Will you leave??

[rideair]

As many know, the members of the IBT have talked about the number of members that would be "forced to leave" the WBCCI if the Motorhome motion is not passed later this year. What I wonder is how many members will "choose to leave" if this motion is passed?

[Stream 1529]

Paul,

My wife and I have been members for six years. We've made a lot of friends, and have enjoyed the rallies we've been able to attend. Working has meant that we miss out on most of the scheduled activities, unless we take off from work to arrive earlier than a Friday afternoon.

It's the politics and misc. BS that appears to be rampant that is so not what we were looking for when we joined up. We attended one international, and that was enough. The privileged parking and the officious attitudes observed just eliminated any desire we had to return for more. We both still work, and have enough of the same to put up with there that we don't need the same when we are on vacation, or camping for a weekend.

I don't see a need to change our brand specific club to one that will accept SOB's just to please a minority of the members. If the amendment passes, I will have to have to be convinced to stay.

[HowieE]

Generally it is follow the money. But in this case I think it will end up following the numbers, which will in the end be the money. Currently the WBCCI has about 8,400 members while the Forum has over 19,000 and clearly growing at a faster rate. Over time WBCCI, as a rigid structure, will dissolve the question is can the larger group succeed it and retain the comradery based on the ownership of an Airstream rather than adherence to confining parliamentary procedure.

If the constitution is changed, for the convenience of an aging hierarchy WBCCI becomes nothing more than competition to Good Sam with higher costs and far less services.

[Swanny]

In the scheme of things I must admit that I love WBCCI. This forum is great but it doesn't have rallys in my area more than once in a blue moon. Heck...its just a forum not a club.

As for the MH function...I asked our club president if this included all Thor products (my buddy owns a Thor TT). Of course it doesn't include anything but a MH. Okay that's not fair

So...I'll stay but in my honest opinion...if your AS isn't made out of aluminum it a counterfit. Bring back the aluminum MH's!!!!!

[moosetags]

I am against SOB mohos being admitted to the club other than as some sort of associate member. I can go along with these members belonging and even voting, but I don't think that they should be holding leadership positions.

Regardless of the outcome of the current goat rope, I will remain a member of WBCCI.

[Tin Diesel]

We joined when we got our Airstream and attended one local rally in 2006. Very nice people, but we have nothing in common with them. We let our membership lapse.

We might have stayed anyway, just to support the Airstream community, but reading about all the in-fighting and politics etc. etc. etc. on this forum squashed any desire to be a part of it.

Our link to the Airstream community is this forum and the occasional people we meet on the road. We're not much at congregating anyway.

Just wish I could get those dang numbers off without leaving a trace!

[rickandsandi]

The ruling class of the WBCCI has totally lost touch with the general membership and have placed themselves on such a high podium they are suffering from the lack of oxygen. They are of the belief that the WBCCI is theirs alone and can make changes as seen fit to meet their immediate needs. They are worried that a few of the elite will loose their memberships because they no longer enjoy the wanderlust of the Airstream Travel Trailer and want to travel in SOB motorhomes. This is not what the WBCCI is all about and the politics and back room antics have spoiled what once was the greatest single brand club and turned it into an us against them club. How is it that members who fought a hard fight to keep out Argoys and the original real Airstream motor coaches now want to include SOB's? If I wanted to belong to an open club, there are many to join who hold rallies and meetings. It will be a very sad day for us when we do not renew our membership. We have made some wonderful friendships along the way because of our WBCCI membership. Our fellow unit members (New England #064) are hosting our wedding! This is a first for WBCCI to actually have a rally for the soul purpose of a couple getting married surrounded by their WBCCI friends and Airstreams! So I guess you could say we invited Airstreams to our wedding and are fortunate that they come with some really great, caring wonderful folks. Will wwe miss WBCCI? Yes! Will they miss us? I doubt it as long as the powers to be can drive into a WBCCI rally, have special parking and privilages and not own an Airstream! What a bunch of crock! 50 years of great fun and friends ruined by a small handful of Red Coats! Well I have news for you all. The Red Coats have been beaten before and if this club allows non-Airstream owners to join there will be a revolution and I will take it upon myself to forge that revolution and bring to the owners of Airstreams a real Airstream Club. Do we need the WBCCI to have fun, share great times with fellow Airstream owners? No! See you all on the road and hope this mess dies away. If not I will see you all in 2008 at the first Airstream Club Owner National Rally!

