We can't just pay more

 Here's a little thing bothering me that is a result from changes to the market schedule. I don't know if the one remaining November market has also been eliminated, which was proposed. Ending on Hallowe'en was posed as good for our customers, because it would be less confusing than some date in November. And of course taking three weeks off from their regular duties to focus on HM would be good for staff, because HM makes money, and November markets sometimes do not. 

No cost-cutting for those November markets was proposed, though it may have been discussed. I won't go to Board meetings, so while I trust that some issues are still being fully discussed at several levels before policy is changed, unless it is in the minutes, which I get a month later, I don't know if they are. But with this one, I hope someone in the room brought up some points that were not included in the proposal.

Eliminating the three markets in November eliminates our paydays, our selling opportunities as members. Sure, those days are not the best, and now some of us have the option to sell with farmers, which is not a bad opportunity, just not ours. And it gives away our community gathering function, which is a huge part of why we are successful. No one in the community has a vote on it.  

Last year, though one weekend of HM was cancelled, the price did not go down. We just paid more for less. Every remaining day got more expensive. And we all know prices do not go down, just up. I don't even want to figure out the percentage increase, which was 10% on top of the hidden fees like the corner tax. The lost weekend was not even figured into the 10%. So was it 20%? I'd have to dig through some boxes to figure it out, but I think in 2024 I paid around $1200 for 15 days, and last year, $1350 for 13 days. You can do the math. We've had many years when costs did not go up...budgets were trimmed. Budgets just have to be trimmed, every year, that's how to deal with increased costs. I know the Budget Committee tries to do that. But in 2025 we got the additional costs of a dysfunctional website and minimal promotions, which were the result of poor planning. Managing our market takes skills. 

Furthermore, people who paid a season reserve got less for their money, with one month of payment only covering one day, November first. So every other month got more expensive, a sort of hidden fee raise. But for those who paid monthly for their reserve, people who presumably couldn't pay the $200 all at once, they apparently had to pay for a full month for that one day in November, whether or not they used it, or they could have their reserve space taken away. I don't know how much they pay monthly. Two hundred divided by eight is $25 a month...so they probably pay $25. 

In a way that fixes a problem, the temptation for someone to release their reserve space early in the year, if they don't want it anymore for some reason, or want to change spaces and they have the points to do that. I'm sure it used to happen that people stopped paying their monthly reserve, when they had to find a way to reduce costs for themselves or wanted to get out of that level of membership. You can still sell without a reserved space, it's just a little harder to do. Reserving is a way to increase your ability to thrive, as you have a consistent location and a lot more time to set up, so you can bring more, and sell more. Even at $25 a month, it can be worth it, though not for everyone. 

But an adjustment needs to be made in that November cost. It just isn't fair to require members to pay for days they cannot sell. Your reserve doesn't give you any advantage if you decide to sell with the farmers...they assign you a space and you can take it or leave it. You don't get much of an advantage from them in setting up early, though you do usually know your space in advance, a few days, but they can still move you. They wanted me to move the first day I set up there, due to a mistake they made, but as I had brought a set-up specific to the space I was told I would have, and I bring my goods and set-up on a bike, I asked for that to not happen, and they allowed me to stay, but I was right next to the driveway and had to accommodate some vehicles whose drivers did not want me there. It worked out. But my point here is that selling at farmers is really not a substitute for selling at market. This year the day will end at 2:00. So instead of the six hours we get on the Park Blocks (or a little more if you can be ready before 10), you get 5 hours at farmers. And you pay a flat fee, so it is a gamble depending on your location, the weather, the football schedule, or whatever. Maybe your support system. You are not a member of LCFM, so you do not get the full benefit of membership on those days. You're kind of a guest. And you can't sell plants, or be a food booth. So not every market member can even sell over there. Your cost will be a minimum of $35, $25 to farmers and $10 to market. $10 more if you want a corner, $10 more if you want to be inside the pavilion (if that is allowed) and $10 more if you want electricity. All of the $10 charges go to market. Sure, some of it is your choice. Sometimes it works out fine. But I don't think you can cancel without paying if you don't want to sell for whatever reason...like the rain expected tomorrow. 

