renewal

[vride5]

i just recieved my renewal form, there is nothing on it about a regular membership, are family memberships all that are available? do i have to get married to join? could i just adopt some sweet young thing?
sometimes my mind wanders on a cold rainy day. i would like to pay my dues. how much is it? thank you.

[AdminGuy]

I haven't seen it yet. Just do it online.

Yes- that's it. Forced family membership. We will accept shotgun weddings, but preferably not.

[HarleyCreation]

I just got a renewal for "family" too and the requested dues are $30 instead of $20.

Has there been a change?

[AFJ]

Same here. No listing of individual membership rate.

But I do note that the card in the Fall issue of The Antique Motorcycle reads $20 US, $28 Canadian, $40 other countries and $5 extra for family.

There was nothing in the Spring minutes of the AMCA about rate changes although there was a Treasurer's report from Dennis Craig indicating that the Club was spending over 98% of its income each year. I have not heard any details of the proceedings of the Fall meeting of AMCA directors so I don't know if any decision was taken there. I have Emailed Pete Gagan to ask for clarification.

If the new rates have been approved it will mean a 50% increase for American individual members, a 20% increase for American family members, a 21% increase for Canadian members (but only a 4% increase for Canadian families) no increase for Foreign members and an 11% decrease for Foreign family members.

AFJ

[LouieMCman]

I agree, very confusing. Can a national officer please explain?

[AdminGuy]

Hey Louie, I'll try to get a board member to respond directly. From what I understand things happened quickly and there was some sort of confusion. I am not a person of authority to respond to questions regarding the new membership rates.

Yes, renewal rates have gone up.

[Perry Ruiter]

The new member form (on this site) lists the dues as $20, $30 or $40 depending on your locale. The renewal form (also on this site) lists the dues as $30, $34 and $40. In either case family membership seems the only choice. I think I'll sign up as a new member rather than renew and save a few bucks. As an aside - the "Join the club, join the fun" card in the fall magazine lists the dues as $20, $28 and $40. I think the club needs to get it's act together and figure out exactly what the dues really are ... Perry

[AdminGuy]

The card in the fall magazine was right -but became wrong. A suppliment was also mail out reflecting new renewal rates. The "new member" rate is a promotional offer.

[AFJ]

As I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread I contacted President Pete Gagan. He informs me that the decision to increase the dues was made at the Davenport AMCA Executive meeting.

AMCA dues had not increased for 18 years and Pete indicated that the AMCA was currently operating at a loss.

Looking back at the Summer issue of the Antique Motorcycle, I noted an article on page 70 by AMCA Treasurer Dennis Craig which indicated that in 2002 the club had revenue of $ 364,050. and expenditures of $356,898. The only reason the club had a net income of $ 7152 was the fact that $22,439 of the total income was from investments. Mechandise sales made almost no money, but calendar sales, Roster sales and income from National Meet fees were income generators. Membership income and magazine advertising, the other major revenue sources did not cover the magazine, membership, administrative, web site and other miscellaneous costs. The interest on reserves was all that was keeping the club out of the red.

I am not part of the AMCA executive (and never have been) but have been an AMCA member for about 25 years. I can certainly see from a close look at the statement from Dennis Craig that the financial state of the AMCA was not healthy enough to avoid the need for a substantial fee increase after so many years of stability.

Allan Johnson

[41FL]

I was shocked to see such a large increase in renewal fees. I have had problems paying $20 in the past and know I will have doubts about rejoning at $30. The AMA increased dues to $30 years ago and I had to let my membership go, and they have a monthly magazine and lots of other fringe benifits. > I've read in the club magazine about the possibility of the magazine going national for sale on the news stands. I think this would be a big money generator for the club, which in turn would bring more exposure to the club, which would bring in more members, which would bring in more money, which I'm hoping would keep membership more affordable for all. > I know there are a lot of rich members in the club and I'm hoping this latest increase is not a ploy to weed out the poor and turn the club into a rich man's only club. That reminds me of the way Harley-Davidson treats us old timers now that HD seems to be a RUBS only dealerships, after us old timers helped them survive the dark days. Maybe you could ask the rich members to donate extra to keep things affordable for the less fortunate or possibily consider accepting donations for a tax free income deduction, something many of them are looking for. > Please keep the club membeship affordable to all and find other means to raise funds to keep it running smoothly. 41FL