[Safari-Rick]

I agree 100% with Rick. What's the point if SOB's are allowed?

Safari-Rick

[campadk]

We'll we aren't members.. yet... but as new Airstream owners, we are perhaps one of the many new AS owners that supposedly would join to keep the club alive.

All I seem to read about is all the politics, rules yada yada yada.

Maybe we are in the minority... we just want to travel, meet people and enjoy camping...

Personally I'd be all in on an Airstream 'camping' club considing of other folks who have Airstream trailers that love to camp... oh well...

[Jacob D.]

I joined when I got my trailer, but I haven't really seen anything very appealing in the club so far, for me at least. Since it's not my club, I don't have any particular standing to complain about the inclusion of giant boxy motorhomes - obviously, it being a democratically-run club they can do whatever they want. So I offer this more in the spirit of constructive criticism from an outsider than out of righteous indignation.

But I'll say this: if you want it to be an exclusive club, you need a reason why inclusion or exclusion makes sense. In other words, what commonality do your membership restrictions imply? The comparison would be to a club that lets anyone with any RV or trailer join, or that had some other requirement for membership (any vintage trailer, anyone who goes on caravans once a year, family camping only, or whatever);

Here are some reasons for limiting membership:

1. Bringing together people who agree that a really-nice-looking, reliable, and long-lasting trailer (or RV) is worth paying for.
2. Bringing together people who have similar questions about maintenance and ownership - Airstreams seem quite different to other trailers in a lot of ways.
3. Bringing together people who appreciate the aesthetic quality of travelling or camping with a lot of similar-looking, strikingly-designed trailers/RVs.
4. Keeping overall membership small.
5. Keeping out newcomers.
6. Ensuring that only people who can afford a certain level of expensive trailer or RV can join.
7. Providing a fringe benefit to sell more Airstreams.

Now, you can probably guess that I think the first three are good, the next three are not very good, and the last one is, well, complicated.

So then the next question is - how well does your limiting rule work to produce those outcomes? To me, the previous rule that says all Airstream-manufactured trailers & RVs can join does not serve 1, 2, or 3 very well. I'm sure the big Airstream motorhomes are well-made, but they don't really look special the way an Airstream trailer or classic motorhome does, nor, as far as I can tell, do they have much in common with them structurally. To me - maybe I'm not seeing it - they look exactly like any number of other-brand motorhomes, all of which may be perfectly nice, but none of which are especially stylish.

It serves 4, 5, and 6 pretty well, though - but then, so would saying that only people with RVs costing over $100,000 could join, and that'd be a club I wouldn't want to join even if I could. It serves 7 quite well too - but how important is that to members, versus to Airstream-the-company?

To me it seems like this rule is based on what Airstream & now Thor wants, and what some members who want to drive a class A motorhome want. OK - but it seems to come at the cost of severe dilution of purposes 1, 2, and 3. This is, I think, immediately obvious to any new member or potential member.

Changing the rule to let in any Airstream-branded trailer or RV doesn't seem to change the situation. It's the same deal. It has the same effect.

To me, the rule that serves 1, 2, and 3 best would be the one that says that any streamlined, aluminium-shell Airstream trailer or RV can join, with a grandfather clause for those already in the club that lets them stay in even if they buy another-brand motorhome. Eventually, those members would age out, and the club would remain one that's specifically about travelling in a stylish trailer or RV.

And if I was in charge, any vintage streamlined trailer - or even some kinds of non-streamlined vintage trailer - could join too. With all due respect, I'm pretty sure I have more in common with the restorer of a 1950s Silver Streak than with the new purchaser of a 2007 class A motorhome - but I doubt that's likely to happen. It does seem a little sad that owners of non-Airstream vintage trailers get shooed away from the forums here, I guess because of some official Airstream link this site has? But that's another story.

But again, I'm just some guy who happens to have joined & still hasn't put his trailer on the road. Maybe these restrictions do make sense to other members- but they don't seem to me to describe a club I would care much about belonging to.

[JimGolden]

Go Rick! And congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Perhaps Airstream Owners of America wasn't such a bad idea afterall.

It's the parliamentry BS that ruins organizations. In my EAA chapter, the monthly chapter meetings are enough to put you to sleep. In fact some of the old codgers there do fall asleep. The real fun starts after all the horse pucky is over with. That's when the guys that actually build airplanes actually talk about airplanes. Yeah!

