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Membership Packets

Greggers

SAOCA Vice President
Platinum Level Sponsor
Dear Sunbeam friends,

Your new SAOCA board is working feverishly to create a better club for you. One of the ways we’re going to be doing that is by changing the way we send out gift packets.

The biggest reason we’re doing this is so that those getting a calendar get it in time for the beginning of the year. Currently, someone who renews their membership mid-year gets a calendar that’s as many as eight months old. With the change, when you renew, we’ll send you your window sticker right away. Then at the end of the year, we’ll send your gift packet.

So as of July 1, we’ll no longer be sending out 2016 calendars. Gold and above members will get a 2017 calendar when they are ready in December or so (the timeliness and quality of the calendar depends entirely on photos sent in by members, so keep ‘em coming).

If you’d like a 2016 calendar, we still have a few available and will ship one to you for $10. If you’re interested, send me a private message.

Starting July 1, I’ll begin the process of resetting the “donation time†avatar for those members whose dues aren’t current. It’s not an exact science, so if you think your avatar has been changed in error, send me a private message.

And finally, we’re exploring the possibility of changing up the sponsor levels. For example, many folks have said that they end up throwing away the Platinum and Diamond certificates (yet each costs the club $5 extra to print and ship). So let us know if you have any ideas for ways to add value.
 

Series6

Past President
Gold Level Sponsor
Members,

We'd like some input as this is "different from the way we've always done it". SAOCA has grown over the years. Greg has put quite a bit of time on this and this Board supports it but it's your club. Let's hear from you.
 

hartmandm

Moderator
Diamond Level Sponsor
The new approach for the calendar makes sense to me.

I think we can dismiss with the certificates for donations. Keep the money within the club for more worthwhile events & activities, like the Invasion or web site + forum updates/maintenance.

Beyond the window stickers and calendar, I don't have a suggestion for a membership gift. Let folks purchase SAOCA gear, shirts, hats, etc., if desired.

Mike
 

Green67Alpine

Former SAOCA Membership Director
Platinum Level Sponsor
I'm also on board with the new ideas. It makes sense to move forward in a new direction, especially with the packets.
Tom j
 

john.hemsath

Diamond Level Sponsor
Just saying

For starters, I'd give board members their memberships gratis.

Secondly I'd eliminate everything but the Platinum membership level. I find it hard to believe owners of these "cash vacuums" don't have a spare Grant they can "donate" each year to keep this forum alive!

Off topic sort of, making this forum more user friendly/powerful might drive membership numbers up. I seem to recall reading the membership being in the few 100's , not the 1000's of individuals I expected there would be based on how many of these sweet rides still exist in the US and abroad. Unless of course people are hording them so my math is all skewed up.

I'd also try to get everyone on a calendar year. Offer memberships for 12 months (all of 2017) plus whatever remains on their current membership. For me for example, it would have been 6 months (50% of a membership) plus the cost for all of 2017 when I renewed at the end of June. Would have been happy to pay it if it'd help the membership committee.

Guess that's enough bloviating as Bill O would say.
 

SoCal'beaming

Donation Time
I agree with John H. about the board members getting their memberships gratis unless they choose to donate. The certificates should be aced out, maybe a different form of shipping other then the tubes and I also believe there should be a mandatory (small) donation for all members as you can't buy the info this club provides for a measly 5 bucks anywhere or a manual for that matter. With 2,859 total members and only 262 Active members (I'll assume that's donating members) that's less then 10% of the total club membership .... Something ain't right wit' those numbers in my opinion, or maybe limit the access to certain areas of the site for non-donating members or members who donate below a certain level. Been meaning to express this thought for some time ... just didn't care to ruffle any feathers or thin skinned folks :) Thanks again to all board members for the fine work you'all do for the club.

.... David
 
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Greggers

SAOCA Vice President
Platinum Level Sponsor
OK, so I've completed the task of comparing the sponsor roster against 355 U.S. and 61 non-U.S. members (note 1: these are only users who've donated in the past, not members who've never donated, note 2: the spreadsheet suggests some sponsor accounts have been deleted). The process went a little something like this:

Search by username
If found, compare member level, adjust if necessary. If not found:
Search by email address.
Google search the site by username
Google search the site by last name
If not found, search PayPal around the date of last donation
Adjust if necessary
Go to next user

Some sponsors, either due to a change in email address and/or username, simply couldn't be found by any of the methods above. There were 47 of those.


Check your avatar. If it says "Donation Time," that means that the club's records indicate it's been more than a year since you've donated (except in the case of three who are due to renew this month and for three former officers whose user accounts I would break if I adjusted them). And again, if you think your avatar has been changed in error, please PM me.

Until the new site software makes this automatic, I'm going to do my best to repeat the process on the first of each month for the handful of members whose anniversary dates come up that month.


And now for some answers (in the interest of the transparency in which your board believes wholeheartedly):

1. I suspect the 262 active members number is based on some arbitrary site-software-designated time since last posting. Some sponsors still donate even though they haven't visited the site in years. Some members visit the site every day but have never donated. Most fall somewhere in between.

2. Mailing tubes were necessary because of the 11x17 certificates (which automatically come with Platinum and Diamond donations). As I mentioned, some members don't want them, but a few won't live without them. The club has about 70 of those tubes left. Suggestions have included creating a certificate PDF so you can print your own at a FedEx Kinkos near you.

3. The by-laws don't allow limiting access to non-dues-paying members. To change that would require a rewriting of the by-laws, a 2/3 vote in each chamber of the house and a special dispensation from the Pope. (I assume. I've never been good at politics.). There have been suggestions to make posting in the for sale and wanted to buy sections sponsor-only, but A. that'd just make people post those things in the regular forums, and B. Sponsors might miss out on a needed part because the non-sponsoring seller can't post. My feeling is that if you can make a couple hundred dollars selling a whatsit valve on the forum, you can spare a couple bucks to keep the lights on.

4. I, too, suspect that new friendlier site software will increase sponsorship (but that may be wishful thinking). We're still looking for a vendor who will port the site over to a different format without requiring half the club's money. I.ll send a free calendar and a shiny new mailing tube to anyone who gets me a contact that can do that.

5. The by-laws don't allow us to merge renewal dates. See above for my "special dispensation from the pope" explanation.

6. We're working on making regalia available for purchase. The goal is to find a vendor that will print and ship t-shirts, etc. on demand (but won't keep 96% of the money for themselves). Oddly enough, we recently received $10 because we sold something on spreadshirt.com, but nobody knows what we're selling there, who created it, or how to sell more.

7. With the new site, I'm going to propose we recreate the donation page to include: A. A checkbox for no mailing needed, B. A requirement for current mailing address, C. A fill-in-your own donation amount box, D. A requirement for current mailing address (yes, I know I already mentioned that, but gathering addresses is a pain (I currently am awaiting response to five such requests through PM and two through email), and getting membership packets returned to sender simply wastes club money.), E. Other donation options.


Stay tuned.
 
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Green67Alpine

Former SAOCA Membership Director
Platinum Level Sponsor
Whoa Greg you've been doing if work, I'm sure you wish I was more organized. I like the direction you guys are heading.

Tom j
 

Series6

Past President
Gold Level Sponsor
Members,

This topic is open for your input. Let's hear from you. This will be the main point at the next Board meeting and we'd like to be sure everyone had a chance to be involved in the discussion.
 
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