What does your airsoft site membership get you?

[Tiercel]

Having a discussion with friends and generally came up with the consensus that some sites are far better than others...  Im somewhat bitter that my regular site charges £30 annual membership and that gets you precisely... diddly-squat. Its basically paying £30 for your UKARA registration, on top of the frankly exorbitant walk-on fees of £40 a day. 

Conversely another friend pays £10 a year for his site membership and gets; UKARA registration, invites to events prior to opening to public, a free Open day for every 7 you pay for, and a few competitions to win stuff through the year.

So where do you play, and what do your fees get you? What would you like to see your fees include if they dont? How much would you be willing to pay for certain perks?

For example for my £30, Id consider that reasonable to discount the cost of game days at least a little bit. Id be willing to pay more if it got me better perks, seeing as my site is constantly sold out of spaces, Id be willing to pay something like £50 a year if my membership gave priority over non-members for game days, like how some video game servers will kick non-members to make a slot available for a member. If im paying through the nose for membership I damn well want benefits over those who arent paying anything. 

 

[LightningCh]

My membership is £20 for life time membership. (Stormforce aren't huge and the guy who runs it does everything dead cheap as he hates the "corporate" approach. E.G. 50p for a can of coke)

Having my membership knocks my £25 green fees down to £20 a day. (although they only run twice a month)

And that's it lol. Guess I get what I paid for, very little cost, very little reward.

 

[Tiercel]

I dunno, Id say thats brilliant! £20 for lifetime, with the pricing youve only gotta play 4 games and the discount already pays for itself! Id be very happy with that. 

 

[Tackle]

Out of interest @Tiercel, what is your local site ?

cheers

 

[Gepard]

Discounted entry fee, invitation to members only games, free game on your birthday and priority booking on skirmish days. 

 

[LightningCh]

I dunno, Id say thats brilliant! £20 for lifetime, with the pricing youve only gotta play 4 games and the discount already pays for itself! Id be very happy with that. 

True, very true, Although the hire kit cost was insane to do lol (Sixmil with their £50 loadout packages). Glad I've got my UKARA now

 

[Tiercel]

Out of interest @Tiercel, what is your local site ?

cheers

The Mall in Reading 

 

[Tackle]

The Mall in Reading 

I've played there a few times, first game was great but the enjoyment decreased with every subsequent game, prob over a 2 year period, but not been back for about 4 years.

one of those sites I would say is a victim of its own success, so to speak.

i can see why the "membership" has very few benefits, it's popularity means the owners are raking it in, don't need to offer concessions etc.

 

[Tiercel]

I've played there a few times, first game was great but the enjoyment decreased with every subsequent game, prob over a 2 year period, but not been back for about 4 years.

one of those sites I would say is a victim of its own success, so to speak.

i can see why the "membership" has very few benefits, it's popularity means the owners are raking it in, don't need to offer concessions etc.

Yeah I can totally relate to that, I've been playing there regularly for about 18 months now and I absolutely love the site... but I'm starting to hate their regular walk-on days... 100 players is too many for that site, especially when half of them are rentals being hi-cap heroes everything turns into a total stalemate bottleneck of who can hold down the full auto trigger the longest. Their Thursday night games, with no rentals and only 30-40 players are spectacular, infinitely better. Normally semi auto everywhere, no hi-caps, sometimes pistol/shotgun only games in near total darkness CQB is so much fun. Problem is getting there, its a long way from London so to go after work isn't really an option.

 

[Jedi_Master]

My membership is at The Mall, I pay £90 for the year and get £10 off each game I play. So playing once a month covers the fee and extra discount. Also they add you onto the UKARA database when you get your membership which saves all the hassle of the doing the paperwork yourself.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

Yeah I can totally relate to that, I've been playing there regularly for about 18 months now and I absolutely love the site... but I'm starting to hate their regular walk-on days... 100 players is too many for that site, especially when half of them are rentals being hi-cap heroes everything turns into a total stalemate bottleneck of who can hold down the full auto trigger the longest. Their Thursday night games, with no rentals and only 30-40 players are spectacular, infinitely better. Normally semi auto everywhere, no hi-caps, sometimes pistol/shotgun only games in near total darkness CQB is so much fun. Problem is getting there, its a long way from London so to go after work isn't really an option.

It's never half rentals that's a bit of an exaggeration. Rentals generally get stuck in it's the geardos who camp on doorways and dont really push.

Full auto is rarely used and only on the main concourse so no full auto bottle necks any where.

Thursday nights do have rentals and high caps are allowed. Spring and gas nights are very rare can't remember the last one.

100 players onsite is no issue and I prefer it to be honest. More action and the choke points are a myth it's more choke players. Never been stuck ever.

Are you sure it's the Mall you play?

 

[Tiercel]

Different experiences for different folks. The last couple of walk on days I've done the enjoyment has been largely ruined by rental chavvy scrotes in trackies being hi-cap heros and not taking hits. The few Thursday night games Ive played have all been walk-ons only, no rental kit available. And I loved them more than any other games I've ever played. Maybe its changed lately, I've not been to one since Halloween event last year simply because I don't have the opportunity to get there around work often. 

Or perhaps it's just my play-style that's changing, I'm preferring slower paced Mil-sim style games over frantic human wave suicide charges, although those can still be pretty fun, as such I like the Mall but I've stopped playing there regularly and now usually go once every few months so I don't get burned out playing there all the time.  

Either way YMMV. I'd like to think it cant just be me if other people are having similar feelings about it. 