I'm not a WBCCI member yet. I swung by their offices when I was in Jackson Center and they were closed a half hour before they were supposed to be. I've then seen all the controversy on the forums here. I'm waiting to see how things turn out before I decide.

Jacob has an excellent notion above. An organization for all aluminum trailers. It'd be 95% Airstream anyway, but it'd be cool to see the Silver Streaks, Streamlines, Avions, and others.

[bobchevy89]

Originally Posted by rickandsandi

news for you all. The Red Coats have been beaten before and if this club allows non-Airstream owners to join there will be a revolution and I will take it upon myself to forge that revolution and bring to the owners of Airstreams a real Airstream Club. Do we need the WBCCI to have fun, share great times with fellow Airstream owners? No! See you all on the road and hope this mess dies away. If not I will see you all in 2008 at the first Airstream Club Owner National Rally!

but will you have the blessing of using the Airstream name ? Are you going to run for office at wbcci ?that would be theway to go, not trying to split off and try to use the Airstream name and getting into a copyright infringement law suit. Just wondering

[wkerfoot]

All politics is local. We enjoy the members in our units. As long as we enjoy their company and the places we go, we will remain members. The politics is a distraction from the goal of being a member of WBCCI. WBCCI has made us many new friends, here and all over the US, I hope that continues. WBCCI has taken us to many places which we would not have otherwise gone, I hope that continues.

Since I am still working, I cannot volunteer as I would like to, I appreciate all of the volunteers, however the Leadership needs to keep the goals of the Club in mind and not do "stupid things".

Bill

[mistral blue]

Poll questions #1 and #2 say the same thing to me.
Poll questions #3 and #4 also say the same thing.

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble.
And if I stay there will be double.

This indecisions bugging me.
If you don't want me set me free.
Exactly whom I'm supposed to be?

I'm not too sure the IBT wants me.
Seems like they'd be happier without my kind
But I have a right to be here too!
My $55 still equals $55.

If I go there will be trouble.
And if I stay there will be double.

There will be DOUBLE!

The WBCCI is MY club too.

[myboyburt]

The WBCCI is MY club too. I'm staying in.

[Forrest]

I had a hard time selecting which answer to select in the poll. I don't hate motorhomes, I simply don't like camping with them. I got boxed in between two of them for almost a week at a regional rally and couldn't see anything from my trailer windows except the slab side of a fiberglass motorhome. The RV lifestyle of a MH vs a trailer is significantly different. Hardly ever saw the occupants of the MH's parked around me, except when I looked up at their MH and they'd look down through a window. Trailerists get together and are more congenial. During the open house phase of the rally not one MH owner participated. I wonder why?
If a MH owner wants to belong to a club there are some very good MH clubs around. Yet, the MH clubs don't allow trailers in their organizations do they? There are even a growing number of RV campgrounds that don't allow trailers in.
There is no doubt in my mind that if the Four Winds MH is allowed into the club that will be the end of the WBCCI as an AIRSTREAM club. Once that happens all Thor products will eventually become eligible. Why stop with just the Four Winds? That's the direction the WBCCI is heading and when it does I'll leave.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by campadk

We'll we aren't members.. yet... but as new Airstream owners, we are perhaps one of the many new AS owners that supposedly would join to keep the club alive.

All I seem to read about is all the politics, rules yada yada yada.

Maybe we are in the minority... we just want to travel, meet people and enjoy camping...

Personally I'd be all in on an Airstream 'camping' club considing of other folks who have Airstream trailers that love to camp... oh well...

Hi, you pretty much said how I feel. Belong to the big Airstream club and continue a tradition? Sounds good, But reality is, what I've read on this forum, Politics, complaints, and rules rules rules. This doesn't sound like a fun club to me. And I have a hard time believeing this is what Wally Byam wanted and practiced. I thought it was cool to have those big red numbers on your Airstream; Now I think it's cool, to not have them.
I don't want someone pointing at my trailer and saying my flags are unauthorized or not displayed properly. That upsets me and I don't even have any flags; And maybe never will, but I will have a good time camping without this club.
Back to the basics. Airstream owners traveling and camping together enjoying life, with or without the big red numbers.

[balrgn]

The "Club" is what you make it. I'm still in....

[rseagle]

Originally Posted by mistral blue

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble.
And if I stay there will be double.

J. Giles Band?

[lewster]

Originally Posted by rseagle

J. Giles Band?

The Clash (IIRC)