I just read Maury Runyan's and Norm Hewer, past Int. President articles in the Region 4, Metro Detroit newsletter and I have come to 2 conclusions - either these guys are geniuses, or they are so nearsidedly desperate that they can't see the forest through the trees.
What impressed me the most is the sublimative nature of the argument offered by Maury on the need to replace the old decrepit units without finding out if they even needed replacing. O.K. Show of hands - How many of you Class "A" MOHO owners are planning on replacing your units within the next 10 years because they are falling apart as they go down the street. I mean really, how many in your unit alone are thinking about replacing? Don't know? How about the entire WBCCI? All 860+ units in the next few years? Do you know that for sure? No, you don't and neither does the WBCCI - they didn't ask that question. They just assumed that every one of the class "A" owners were just going to have to replace - and damn soon (with product quality like that maybe they should have bought an SOB in the first place). My point is this is why it actually is so important to know these things. Maury, the IBT and a few others perceive there is a problem here with the class "A" owners but never bothered to check if there actually is a problem. The only thing they do know for sure is approximately how many Class “A”s there are in the club. Oh, I will not take too much time to mention that a bunch of the supporters of the MOHO issue have some grave issues in mathematics. I say this because some are throwing around numbers like 20% of the members in Class “A”s. it is more like 12.5%. Well anyway, you do the math, you may get an entirely different number.
Sorry – back to the topic. Then Maury states that something must be done to stop the decline in the membership of the club - as if it is the loss of every MOHO owner in the next few years is actually inevitable. Desperate times call for desperate measures and so the only answer Maury can come up with is letting in Fourwinds MOHO's (new and used)? But again Maury doesn't show evidence in the form perhaps of a simple market survey where letting in owners of any Fourwinds MOHO will actually boost membership. Thankfully some out there recognize that this is probably a false hope because there are other clubs out there with more progressive programs than WBCCI. Neither Maury nor Norm took a second to think that perhaps it is simply WBCCI's own approach to membership retention that is causing members to leave? And if you can't keep members from leaving in wholesale fashion in an Airstream only club only club at a time when Airstream sales are at an alltime high, what makes you think Fourwinds owners will be falling all over themselves to get into this club? The IBT can't even keep our current members from leaving, what are they going to be doing new to keep these Fourwinds owners in the club?
So now it is in the spirit of the vacuous processes which brought us the MOHO issue in the first place I present my idea to boost membership. And the beauty of my idea is that it requires no market survey as it is guaranteed to work no matter what type of unit you own. We’ll just call it the Aluminum Recycling Program where we save the membership of the WBCCI by allowing in any unit that contains aluminum in any shape or form. For example, I have a can of beer in an old Coleman popup and that qualifies me for membership. Think of it - we all love aluminum (and most of us love beer) so this is a great idea. And the membership levels are sure to skyrocket beyond the sales of just Airstream products. It is truly a win-win situation. And like the previous ideas - requires no thinking at all...
They haven't thought of something else. Many of the MoHo owners are in their 80's (and older) Not all, but enough that probably by the time the MoHo's start "falling apart", their owners will no longer be members, by virtue of attrition. Also by the time this starts to happen, anything could be happening in world events. Airstream could resume production of class A MoHo's by then. They seem to be proactively overreacting, and should be taking this time and effort to address more immediate concerns in the club.
__________________
Terry "I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere, than any city" Steve McQueen
AIR#2611
It is a mystery to me, but just from watching this cat fight from afar (mostly), I begin to suspect that the majority of the leadership must own MOHOs and are thinking of replacing them. Maybe they like "running" the club so much they want to ensure they can remain members....
Or something else equally nefarious and perhaps self-serving. It is definitely a mystery. Ahhhh, I just got it. The people have voted, but the leadership is ignoring the vote. Gee, where else have we seen that bad example?
It is a mystery to me, but just from watching this cat fight from afar (mostly), I begin to suspect that the majority of the leadership must own MOHOs and are thinking of replacing them. Maybe they like "running" the club so much they want to ensure they can remain members....
Or something else equally nefarious and perhaps self-serving. It is definitely a mystery. Ahhhh, I just got it. The people have voted, but the leadership is ignoring the vote. Gee, where else have we seen that bad example?
Zep
Being a liberal is more fun
I have been a member in another club for quite a few years. The "leaders" all thought "we" would be better off allowing all makes and models into our club as the numbers of membership were failing. Now, only two years into the "accepted change" membership is near the previously mentioned "danger" level. Guess we'll be belly up soon too.
I have been a member in another club for quite a few years. The "leaders" all thought "we" would be better off allowing all makes and models into our club as the numbers of membership were failing. Now, only two years into the "accepted change" membership is near the previously mentioned "danger" level. Guess we'll be belly up soon too.
This does not surprise me at all. But I am very glad you mention it and the outcome.
The whole thing simply stinks of self interest. The WBCCI Big Dogs are almost universally MOHO owners. They seem to have developed a strong sense of ownership of the club. They seem to believe the main purpose of the WBCCI is to keep their cadre in power politically and socially.
I have only been in the WBCCI a short while and now, just as my second retirement looms and I can finally get to a rally or join a caravan, this monstrously bad idea makes me question the value of my membership. If I wanted to to be in an "all comers" RV association, I'd be writing a check to the Good Sam Club.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
I hope that Airstream stays out of the motorhome business and I am pretty sure they will. Airstream makes travel trailers and the best ones in the world at that! Stick to what you do best! The WBCCI was originally all about the life style of trailer travel and it sure seems that the IBT has long ago forgotten that. It is always a good idea to take a step back and take a long hard look at the reason why we get involved in the things we do. I wonder why todays IBT members joined WBCCI in the first place? Was it becasue they wanted to be with like minded people who loved their Airstream trailers and the life style it afforded them. I'll bet you a dollar thats why they joined. It has become apparent that anyone who wants to change the charter, by-laws or what have you to allow a non-Airstream units into the WBCCI has totaly lost touch with the reasons they wanted to join WBCCI in the first place. Remember when you saw your first Airstream and knew that one day you would own one? Did you ever think the day you were filling out your WBCCI membership form that the only all Airstream organization in the world would even be discussing allowing other branded RV's into the club let alone find itself in the middle of a heart wrenching battle? How can the leaders of this organization totally abandon the founding principles of this great club? If anyone one of the proposing members where a true WBCCI member and believer in the Airstream way of life, they would take the $120,000 it would cost for a new SOB unit and put it into restoring their Airstream unit and still have money in the bank. I can not believe that this is even an issue or even proposed and yet worse how dare any member in good standing even suggest membership to the only true Airstream owners organization to someone owning something other than an Airstream! Shame on them!
__________________ J. Rick Cipot Sandi Gould NEUNew England Unit Airstream Life Magazine WBCCI #3411 AIR #17099
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