ncmagel@ndsuvax.UUCP (ken magel) (08/16/86)
I understand that ACM has a large revenue shortfall and plans to meet
this in part by increasing dues of students and other members by $15 a year.
I don't understand how this sudden shortfall came about since I have seen
only reduced services in the thirteen years I have been a member. I suppose
the NCC problems have something to do with it. In any event, I am concerned
that ACM also consider reducing expenses greatly. I have never seen such a
high living ( on someone else's money) group of people than many of the ACM
officers, especially at meetings. Why not cut out one of their gatherings
per year? Also the ACM Headquarters staff is much poorer than that at the
IEEE-CS. They should be pared down by at least five people so that the poor
level of service they provide would be balanced by the number of people they
employ. Another possibility would be eliminating the research articles from
Communications of the ACM since there are now several transactions published by
ACM to which those research articles could go. Maybe the profitable SIGs
could be given more responsibility for running and supporting the transactions?
ACM also should look into running more money making ventures. I think
ACM could learn an immense amount from the IEEE-CS which in the last five years
has overtaken ACM in size, usefulness and profitability without higher dues.mazlack@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Lawrence J. Mazlack) (08/19/86)
> > I understand that ACM has a large revenue shortfall and plans to meet >this in part by increasing dues of students and other members by $15 a year. >I don't understand how this sudden shortfall came about since I have seen >only reduced services in the thirteen years I have been a member. I suppose >the NCC problems have something to do with it. In any event, I am concerned >that ACM also consider reducing expenses greatly. I have never seen such a >high living ( on someone else's money) group of people than many of the ACM >officers, especially at meetings. RIGHT !!! I have been going to ACM meetings for 20 years now. If you could see their quarters and how they spend the money for food, etc, you would not be very happy. In part, they get to stay in suites because they agree to only list the very expensive "conference" hotel as a place to stay in the conference brocure. Other professional societies often list cheaper hotels, including dorms. Even the supposed "conference" rate is often more expensive than what most of us can get as a "government" rate (you get this if you work for a government sponsored institution). For example, in the last two SIGCSEs (New Orleans and Cincinnati), my "government" rate was $20 and $13 below the "conference" rate!!! (in both cases, staying at the "conference" hotel). The "free" rooms that ACM gets from the conference are not free, they are built into the total price from the hotel. Another related expense is that people who are planning a future conference often meet at several other ACM conferences to plan the next one. This means that ACM pays for air, lodging, and food costs for them. > ... Also the ACM Headquarters staff is much poorer than that at the >IEEE-CS. They should be pared down by at least five people so that the poor >level of service they provide would be balanced by the number of people they >employ. Another possibility would be eliminating the research articles from >Communications of the ACM since there are now several transactions published by >ACM to which those research articles could go. Agreed. Also, why is the cover of CACM printed in color? I am sure that the old color format was cheaper. >ACM could learn an immense amount from the IEEE-CS which in the last five years >has overtaken ACM in size, usefulness and profitability without higher dues. ^^^^^^^^^^ ESPECIALLY Larry Mazlack UUCP {tektronix,dual,sun,ihnp4,decvax}!ucbvax!ucbernie!mazlack New style mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu ARPA | CSNET mazlack%ernie@berkeley.ARPA BITNET mazlack@ucbernie.BITNET telephone (415) 526-0180 snail CS Dept, 571 Evans, U. California, Berkeley, CA 94720
jrb@wdl1.UUCP (John R Blaker) (08/23/86)
Also, wouldn't a paper wrapper be a cheaper way of protecting the Communications than the plastic wrap they now use? They raised the dues for "Increased mailing costs" shortly after making the changeover to plastic. John R Blaker UUCP: ...!sun!wdl1!jrb (jrb@wdl1.uucp) ARPA: jrb@FORD-WDL1.ARPA and blaker@FORD-WDL2.ARPA