United Kingdom · pardner

Marcia runs a pardner

Ten friends and relatives, £100 a month, Birmingham.

Marcia's pardner has ten members: her sister, two people from church, three from work and a few old friends. Each pays £100 on the first of the month, and one of them takes the hand, £1,000, in turn.

The book is a note on her phone and a WhatsApp group. Every month the same messages come: "Did you get mine?", "Who has the hand this month?", "I sent it on Tuesday, check again." When someone pays late, it is Marcia who has to ask, and Marcia who gets the blame when the hand is short.

Last year a member took the hand in month three and went quiet. There was nothing in writing that everyone had agreed to, and nothing that showed, to everyone, what had been paid.

What worries them

The record is in my head and my phone. If I am ill, nobody else can run it.

I am asked the same questions every month, and chased for other people's mistakes.

When someone collects early and stops, the group looks to me.

What Rotaro changes

• One record everyone readsEvery payment, confirmation and decision is in the group's record, with who made it and when. Marcia cannot quietly change it, and neither can anyone else. Corrections are new entries.
• The payer marks, the recipient confirms"Did you get mine?" is answered by the app. A payment the recipient has not confirmed within the waiting time comes to Marcia to decide, or to her deputy when the hand is hers.
• A deputy, and a draw anyone can checkHer sister is the deputy. The payout order is drawn in the app, and anyone can check the draw. An order set by hand needs the deputy's approval.
• Reminders she does not have to sendMembers are reminded before each due date. For the stragglers, one tap sends a WhatsApp reminder.
• Rules agreed before the first poundWhat counts as late, what counts as missed, and whether the first slots need a guarantor: every member accepts the rules when they join.

Their first steps

1. Create an account and start a group: £100, monthly, ten rounds.

2. Invite the ten by link. Name her sister as deputy.

3. Draw the order in the app. Start the group on the first of the month.