I know people don't actually complain about these things, they just feel lucky to even have a market space in the more competitive atmosphere, but the way it feels to members is we just continually pay more for less. We members do, as our services are cut, our fees continue to rise, and we are told that costs are fixed, that nothing can be done. Our staff is protected from those cuts. They still get paid when market is closed. They don't experience a loss in benefits. It's nice. We want them to want to work for us. But they won't have jobs if we aren't solvent, which we are not now. This will be our second year of operating in the red. Last year, $70,000 in the red. This year, we won't know until the final day of March, or whenever they decide to tell us. Quarterly financial statements won't give us any warning to engage in solutions if we have any ideas. The losses will just be taken out of savings, the money our members put away carefully over decades, so we could navigate real crises, things like earthquakes and months with no sunny days at all, or fire emergencies. Not overspending. 

The truth is that many things can be done. We all want to pay our staff a living wage, with some job security, some benefits, and some incentive to happily work on our team. We want the costs to be spread evenly and fairly among us, but we definitely need some cost savings to get through this very tough economic situation. All of our artisan costs have gone up too...our supplies and materials are higher, if we can even get them, our insurance is higher, our vehicle costs increase. Everything anyone else experiences, we do too. But when we lose selling days, our ability to make enough money is limited. We can't just raise our prices without some subsequent drop in sales. I didn't even raise prices last year but my HM income was down 15% and my Park Blocks income was down too. This year will likely see that trend continue. Shared sacrifice, at least is needed.

Our staff gets Gold level health insurance, paid 100% by market. I don't know anyone who has Gold level health insurance...I sure don't. And as an old person, my medical costs are going up without a doubt. I live a frugal life. I don't pay for any streaming services, have slow internet, don't eat at restaurants, don't order delivery food, and don't consume concert tickets. I try hard to rein in my utility costs especially in weather extremes. You won't see me getting any mani-pedies to make me feel better about what's happening in the world. Sure, most of that is my choice. I don't expect other people to be forced to make any of those changes, and I hope they don't have to, but I do expect our Market Board to make the hard choices to cut costs for us members who must struggle to make ends meet.

Most, at least many, market members are self-employed for reasons they don't have to explain to anyone. An overwhelming number of us have health issues that demand it. We can't compete in the job market and many of us have no financial security at all. If our earnings were low, our social security is low. If our health costs are high, we can quickly run our of resources. So a reserve space might be out of reach. A few bad days, with late payment penalties, can quickly put us in the category of people who have to drop their reserve spaces, not come on days when sales might be marginal (like ones with early games or iffy weather.) Or just not be able to stay members of the market.

The business incubator model is not just for new crafters starting out, it is wrapped into the model that costs for all members are kept as low as possible so everyone has a chance to thrive. It's getting so survival is also in question for some of us. Where is the safety net for our lives that we created together? When will we be priced out so other people can continue to get raises, bonuses, and top-tier benefits? That's just not a sustainable system, and it feels wrong. The Board needs to find a way to deal with that. 

We've seen it before, in the recession of the 80s. We lost members in droves and it was only by moving to the Park Blocks and creating some balance that we survived it, that and a whole lot of volunteer fundraising to cover the $25,000 in the red that our managers put us into. We had to bail ourselves out, for the future. Now, with the exodus of volunteers we're experiencing due to weaponized incompetence, we don't have those volunteers. Nobody is going to save us from ourselves. It has to be our Board, who were elected to manage our organization, who does the hard things and gets us back on our feet. 

Whatever the cost-cutting involves, it has to be done. Members cannot absorb pricing assaults from every direction. We need support from our organization. Do the hard things. For our future. For our members. That's your job.