 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

The last couple of walk on days I've done the enjoyment has been largely ruined by rental chavvy scrotes in trackies being hi-cap heros and not taking hits.

That one sentence shows where the problem really lies.

Played there regularly for 5yrs and while I am the first person to say it's not for everyone your whole post is totally innacurate. If you are going to give your opinion on any site at least make it factual.  Also don't knock the renters in hoodies as everyone starts somewhere, sh*t I still wear a hoodie sometimes so what does that make me?

 

[P13]

I got my membership on Saturday and it was £10, can’t knock that as they sorted my ukara too. 

Always had a good time there whatever the numbers, staff are a great laugh too. 

 

[Tommikka]

My membership is £20 for life time membership. (Stormforce aren't huge and the guy who runs it does everything dead cheap as he hates the "corporate" approach. E.G. 50p for a can of coke)

Having my membership knocks my £25 green fees down to £20 a day. (although they only run twice a month)

And that's it lol. Guess I get what I paid for, very little cost, very little reward.

True, very true, Although the hire kit cost was insane to do lol (Sixmil with their £50 loadout packages). Glad I've got my UKARA now

Quite noble of him to not want to be ‘corporate’ and rip people off.  But there are times to be realistic.

If he’s selling single cans of coke, then the RRP is 89p a can which is a lot of money compared to a Tesco multipack which works out at 30p per can.  (Or cheaper when there are offers)

Fine if he’s breaching Coke’s terms and splitting multipacks (which will normally have cans marked ‘not for individual sale’ and may or may not have the legal best before and ingredients on each can at the point of sale)

He would be able to buy the RRP 89p cans at wholesale price under 50p, but with very little margin for him, especially if he’s selling them chilled from the fridge which is part of the reason for the price difference.

Not being his core business he may be happy to cut some loss as a loss leader or have a small margin - but if he’s doing everything at a cheap price then he’s endangering the business, and that would account for the need to use a third party for high priced rental packages.

He may may running well and taking a fair income, but he could be taking more in to invest in the site and keep things changing and improving.

Friends had a village shop which was run by one of them but the intial investment came from the family.  He had zero business sense, one of his lines of thought was that he needed to compete with Tescos.  Due to their size and own logistics you can buy most things in Tescos 24/7 for less than a convenience shop can buy from wholesalers, but you can’t walk around the corner in 5 minutes to Tescos.

He was cutting many prices down from RRP to match the big boys and thought he was making money, but couldn’t work out how he wasn’t making so much money when bills came in.

The business of a village shop is to act as a convenience store - ensure all of the essentials are there whenever someone needs them right now, pay a bit of a premium for the small turnover of certain items, pay less for the fast turnover of regular necessities.  They cannot compete with supermarkets and if they try to then they go out of business, ending up with no village shop.

The business of an Airsoft site is to give people a good day out, whether that is the regular player or the first timer.

The site might be geared up for own gunners and have a good regular crowd, in which case he could be bringing in a fair profit with low prices - or he might be trapped in having to charge those prices to stay in business against others in the area.

High rentals could put people off - and it’s often the key subject of new players on the forum

looking to cut their rental costs buy getting a RIF fast.

He would need to invest money in rental stock and to then have the labour costs of cleaning and maintaining them, but be able to reduce his rental prices.  Making a bit more money on the side items of drinks and snacks would help his margins there, rather than ‘ripping’ people off he would be able to direct the extra money of a fair profit back into the business - as Tescos say “every little helps”

 

[LightningCh]

That's an interesting input on it. Too be honest, I can't remember if they are multi pack being split and sold but regardless. (I see multi pack can splits all the time in convenience stores around me anyway so I don't really pay attention.)

I would hope it's not his main income source because he runs 2 game days a month lol (second Saturday and last Sunday of each month)

And he racks in 160 people per game day on average, so if every member is a member thats 160*20... Which is a lot really lol. Even in December!

Oh and he also owns the 45 acre site rather than rents it so he has little cost in terms of land.

I think it's more about providing a good day out over profit for him. I mean, the only real cranked up price is the hire kit.

Which isn't his fault, (Sixmil is the 3rd party kire kit for 3 sites) and too be fair..

The hire kit is a full load out, including DPMs, weapon, chest rig, eye and face protection (mesh on both), plus 3 hi cap mags (my profile picture is me in the hire kit). So it's well worth the £50, just expensive to play with every time (I am a cheapskate lol, don't enjoy cough in up that much money +£20 entry per game day)

So again, interesting input, but I think it's just more about enjoyment for the sport over money making.

 

[Rogerborg]

Neither of my local sites run a membership scheme and both do the UKARA paperwork free.  I'm surprised anyone is charging for it, given that they'll have got three games out of you first.

If a site is fully booked, it's not charging enough. The local CQB just put its prices up by £2 a day (first rise in 5 years) and game days still sell out a month in advance - you need to follow their Facebook feed to see slots going on sale and get in quick (he grumbled, not having been quick enough this time).  They could have bumped their prices even more; they're running more like a non-profit club than a business.

 

[ak2m4]

The Mall in Reading 

Wow, I'm sure I only paid £5 for membership back when it first opened.  £30 is expensive for just basic membership / UKARA database addon , but then it's a popular site, supply and demand sadly.... 

 

[AshOnSnow]

My membership is £25 annually, and gets big discounts on ammo at game days, and 10% off the local store (although they seem to price things 10-20% higher than anywhere else to begin with) and free tea and coffee all day on game days. Also £5 off full hire, walk ons are £25.

 

[springs]

mine is at The Mall in Reading. Paid £10 for the years membership and all that really got my is put on the Ukara DB..