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AWCHIEF · 07-28-2015, 04:43 AM

As someone that has memory issues with names I like the name tags. I do draw the line at wearing formal club uniforms, not going to happen.

mbmbstreamer · 07-28-2015, 07:35 PM

They can't make you. Don't do it. Wear what you wish. If you are a member, you are a shareholder (owner).

Totoro · 07-29-2015, 02:45 PM

Well, for the sake of transparency, It would appear that I am not going to be an official member until January. Due to a misunderstanding on my part, I thought that paying now would get me through this and next year, but because I have been a member in the past this special clause does not apply. I still plan on joining next year, and the lady at headquarters was nice enough to issue a refund for my mistake.

Foiled Again · 07-29-2015, 04:03 PM

Glad to see that WBCCI is moving forward even if at very slow pace. I dropped out during the ugly phase - and at that time I rarely had the time to participate.

Everyone who said it all comes down to the individual unit has it 100% right. If you are thinking of joining, by all means visit and meet the members first. I innocently stumbled into a religious revival type group. Every member was married with kids, being a long divorced female made me a 5th wheel (at an Airstream rally?). Most were distantly polite, one woman, outright hostile. Several members were whispering behind their hands when I hitched up and left early, not one walked over to ask why.

I later joined the WDCU. Difference between night and day.

Paula

Blue Pearl · 07-29-2015, 11:43 PM

Arctic fox, we still have space at the Pendleton Round-up. Love to have you join us. We have an IVP and region prez coming so it's a good time to bend their ear over an adult beverage during happy hour. I always do.

FYI, in region 10 the unit tells the region officer what to wear for installations, I know the Oregon unit requires them to wear camping clothes.

TCwheels · 07-30-2015, 06:59 AM

I joined the day after we bought our FC20 last Fall. Almost exclusively for nostalgia/tradition reasons. My Aunt Alma and Uncle George headed out in 1962 to full time in their 22 and I wanted desperately to go with them! They did Mexico and Canada caravans and sent post cards and boxes of small rocks and minerals back home to me from all their travels. Their WBCCI number 7246 now adorns our AS. No need for rallies or caravans for us. I'll pay the $65 just to keep those great memories alive via our Airstream and our travels - proudly displaying their numbers.

Hittenstiehl · 07-30-2015, 08:20 AM

TCWheels I like your reason for joining. We joined partly out of nostalgia also.

We started out by educating ourselves and reading the forums. When we bought our 65 Twind we had lots of questions so we signed onto the forums and did an introductory post. Almost immediately we got a reply from the Four Corners Unit congratulating us on our new acquisition and inviting us to join them for a gathering.

We went to a gathering and found the 4CU warm but not smothering. They are full of knowledge, hints and advice but not know it all's.

After two outings with 4CU we gladly joined them and thereby the WB. We will likely go to a International some day just because. We would love to parade into somewhere and maybe park in a circle sometime. I would love to climb up on my ladder and take great pictures of all that Aluminum together.

If they ask us to wear name tags we would likely do it at a large gathering for ease of remembering names. If they try to fine me for not wearing one I would likely laugh. If they pray we would stand quietly and pray our prayer. If they play anthems other than ours we would stand respectfully.

We joined out of nostalgia, tradition, occasional camping comraderie and will likely remain members until we no longer own an Airstream.

Making life and memories.

Blue Pearl · 07-31-2015, 11:35 PM

I agree with TCWheels and Hittenstiehl. Some of us see value in those big red numbers, the history of both the WB and the members before us. It's a personal choice but I like belonging to Wally's club.

Gene · 08-03-2015, 03:01 PM

I am under the impression the WBCCI had relaxed all the old rules, but maybe not in every unit or region. My feelings about the WBCCI are that it can be useful if you want to go on caravans or go to rallies, but neither are that important to us. We travel a lot and have little time for rallies and no interest in caravans. I haven't worn a tie in a dozen plus years and I'm not going to now. If someone tried to fine me for not wearing a tie, I would laugh at them. They could send me a bill and I would throw it away. I have plenty of baseball caps and do not need a beret. I don't need flags on my trailer.

I have met many people through the Forum. If we want to go to a rally, there are Forum rallies. We went to the balloon fiesta 3 times and enjoyed it, but there were no tie police and no ties. The Four Corners Unit is not like some units and is very informal. No name tags of any kind, though the cheap stick on, paper ones would have been helpful, but I probably would have forgotten to use one.

I'm sure there are some benefits to the WBCCI, but we do fine on our own. Far more Airstreamers don't belong to the Club than do and seem to do well. It works for some, not for most.

When I was following WBCCI threads, the membership would decline every year. I don't know what has happened in the past few years about membership and maybe it has stabilized. Organizations like the WBCCI have been losing members for years as the internet has replaced them; I don't think they can stop that. It certainly wasn't what we wanted years ago and by now we are fine without it. I do know people with modern attitudes were moving up through the ranks to run the Club. Good luck to the Club and I hope it catches up with the contemporary world.

Gene

dwightdi · 08-03-2015, 03:54 PM

Some people (about 12,000 at present) find value in belonging to the club. If they attend the events the club sponsors, they get their money's worth. If you do not want to attend the events or use the benefits, it is logical not to belong.

