Letter to editor, Blue Beret, draft

[pappy19]

What we really need is an AS VISA card where you earn points just like the airlines. You can get free days,weeks or months depending on how much you use your card. AS itself could make this work and have the WBCCI dues a part of the annual card. One could add vehicle insurance, personal insurance, towing, etc. Why get left out??

Pap

[dwightdi]

Airstream (Division of Thor Industries INC) has no business relationship with WBCCI other that they supply gifts to the Region and International Rallies and buy advertising space in the club's magazine. WBCCI is a non-profit organization which are normally do not get involved with issuing Credit Cards. Good Sam (Afinity) (a for profit commercial company) is allowed to own an insurance company and a bank, which is allowed to issue credit cards.

[mbmbstreamer]

There is a promotion for new members, providing them a couple nights free at one of our Airstream Parks. That is a step in the right direction. Of course if they pick the Top of Georgia, that's only saving $7 a night.

Tie-ins with sponsor parks are a great idea. There are some beautiful Airstream Parks that are invisible to white box owners. I believe we are the only WBCCI-only park, but I believe some offer discounts to members.

[fraubear]

Originally Posted by nvestysly

]

I'm going on my tangent again - The 20 - 40 year olds that buy an RV fully expect organizations to be operating in the 21st century. If they see a packet from WBCCI that requires them to register with a piece of paper they probably won't do it. Okay, I know the first year registration can now be done online but that's only the first year.

Lucius

I think this applies to many WBCCI members, not just the 20-40 year olds. Right now the Central Indiana Unit is beta-testing on-line renewals to get all the bugs out before we expand it to other unit websites. It's working very well, but there are a few unresolved issues matching payments with members' names. We are working on detailed instructions for unit treasurers to set up the appropriate Pay-Pal account and for unit webmasters to master the coding and plug-in necessary on the unit websites. The Executive Committee is encouraging us to continue expanding on-line renewals on unit websites.

The technology is already in place to offer on-line renewals through wbcci.org. The sticking point is the Pay-Pal fee and a business model that will accommodate the $2.65 fee per transaction. Will members need to pay a "convenience fee" or can the international organization absorb the costs, or a combination of both? Let the ECC ecc@wbcci.net, your unit, region, and international officers know what you think.

Carolyn Beardshear
ECC

[RickDavis]

Originally Posted by fraubear

The technology is already in place to offer on-line renewals through wbcci.org. The sticking point is the Pay-Pal fee and a business model that will accommodate the $2.65 fee per transaction. Will members need to pay a "convenience fee" or can the international organization absorb the costs, or a combination of both? Let the ECC ecc@wbcci.net, your unit, region, and international officers know what you think.

Carolyn Beardshear
ECC

I would suspect there would be enough savings in paperwork, time, and postage to cover a fair amount of the paypal costs. Right now it looks like the treasurer of the unit is using a special receipt book. Possibly some savings could be made there. Do we really need a membership card for example? A computer printed receipt would work for me.
While I think the cost could and should be absorbed as other organizations do, I would still be willing to pay a convenience fee if that is what we have to do to get online payment in place.
I just received an e mail reminding me I needed to pay my VAC dues and could do it online. I immediately took care of it. If it had come by mail, it would have gone into the "when I get to it" pile or not seen for a month if I was traveling .It could easily be forgotten entirely as has actually happened with my International dues at least once.