donations earmarked for "the silly hat fund". Far be it
from me to second-guess the donators' intentions. ;) (nestene started it -
he can explain it better than I, I think.)
$400 is what we can expect from the phone bill these days. Keep in mind we
are still paying off our centrex installation charges, and will be until
(I think) the end of the year.
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senna
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response 5 of 25:
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May 8 01:12 UTC 1997 |
Also, running over ten phone lines 24 hours a day (they're usually in use
around the clock--us latenighters take them up quite a bit) for a month can
really mount it up. I'm not surprised at all.
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orinoco
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response 6 of 25:
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May 8 02:57 UTC 1997 |
pity....if grex was going to buy a real live silly hat with it, I might
contribute :)
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scg
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response 7 of 25:
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May 8 03:55 UTC 1997 |
Phone lines are flat rate for local calls. Since our lines (except for the
Internet link line and the staff line) don't make any outgoing calls, they
actually cost us a bit less than a regular business's phone lines (used for
both incoming and outgoing calls) would. Still, you get enough phone lines,
plus installation charges, and it adds up.
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nestene
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response 8 of 25:
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May 8 09:42 UTC 1997 |
The Silly Hat Fund happened last November, when I went to the board meeting
with five dollars in my pocket which I told everyone I would donate toward
Tsty's membership, should he need one to run for the board. In any case, I
would give the five dollars to grex, and since there had been a lot of talk
at that time of restricted donations (e.g. this money only for T1), I told
them they could use it for any purpose they chose, "yea, even unto the pur-
chase of silly hats." By the time I actually handed aruba the money and told
him, "this is for the silly hat fund," he had forgotten my earlier remark,
and marked it down as a restricted donation. Since then, we've cleared
things up, and the Silly Hat Fund is just another box of unrestricted cash
at our disposal.
Re #6: Why not buy your own silly hat, and send it to grex with your
donation? We must have a nice assortment of different-sized heads among
the baffers; one of them should be able to wear it.
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orinoco
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response 9 of 25:
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May 10 00:30 UTC 1997 |
I just might do that...
what's a baffer?
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dpc
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response 10 of 25:
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May 10 01:13 UTC 1997 |
Board or staffer.
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orinoco
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response 11 of 25:
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May 10 14:01 UTC 1997 |
arr..it all becomes clear...
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steve
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response 12 of 25:
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May 13 00:58 UTC 1997 |
We're paying I think $75 a month for 12 months to cover the
costs of 1) moving the lines, 2) converting them over to Centrex
usage, 3) Graft.
If we started paying the extra monies for this in November, we're
more than half-way done now.
#3 wasn't a charge. ;-)
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tsty
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response 13 of 25:
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May 13 06:23 UTC 1997 |
wellllll, i dunno, steve. i just found out that if all the telephone
numbers an organization uses are part of a single 'combined' bill, that
the 'fcc contribution' per line is ~$1.87 (i think that;'s right) higher
thanif the lines are billed separately. pretty close to graft, kinda.
we might want to check this out.
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aruba
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response 14 of 25:
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May 13 06:48 UTC 1997 |
That sounds like my cue. I checked our bill, and the "Manditory Charge per
FCC order" didn't change when we wnet to Centrex; it's still $79.20, or
$5.28 per line. I checked my home phone bill, and it's $3.50 for my one line.
I don't know if the bill for Grex is higher because we're a business, or
what. Anybody with two lines at home want to say how much their "Manditory
Charge" is?
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scott
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response 15 of 25:
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May 13 10:59 UTC 1997 |
OK, the "Mandatory Charge" for my two lines was $7.00.
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rcurl
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response 16 of 25:
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May 13 18:02 UTC 1997 |
Me too.
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tsty
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response 17 of 25:
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May 13 20:18 UTC 1997 |
teh mandatory charge for a single-line's-billing, is indeed, $3.50.
however if there are 'combined bills' (multiple numbers on a single
sheet of billing paper), teh *PER LINE* fcc <graft/mandate/extraction/etc>
charge is $5.28 ... which amounts to $1.78 *EXTRA PER LINE* for the
convenience of a combined bill. now we know.
i think it applies only to business combined bills though, or
some ## of lines greater than some limit ...i don't know the absolute
particulars on the division, but if the bills are split... the savings
is $1.78 per line per month. i split al the m-b0x bills. ameri(t/wr)ech
was not pleased....but they are doing it. hey, $500/yr is $500/yr!
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aruba
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response 18 of 25:
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May 13 21:47 UTC 1997 |
Hmmm... That would save Grex $320/year, theoretically. I wonder if we should
look into it. TS, have you gotten the first set of bills since you changed
over, and verified that you did indeed save money?
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tsty
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response 19 of 25:
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May 14 13:55 UTC 1997 |
well, we did receive the first set of bills....and in print they
were still 'combined' (with attendant costs), however when i called
ameri(t/wr)ech, the data base had been separated........
one of this week's tasks is to get back on the phone with the right
set of numbers (list was unavailable on the first call) and jawbone
tehm a bit ...<g>.
be aware also that they will pop a little charge on the separation
request, a one-time thing, of , i think $8 per line, but that charge
is amortized (?? right word ??) in 4 1/2 months.
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aruba
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response 20 of 25:
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May 14 17:55 UTC 1997 |
Would you let us know when you really do see the savings? (And is M-Net on
Centrex, by the way?)
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steve
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response 21 of 25:
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May 15 00:14 UTC 1997 |
TS, where are you getting this information? Can you give me a
reference of some sort? I have heard vague things about this, but
nothing specific. Given that I've been talking to the MPSC lately
I can ask.
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tsty
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response 22 of 25:
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May 15 05:37 UTC 1997 |
information comes directly from the ppl manning the 'billing' lines
the number for which is on the top of each bill. first level ppl, nothing
past that, honest!
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dpc
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response 23 of 25:
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May 15 15:12 UTC 1997 |
I don't think M-Net is on Centrex, either. Thanx to tsty for jawboning
for M-Net; I appointed him Assistant Treasurer several months ago
and I'm sure glad I did!
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scg
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response 24 of 25:
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May 16 03:32 UTC 1997 |
I just hope TS isn't getting this information by calling the phone company's
employees at home at 4 am.
I'm assuming Grex couldn't separate the billing of the lines into separate
accounts and stay on Centrex. The Centrex lines are treated as one big system
rather than as individual lines, for the most part.
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