gilber33 Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 The people griping about the cost of participation today won't be (or at least hopefully won't be) sweating the $45/year membership fee, or even the $100+ weekend activity cost, in 10 or 15 years when they have jobs and families. But they will remember how VCOA responded when they asked for a little bit of a break. It will be interesting to see where the club is at 20 or 30 years from now. Precisely. But hey, they can do they're thing, we can do ours. It's not big deal, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I just think it's silly that they have the opportunity to open the doors to numerous new members by saying, "hey, it sucks you can't afford to be here the entire weekend, but we would love to have you participate in the show, meet the current members, see what the club is all about, and perhaps in the future when it is feasible, you will join and will be able to take full advantage of the club". If they did that, you could 100% guarantee that I would be a future member....seriously. No one's asking for them to change how the club operates or anything like that, but it just doesn't seem like they want to attract a new generation of members, and maybe they don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brick-a-brac Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Thanks for all the insight on this issue -- especially the comments on this page. I appreciate the civil discourse we have been able to have and I hope you all appreciate that there is a reason why I have been positioning myself a certain way in this discussion. I fully intend to talk about this with members of the board, but I also encourage those who are passionate about this to send an open letter to the club at the Afton address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burn-E Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Daniel is correct in his assumptions about the dialogue I'm interested in engaging with the VCOA and Gabe, who is a young 20 something student, demonstrates the precise response I'm talking about. And I will just add, we're really talking about $5.00 because in the Editorial Staff column on Page 2 of Rolling it states the following: $40 of the membership fee is attributable to the subscription of Rolling. The subscription is not offered as a standalone option, but only as a benefit of your membership. It's clear the Board isn't interested in differentiating between the magazine and the rest of the membership benefits but it would seem to make sense to offer a limited Student membership minus the magazine. Give them access to eRolling and the electronic archive of Rolling. Have them offer proof of a student ID. Movie theaters do it, museums do it, many, many organizations do it because they recognize that there are long term relationships to be developed at the young age when limited funds are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94850tx Posted March 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 We did that last time. It didn't work. Bric-a-brac and I exchanged long PM's about this. Despite what I assume were bric-a-brac's best efforts, VCOA National does not seem to be aware of, or care that, its local chapters are foreclosing this option on what seems to be a semi-regular basis. This is not what Bric-a-brac as well as the leadership of my local VCOA chapter has led us to believe. According to information I've received, it is entirely within the discretion of the local chapter to offer a "show only" or one day pass. Indeed, this option was offered at the 2009 Ipswich VCOA Nationals and they drew 200 cars. Volvos at the Gilmore in 2010? Half that. The reasons for not offering it that I've been told vary widely, ranging from "it's not fair to those paying for the whole weekend" (great excuse, because those paying full fare probably want to be there all weekend) to "not enough interest in such an option to justify that" (again, blatantly false.) Our issue is not the restriction of the show to members only, but that once you factor in the membership cost on top of mandatory show fees, it ceases to be worth it. I'm still a VCOA member and I'm not sweating over $45/year to support the community but it's disappointing to see how closed minded the organization seems to be. It is not in our discretion. The funding for the national meet comes from VCOA therefore they control the meet more than the local chapter. The local chapter provides the planning and volunteers but does not front the money. Now, If we funded the entire meet I am sure the story might be different, however the cost for these type of meets is quite high and as a small chapter we cannot afford that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94850tx Posted March 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Let me see if I am reading this correctly: The principal complaint here is that folks do not feel they should have to fork over $45 annually to become members of VCOA, but they should still be able to partake in the one large annual event that is put on by the club. AND they should be able to do so at a special reduced rate for the single day of the show, because the whole weekend package is too expensive. If this is done, the result will somehow increase membership in the future by extending good will. Mind you, I'm not trying to be a dick here; I simply want to lay out the crux of the argument and cut across three pages of verbiage. Sounds to me like these people like the local kind of meets that I hold at my house or at public parks, etc.....Ya these draw 5-50 cars typically and are "free" for those attending except I usually ended up footing the bill or pulling money from the VCOA TX chapter treasury that the MEMBERS paid while half those people showing up are not members. These meets are not totally free unless you meet in a parking lot somewhere and drive somewhere else to eat.....that's a get together, not a show. The bottom line is all this argument is over $45. I'm sure with all of the time spent arguing these guys could have done something productive and came up with $45. This type of BS is why I don't get on here much anymore. How many of those complaining are supporting members of VS? That's not free either..... As far as a weekend long meet goes there seems to be demand for such a meet, people from all across the country come to these types of events. If this isn't your cup of tea we certainly understand that and I hope there are local meets for you to attend but why complain and try to change this format that seems to be enjoyed by a large portion of the membership. For those who say this alienates students, etc....I do disagree but I'll throw you a bone here...I've gifted VCOA membership to several young Volvo nuts who simply couldn't afford it and will be glad to do it again for any of those who want to addend the meet and show but cannot afford the VCOA membership. Drop me a PM. I have found in the past that 90% of these people continue their membership on their own after they participate in a few events, meet some people, and enjoy the magazine. I am hardly the only person that offers to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burn-E Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Take a look at my membership ... and I've gifted memberships to VS. I've organized major conferences including pulling together sponsorships. So I understand costs and effort required to pull off a multi day event. You are missing the big picture if you're focusing exclusively on the membership cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Wow. They don't get it. At all. It's almost not even about the substantial fee to participate anymore, it's their attitude. It blows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Wow. They don't get it. At all. It's almost not even about the substantial fee to participate anymore, it's their attitude. It blows. THIS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 How many of those complaining are supporting members of VS? That's not free either..... But have you ever looked at the Volvospeed memberships? There are multiple membership levels at all different price points. Like the $25/year, cheaper, you don't get all of the benefits of say the next step up member, but you're still a member. That's what I was because I never had the funds to fork over the $75 or whatever it is for a lifetime membership, so I had the cheaper one. I was lucky enough for Alain to gift me my gold membership. Then there's Lifeftime Member, more expensive, you get more benefits. Sounds a lot like what we've been discussing here. So thank you. However, again, this is turning to not even being about the price anymore, it's the stinky attitudes of VCOA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burn-E Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Gabe, let's not tar the entire VCOA organization based on the comments of one or two members/leaders. 94850tx is speaking from his experience with the Missouri Gateway Chapter and pulling together this years National Meet. Brick-a-Brac is on the Board for the VCOA and speaks from his own experience. Before you jump all over them and declare them out of touch and unwilling to listen, we need to do as Zappo recommended and send an open letter directly to the Board asking for a dialogue around the issues that have been raised here. Maybe they'll be reasonable, maybe they won't. It's their club, they can do as they wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 I think they have demonstrated exactly the kind of qualities of those I do not want to hang out with, honestly. So... discussion should be closed. No point to joining VCOA... simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt1122 Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 If I let that kind of logic rule my life, I would have dropped out of college, moved out of Hoboken three years ago, moved out of New Jersey ten years ago if not more, and would never go shopping for anything ever at all. Just gotta do what makes you happy and not let other people or their attitudes get you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy. Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 If I let that kind of logic rule my life, I would have dropped out of college, moved out of Hoboken three years ago, moved out of New Jersey ten years ago if not more, and would never go shopping for anything ever at all. Just gotta do what makes you happy and not let other people or their attitudes get you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 moved out of New Jersey ten years ago if not more, You should have. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
550 Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 Just an FYI I got a response back from the director. So I'm assuming there should be something "figured" out in a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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