Membership Fees Raised, Your Opinion??

That's unusual; nowhere on the membership benefits section do I see Sprint listed for having a discount. Where did y'all find out this information? Is there a discount for Verizon?

Frank,

Thanks for the reply. A question - the benefits - discount benefits listed on the page you directed us to - do they COST the club anything, or are they the typical affinity group sort of thing that many clubs are able to offer at no cost to the club?

If so - it appears the other member benefits on that page haven't really changed.. the ones that cost the club money. As you pointed out - we are in an economic downturn - so it may be time for the club to consider some belt tightening to avoid raising dues in a time of decreasing membership renewals. Throwing affinity group benefits out to people who only see the club as a magazine isn't going to help encourage them to renew their memberships with increased dues.

Right now - at my $40/year dues - I receive parts discounts from my local dealers (at no cost to the club); I am eligible for a rebate from BMW (costing the club nothing but some paperwork processing) for buying a selected car; I receive a marginally interesting local chapter newsletter; and I receive Roundel, a magazine worth reading - sometimes. And once a year I get to go to an open house at BMW-NA - funded by BMW-NA.

What tangible additional benefits will my $8.00 go for?

As was pointed out - the local chapters receive their funding from the national organization. That's a nice model - but given the level of local chapter participation (in NJ - which must have thousands of members - the usual HPDE has a tiny fraction of the members participating, and it appears the monthly chapter meetings garner 30 members on a good night - except when BMW-NA offers us free food) it's worth asking if the general membership can afford to and should continue funding other people's fun. Perhaps consideration should be given to changing the model so the costs go to the cost-causer.

PS: CR - it's clear you missed what I was asking - I asked what ADDITIONAL benefits we'll receive for our $8.00 dues increase. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Using an example of " a certain other BMW-oriented club's" benefits is disingenuous. The CCA wishes it had the level of participation the other clubs (assuming you mean the BMW-MOA that I know you're a member of, or the BMW-RA which I don't know.) How many people attended Oktoberfest? Almost 10,000 BMW enthusiasts were at the national MOA rally this summer. It's a completely different club model - and really not comparable, as far as benefits or member participation. What the BMW-MOA does have is a very high level of member participation and lower dues than the CCA, an increasing membership, and increasing advertising revenue (even in these hard economic times) in their national magazine - I'd say they might actually be doing something right.

I personally don't see it fair pulling the "pay for other member's fun" card. What YOU get out of your membership is entirely up to YOU. Nobody's preventing you from taking full advantage to all of the perks the club has to offer. If you don't find it worthwhile to pay the extra $8, then don't renew. It's that simple.


I reeeeeeeally don't understand why everyone is complaining about $8. $8 is lunch. I'm sure you've bought lunch before? It's not like house taxes being raised another $1000 this year, for example.

It is important that the members of any organization keep their staff and Directors accountable for keeping the the organization run efficiently. Things can really get off the rails (think of the United Way fiasco a few years ago) where member interests are no longer served. I am very satisfied with the administration of the BMW CCA.

(.... headed out to breakfast right now and will like spend more than $8.)

If the 50,000 or so members who don't take advantage of all the perks the club has to offer - and just want a magazine (and maybe some goodies from BMW) left the club - not renewing as you suggest - where would the local chapter funding come from?

It's $8.00 that hasn't been shown to me to be needed. And having extra money around in a club is a sure fire recipe for disaster. Plus - call me old fashioned, but I do like to see value for money I spend, and that hasn't been shown. As far as I'm concerned (personally - since that's how it seems to be taken) - I think the increase is unconscionably large, and passed without member input.

It should have been put to a vote of the membership with the case for the increase presented to the membership. This is supposed to be a club run for the benefit of ALL the members, not just a few.

Oh, hell. I thought I was being discreet - because you and Phil and I knew what we were talking about.

It's around 1,000 compared to 10,000. That isn't the be-all and end-all for either club, though. BMW CCA chapters are far more 'attached' to 'CCA than are MOA affiliates. In most areas, the local chapter is the club - and some of them present an amazing array of events, most of which are national club-subsidized in one way or another. In those, we typically find 10-15% participation.

