Help!!

I started the KCTP as a way to give back to my community and bring families together to help each other.  And over the past year we have done exactly that.  Growing from a handful of donations to a 200 square foot shed that is overflowing with great clothes and hundreds of happy traders making their way to Port Orchard every afternoon.

It was never intended to be this big money maker, because if it could be, then someone would have done it already!  I want to keep the service open to anyone and keep it affordable, but so many people are now taking advantage of this service and are about to ruin it for everyone.

Every week, I have a handful of traders book appointments and not show up at all.  They don't call or email, they just don't show up.  I have tried the new online booking system that sends email reminders of their appointment along with my cell phone number that they can call to cancel if need be.  I've given people chances and heard every story in the book as to why they couldn't make it or call me for days.  But this has to stop.

Every time someone blows off their appointment, we all lose out.  The trader that really wanted that time slot and the fact that there went another $5 that could have gone to paying off the $4,000.00 shed that was built to help all of you.  Not to mention the fact that I work full time and commute two hours a day, then come home and spend another hour out in the shed waiting for traders that never show up, missing out on spending the small amount of time I have with my family.  But what do they care, they just see a service that they can take advantage of and that the nice lady behind the counter will let it go once again.  Well, not any more!

This is a service for our community, but it can no longer be for anyone.  This will be a service for those that respect it, respect the other traders and respect me.  I will not tolerate no shows anymore.  If you were to not show up to a date or a job interview, do you honestly think that would be okay and that you would be welcomed back next time?  In order to keep the trading post going and to keep me from throwing in the towel and saying to heck with all of it, I need to do some thinking and I need your advice.

Here are some options/ideas that I'm putting out there.  I may implement none or all of them, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

1. No shows/No calls.  For first time traders that don't show up and don't notify me that they will not be making their appointment, they will not be allowed to rebook and their chance at enjoying the benefits of the post are gone.  For existing account traders, if you have "trades" on the books from when you purchased multiple trades, you will be deducted one trade.  If you have only credit on the books, you will be deducted 50 points from your account.  Once your account balance reaches zero, you will no longer be welcomed back to the post.
2. Prepaying for trades.  I'm going to be playing around with this one and see if I can link Pay Pal to the booking website so that in order to book an appointment, you must prepay for that appointment online.  The cost of the trade would go up to $7/trade in order to cover the Pay Pal fees.  But I think that if people were to prepay for their session, they will be motivated to actually show up.  If they needed to reschedule, the payment would just be applied to their rescheduled appointment.
3. Raising the trading fee.  I could just go ahead and raise the trading fee in order to make up for the loss incurred by the no shows.  I'm not sure how much it would need to be increased to, but I need to be able to make the monthly payments on the shed, or I will be forced to shut down the post.  I would hate to do this, because it would be like punishing those that follow the rules, but it seems like the threat of not being able to trade here is not enough to keep the doors open.

I open the floor to you.  I started this by asking all of you for help over a year ago, to bring this idea to life and to make it worth it to all of us.  With your continued help and support, we've been able to keep this running and reach out to more and more parents and caregivers all over Washington and other states as well!  I realize now, that I cannot do this on my own and I need your help again.  Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas that may solve this problem.  I really want to hear from all of you!