Do any of our students receive these things from their employers ("exercise coupons")? Should we start accepting them for training fees, etc? Is there a reason why we don't, or are we doing this already?
They are 5e a pop, and I at least know people who get as much as one every week as a perk. I'm thinking that tax-free goodness could pay for a good bit of training for some people.
It's a bit of a hassle to set up, but if a non-trivial populace wants it, we could. Furthermore, places accepting these get included in a
search engine which people supposedly use to find exercise opportunities. That could bring in fresh blood.
I'll attach a poll-thingy, let's see what happens.
I get those exercise coupons and would very much like to pay some of my training with those.
I did some research on the subject years ago as an attempt to be semi-helpful. There's two big companies operating in Finland distributing their own vouchers, luottokunta and smartum. I have understood that smartum is the more popular among employers, but remains to be seen whether the same is true with the companies empoying our students. The minimum amount of vouchers that you can cash in as a service provider for either of the systems was not that large and you don't have to cash them in very often, so it is indeed a nice thing. And nothing prevents one from accepting both brands of vouchers.
Yes, I'm droning on because I cannot have luottokunta's vouchers.
I have Smartum ones. I use them only at swimming hall and it would be nice to use them for training fees.
I was also about ask if I could use these tickets to pay my training fees because I have no other use for them at the moment. My tickets are worth 4euros each so I just hand over 10 during my next seminar ok?
(02-12-2010 05:11 AM)Jani Leinonen Wrote: [ -> ]My tickets are worth 4euros each so I just hand over 10 during my next seminar ok?
We need to do some paperwork and join networks and whatnot before we start accepting the them. But yes, that's the idea. Also, Luottokunta takes 3% and Smartum 4% off the top, so taking these vouchers will actually cost us a little.
To confuse things further, I must bring up another alternative. Our company gives us the coupons from superseteli.fi. I haven't applied for any yet, but if the school would take those, I would certainly consider. It seems their provision percentage is just 3% at the moment.
Anything that makes it easier for students to pay for their training is a good thing in my book. The card reader and service etc costs the school money too, but it's made life easier for a lot of students. I suggest signing up for all of them, if there isn't a significant cost to enrolling.
The association now accepts these vouchers. I have signed us up with Luottokunta and Smartum for now. If you have vouchers of yet another brand, bring it up.
They work almost like real money: they are good for training fees, seminars and private lessons. They cannot be used to pay for the annual association membership, and no change is given. They must have your name on them. (association people who handle payments at the salle take note)