I’m a US based sitter and completely agree with @MerryPuppins. Most of my sits are outside of the US and if THS decided to limit my membership to the US and require another tier for me to sit outside the US, I would just be done with THS. Most of the sits I do in the US now are repeats so I have no need for THS to sit in the US. A US only THS membership has zero value for me. Trying to force US sitters to sit in the US would not lead to more sits being filled in the US, I don’t work for THS and they don’t get to decide what sits I take.
THS has really focused on getting new HOs. As others have mentioned, this model is an easy sell for HOs and THS has marketed it as free pet care (leading to a lot of bad listings that clearly don’t understand the exchange model). However, the number of people willing to sit unpaid in exchange for accommodations and who would actually make good sitters is much more limited.
I’m already debating on whether to renew when my renewal date comes up. One more negative change will make it a definite no.
Thanks all for the great feedback. Sensible, articulate observations. No contest. To repeat context, we don’t work for THS and we are not suggesting increasing total subscription costs.
A curious, unexpected observation is that all feedback appears to be from US THS members that seek nonUS opportunities. Huh.
In current economic reality then substantially all nonUS, irrespective of their views, are obligated to pay some degree of surcharge, or synonym, to access US. It seems reasonable to suggest that a similar concept apply to the subscriptions of US members that choose (no requirement) to seek nonUS listings/housesitters. Just like in the real world.
Total subscription cost could be neutral (zero sum). Incremental surcharge subscription revenues could be used by THS to reduce the cost for members that seek in-region opportunities. NonUS members that seek nonUS opportunities, and as polite Canadians, we’d include US members that seek US opportunities. Lower subscription costs may attract more in-region housesitters, and incentivize in-region housesit matches. All good. This may reduce the number of unfilled listings, and may reduce seeming US border concerns. A seemingly modern solution, albeit without ducks.
@GotYourBack not all feedback was from US members. I am not a US member and I gave feedback.
I fail to understand your reasoning in saying that all non-US members pay a surcharge to access the US. All members pay a membership fee to access sits/sitters/both - worldwide. Yes, there are a lot of sits in the US, but there are plenty of non US sits for those who choose not to sit there.
Are you Canada based? I guess that might give you a different perspective to a European or an Aussie.
I was a member long before THS membership was divided into tiers for the purpose of making more money. Making money is THS main objective, so they will never reduce fees - they didn’t even offer that during Covid.