[k.perry]

It's nice to see the club mag out amongst the citizenry, but at what cost? The book/ magazine market is a basically a large consignment industry that pretends it's not. Rick Schunk and his associates, have until this current issue, produced a flawless (Mac generated) limited edition work of art. You may have noticed in this current issue, some color bleed-outs which passed muster, maybe because of "newstand deadlines." I predict that the club will sink a hundred grand or more into getting the mag on the newstands, accepting un-sold returns from the vendor and stick-with-the-program for 6 months to a year and end up failing at their attempt. It's a big jump to make, going into national distribution and securing public acceptance of a publication. You can be sure that the distributor that "sold" this venture to the club, will make his money "up front".

[LouieMCman]

Thanks for the reply Paul. I have no problem with the rate going up, I'm surprised it didn't go up sooner. What I do have a problem with is the confusing way the dues is stated on the renewal form. Why not just state a single membership is $???, and a family is $???.
I think it's going to turn into a mess when people start sending in $20. for a single membership because it does not say on the form how much it is.
As far as 41FL not being able to afford the increase, he must ride a rat bike because he surely can't afford parts for a Knucklehead.

Louie

[Hrdly-Dangrs]

I know to some an increase of $10.00 may not seem like much. But there are Members who live 'pay check-to-pay check'. A $30.00 Membership fee (READ: magazine subscription 'cause that's what it really is....we still have to pay for our Vendor spots, and anything else with the AMCA logo on it)...regardlesss of what some may think is a big chunk of money out of a persons 'Toy Money'. And I'm sure I'm not alone in shelling out monies for other Organizations and Sub fees. Besides, the wife only sees the BIG NUMBERS, not the smaller increases. Any increase in cost for my things requires an even larger increase in her things!! Its a vicious cycle!! Owning a Knucklehead surely would make 41FL 'Motorcycle Rich'...but he's probably like me....'Cash Poor'!! Don't forget the old saying 41FL..."so long as you own a Harley Knucklehead, you'll never go broke"...or something like that......Oh and what's wrong with a Rat Knuck?? They're the best kind!! Anyway, I'll fork over the extra cash if helps keep the books balanced and especially if it keeps the Family costs to $30.00. Still it would have been nice to see it coming. Hey, Does this mean Mrs Dangrs gets her own card??....:confused: .....Hrdly-Dangrs

[AFJ]

As I understand it from Pete Gagan, the $30US for American and the $34US for Canadian/Mexican memberships is a family one and includes a card for the spouse, if listed.

AFJ

[AdminGuy]

Your membership entitles you to a family membership. One in the same now. No additional fee. If you want a family card you just insert the additional name.

100K is a huge sum of $. Way -W A Y -off the mark. Thankfully, the club magazine is selling better than anyone had expected on the newstand.

[RWasson]

At 8.25 cents per day ($30/year) the dues are quite a bargain. If we can grow at that rate, super!

Is the vendor picking the spots for the magazine? There are a few small bike shops and news stands around Miami with racks where it might sell, and I would be willing to stock some issues if the vendor does not have an exclusive franchise. Let me know and I'll speak to the store owners.
Roy:D

[Hrdly-Dangrs]

Rwasson...You make it sound so easy and cheap....I bet you were one of those guys with a paper route and shiney new bike! Probably even had a savings book at school I'll bet!!.....Ah, but we all know that there are those amongst us that couldn't hang onto a nickle for the time it takes to hand it over to the Candy Store guy! Not when confronted with those glass jars full of Penny Candys!!!....Mmm...I'll have one Licorice Pipe, one strip of Candy Dots, one Tootsie Roll, a Mary Jane....no make that a Swizzle Stick.....and lets not forget a Bazooka for that long walk to school!... Come the end of the week, ya got no money left to buy the latest Superman Comic! Damn...it all goes by too fast!! I'm definitely going to put a couple bucks aside every week for next years Dues and Subscriptions....Yeah right!!....Somethings never change... ;) Hrdly-Dangrs

[RWasson]

No paper route. Bike was a rat Schwinn. Made my money pulling a Radio Flyer wagon from the RC Cola plant loaded with soda bought at 3.5 cents per bottle and sold at 5 cents. Store owner across the street had been getting 6 cents, so I stole all his soft drink business. He "bought me out" in a hostile takeover.

