I'll bet that there is a good reason for this. Our club has yearly dues. If you join mid year, then you pay a sliding scale of dues for the remainder of the year. We had guys who went south for the winter and woud come back in May and want to pay the reduced rate for the rest of the year. A clubs operating budget is based on club dues. It's our only source of income. Part time membership isn't an option when it comes to paying the bills. We dont have a Reinstatement fee, but I would be the first to vote for it. Other clubs in the area charge a "Field Improvement Fee" for new members which is close to a $100 in addition to the yearly membership fee. One is in the process of developing a new field after loosing their old one. They need the money. Someone who only wants to rent time when they feel like it should pay a premimum for that time. The guys who are regular customers and active in the field support it for the rest. As an aside, your $50 a year membership is quite reasonable. Ours is $65 and the other two clubs within 40 miles of us are closer to $100. We are the oldest club and have our field paid for and keep an operating balance which allows for unexpected things like an earth quake taking out our runway, or the Ag departments cow herd going nuts and wiping out our fencing. We keep a set reserve for those issues and then the dues are based on projected cost for routine maintance and expensed for the year. Sometime members really screw up the budget.

Don