OK; now I'm officially confused. I have no idea what that means. But that's alright. You can leave me behind here.

Well, it's more than I am usually willing to pay for a magazine - and I think the Airheads have actually benefited me more by my membership because I've been to a couple of tech sessions and I learn more about my bike from their newsletter. Combined, I must be paying more to belong to both of them than I do to be in 3 different parts (national, local, and one cyber-group) of CCA. While MOA might be doing better financially than CCA, it's my MOA membership I will reconsider at the end of my 5-year term. Not because it costs more (it doesn't) but because the benefits they offer don't match what I want as much as do CCA's.

Ahhh, don't say it CR. If you left the MOA, who would offer advice that includes molotov cocktails??

Who, indeed?

I don't want to know.

The best advice I ever heard given by an MOA member was that trying to make a /5 into anything beyond what it was would be like wrapping your pet hamster in duct-tape.

I'm just gonna say I don't get it.

-MOA member #2024.

#2024?. That must be darn near year one, when the dinosaurs roamed and I was riding a lowly Honda 360.

Relative to the advice.................Obtuse is a good SAT word in these situations

MOA 36654

With only two wheels, the MOA membership tends to be less stable.....

1971.
I was in St. Louis doing my normal thing of hanging around the local camera shop when another BMW owner spotted my bike at the curb and came in to see if he could find the owner. Turns out the Gateway Riders were having a valve-adjustment tech session later that week. I went, joined, and soon after became their newsletter editor and creator of the first template for a rain-shield for the Vetter Windjammer for BMWs. The template fit perfectly run diagonally on an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper back when the newsletter was printed on a mimeograph machine. Ahh, that smell.

The local BMW CCA chapter wasn't anywhere near as active at the time and I never heard of them, even after multiple trips to the only BMW car dealer, over many years before leaving for Virginia in 1973. Good timing since I was in a good location to attend the second MOA national rally, in Table Rock, SC, back in 1974. I've attended nine more since then, including the one this year.

-1967 R27 (original white), 1968 R69US (original black), 1972 R60/5 (Granada Red), 1981 R100CS (Classic Black Metallic)

Not if you just keep moving forward at a fast pace and never stop!

OK, I'm baffled.........a "rain shield" that fits on a 8.5x11 piece of paper? Obviously, it isn't a windshield.

But, what shade of red is Granada Red? Does it tend towards blue or yellow? I haven't seen many red /5's.

Gentlemen, please note that this thread is going off topic.

So if MyE28.com started a magazine devoted to the BMW you drove, and it cost less than the CCA membership, would you abandon CCA to satisfy your limited BMW car interests? Or would you pay $15 to stay a member of your local CCA chapter if you could and not pay extra for national membership? Isn't that what you're doing with the Airheads? Chapters are separate corporations so can't they establish their own membership levels if they want. That's essentially what MOA does. I'm in a local MOA chapter but I don't recall being assessed any dues in many years since all communication is now done on-line and that's essentially free through yahoo and many other forum hosts. Any events are paid for by the participants, or they're just free events.

Oh yeah, Granada Red is the same on the bikes as it is on the cars, but it looks brighter, for some reason. Here's mine:



(Though I probably should point out that neither of those people on it at the time that photo was taken is me! )

That's not outside the realm of possibilities - except in terms of the anarchists of MyE28 managing to start a magazine. I was an SCCA member for 19 years and just stopped because my priorities had shifted. I was a member of IMSA for a few years, too. Before that, I was in a couple of old car clubs - back when I owned a DeSoto. Things change; so do I. With respect to the current dues situation with 'CCA, things have not changed enough that I will do anything differently.

My national/chapter dues here allow me continued participation in driving events. My Airheads dues allow me participation in tech sessions and informal gatherings. My MOA dues are already paid until the middle of 2012, so I need not reexamine that value until then.

I suppose - or I dunno. I'm still a bit mystified by the MOA chapter structure. Airheads is a nationwide chapter divided up by states. It's kinda' weird. I guess there are some local geographic MOA chapters here, but I haven't associated with them yet.

So does Polizeiweiß ...

He was giving legal advice.. sorta.