I guess you are right about the other things to spend that 8.25 cents a day on. That would only get a Double Bubble and a large oblong pickle out of the jar on the back counter. Decisions, decisions:(

Back to the magazine sale issue. One of those "small bike shops" that I mentioned as being a place we could sell our mag is Heaven Cycle in Miami. The boss of the place just became our 14th charter member of the new South Florida Chapter today. We now have an "in" we should use to sell our magazine.

:) Nightrider

[AdminGuy]

The intent of putting the club magazine on the news stand is to increase the membership. Many folks are not aware that a National Antique Motorcycle Club exists. Hopefully this coverage will bring more awareness. It was not intended to be a huge revenue generator.

[RWasson]

Hey Admin. Guy:

So, do we want to see if I can get some local bike shops to sell the magazine to increase awareness? Or are we happy with the number of placements we have now, etc?

Roy

[AdminGuy]

Contact Rick Schunk (editor) to see what the deal is with that. I'm not that familiar with the whole distribution set-up. I'm hopeing that these good intentions don't get side tracked. It always seems so easy from the outside. Until you climb into the big machine. I hope it's a simple thing. Best of luck.

Paul Edwards

[RWasson]

I'll check with Rick, thanks.
Roy:)

[Pete Gagan]

Hi All:
I just tuned in, and thought I'd better respond to this one.
Yes folks, the dues are up. The decision was made at Davenport, and the proposal was made by our treasurer, Dennis Craig, who pointed out the need. We haven't increased the dues for 18 years, and unless you haven't noticed, those greenbacks don't go quite as far as they used to. I personaly would have preferred a more gradual increase, but I guess we just left it too long. The rate is $30.00 for US, $34.00 for Canada, and $40.00 for overseas. If you compare these rates to other vehicle collector clubs like ours, we're still the best deal in town. Rest assured also, that as long as I have anything to say about it, any "windfall profits" made by this or the magazine sales, will be used to give more services, events, etc., for you, the members.
Unfortunately, the old rates were advertized in the magazine, which had already gone to the printers. We therefore decided to make the old rates available to first time subscribers on a one time basis, which seemed the best way to overcome that problem. I suppose, K Perry, that you might get away with taking advantage of the situation, as I doubt we have the technology in place to prevent it, but you would lose your existing membership number, and the "new" Perry would have a number over 10,000.
As to the magazine on the newsstand thing, we didn't do this without a lot of number crunching. We are doing better than anticipated so far, and are attracting new members, most of whom didn't know we existed until they saw the mag.
As to the "color bleeding", you may be referring to the pictures of our regular contributers, Bud Cox, P Heintz, Steve Blancard, George Yarocki, and yours truly. This was done on purpose by Rick Schunk as an artistic ploy, I assume to make the pictures look more like paintings than photos. Whether this works or not is up to conjecture, but it does eliminate the wrinkles on us older fossils!
Mrs. Hrdly certainly can have a card if she wishes, as can anyone's wife, husband, live-in girfriend, boyfriend, children or signifigant others of all three sexes. The new memberships are also fiscal rather than by calendar year. You can join in Sept. and you will still get four magazines. Its more fair.
I sincerely hope you will all re-join the greatest old motorcycle club in the world.
Cheers,
Pete Gagan

[k.perry]

But I,...well I,...gee-whiz I,...never complained about the dues increase, only about the possiblity of newsstand failure and color bleed.
Speaking of lost placement of a members number series, is Jay Leno's number really 34 or did he buy it?

[Pete Gagan]

Hi K Perry:
Actually, when I joined the club in 1959, my original number was 35. Jay Leno was not onboard at that time. People do quit, die, etc., and early numbers are recycled. I suppose that being who he is, our membership people saw fit to give him an early one. Rest assured, no $ changed hands. (Other han $20.00, now $30.00)
Pete