True, but if people (well, media fans anyway) are prepared to pay that, we shouldn't shy away from charging a bit more for memberships if we have to. The more established fans do tend to be better off (unless they have kids or become unemployed).

To get around that, we can always give reduced memberships to students and unemployed (and families?!); as affluent members of society many conrunners forget how poor students and those newly "enmortgaged" can be.

Redemption also allows the refunding of memberships if you can't go, up until a couple of months out. This would be an excellent way of encouraging people to sign up earlier, albeit it makes the budgeting harder.