Well, this sucks

I contacted Will today because I had a hard time finding the 2018 schedule for our Classic Movie Meetup. Well, guess what: there are no meetups scheduled for 2018.

Meetup raised their prices. The venue where we meet nearly doubled their prices. While he never looked at this as a revenue generator, he can't afford to lose money on our screenings. In 2018, Will just can't make it work at $5/person.

NOOOOOO!

I did a little research and found a venue that will let us meet there for $100/evening. While we wouldn't have a big movie screen, we would have a good-sized flat-screen TV. It doesn't have the free parking our previous place did, but it's far more accessible to public transportation. And while $100 is cheaper than the room we'd been using will be in 2018, it's still too expensive for Will at $5/person.

I told him to raise our ticket price from $5 to $10. I mean, REALLY! A cheap matinee movie ticket is now $6.50 and the average price of a movie in Chicago is over $13. I don't think $10 for a movie, and the insights and conversation Will brings to it, is at all unreasonable.

Will is going to try to negotiate a lower price. The meeting room for rent is usually only in use during the workday. Maybe Will can convince him to reduce the cost because the room is just sitting empty in the evenings and this would be incremental income.

I also found a church on the northside that rents out their meeting rooms for not-for-profits. I couldn't get a price for Will, but I gave him the info. I'm hoping one of these pans out ... or at least that the faith I have shown in our movie group will propel Will to work harder to find a new place.

He's been so depressed about the precipitous price increase at our previous venue. It's a community center right in his neighborhood and he thought it was being a good citizen by supporting it. Then, after nearly five years, they suddenly jack up their fees and price him out.