The club does have a overhead cost to maintain its existence. We would like to attract as many members as possible to spread that cost over many members, thereby reducing the amount each member needs to pay. The club is in the business of providing opportunities to use your Airstream, to increase your enjoyment and expand your horizons.

Protagonist · 08-03-2015, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwightdi

Some people (about 12,000 at present) find value in belonging to the club.

The official number of members is slightly more than half that.

For the benefit of those who never were members and may not know, membership is per family, not per person. A married couple with dependent children pays one membership fee for the whole family and counts as one member.

SilverEagle6 · 08-03-2015, 04:25 PM

Ok, 6,000 members x $65 = $390,000

My unit charges $1 per year.

We all say that the fun and enjoyment is at the unit level.

Are our dues upside down?

1Boyscout · 08-03-2015, 04:37 PM

Is anyone from Oklahoma in WBCCI??

switz · 08-03-2015, 04:52 PM

There appears to be one local unit in Oklahoma which is part of Region 9. The map shows it could be around the Hartshorn to Talihina area.

http://wbcci.org/regions-units/regio...units/region-9

Protagonist · 08-03-2015, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by switz

There appears to be one local unit in Oklahoma which is part of Region 9. The map shows it could be around the Hartshorn to Talihina area.

Where they stick a pin on the map has little bearing to where the club is actually "headquartered." In actual fact, the unit's web page says that most of their members are in central and northeastern Oklahoma. Since 1Boyscout is in Edmond, an OKC suburb, he's probably not far from some of the unit members.

Since I was raised in Altus, OK and went to college in Stillwater, I'm giving consideration to joining the Oklahoma Unit as an affiliate member— keeping my primary membership in the Greater New Orleans Unit— just so I can see if they ever have any rallies near my alma mater that I might like to attend. But not until 2017. I'm going to be president of my Unit starting next month, and I feel an obligation to attend my unit's activities rather than go haring off to some other unit's functions 800 miles away. But once my stint as unit president is over, I will own my own schedule again and can go visit units in other parts of the country as strike my fancy.

dwightdi · 08-03-2015, 08:25 PM

I specifically said the count refers to "people". Over 85% of the memberships represent couples. Yes there are a few kids and grandkids along. There were 22 kids in the youth program at the Farmington rally this year.

We have been getting between 7 and 10% of the membership attending the International is the recent past. Certainly Internationals attendees are in the minority.

The same hold true for people participating in the long national caravans.

The dues per member are calculated to cover the cost of operating the club. Not all members pay the same International dues. Life member dues are calculated and deducted from the life member fund based on the dues that were charged when they signed up.

The majority of the International dues money is spent to pay the salaries and benefits for the four ladies who operate the Jackson Center Headquarters. Another, about $100 K, goes for travel subsides for Region and International officers. There are other facility operating expenses.

A full financial statement is available quarterly to members who request a copy from Jackson Center. There is a separate budget to run the International.

The units are self sustaining and receive very little monetary benefits from the International dues. The International does buy liability insurance (about $35K) to cover the mistakes that the local unit rally organizers might become liable for. It pays for legal defense and/or payout for injuries. Without it, nobody would volunteer to run local rallies.

TCwheels · 08-03-2015, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Pearl

I agree with TCWheels and Hittenstiehl. Some of us see value in those big red numbers, the history of both the WB and the members before us. It's a personal choice but I like belonging to Wally's club.

Thanks Blue! I get a total kick out of seeing the big red numbers on an AS on the road and then scrambling to find them in my iBooks directory. "Hey, that was Dale and Betty from Milwaukee!" My wife just rolls her eyes...

damonbeals · 08-04-2015, 06:38 AM

The Pin is set near whoever is listed as the Membership Chair. We had to use something for the placement. And we can move it if the unit requests it. So if you see funny pin placements on the map, that is the reason, as Unit's don't really have an address.

Damon
#4827

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Where they stick a pin on the map has little bearing to where the club is actually "headquartered." In actual fact, the unit's web page says that most of their members are in central and northeastern Oklahoma. Since 1Boyscout is in Edmond, an OKC suburb, he's probably not far from some of the unit members.

Since I was raised in Altus, OK and went to college in Stillwater, I'm giving consideration to joining the Oklahoma Unit as an affiliate member— keeping my primary membership in the Greater New Orleans Unit— just so I can see if they ever have any rallies near my alma mater that I might like to attend. But not until 2017. I'm going to be president of my Unit starting next month, and I feel an obligation to attend my unit's activities rather than go haring off to some other unit's functions 800 miles away. But once my stint as unit president is over, I will own my own schedule again and can go visit units in other parts of the country as strike my fancy.

Protagonist · 08-04-2015, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damonbeals

The Pin is set near whoever is listed as the Membership Chair. We had to use something for the placement. And we can move it if the unit requests it. So if you see funny pin placements on the map, that is the reason, as Unit's don't really have an address.

Damon
#4827

That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

Gene · 08-04-2015, 09:28 AM

12,000 or 6,000? Do we count the kids and dogs? Memberships vs. people is always an issue in figuring out how many people are "members" of anything. A generation ago the Club had well over 12,000 members (not including everyone under one membership) and several years ago it was close to 5,000, even though there were many more Airstreams on the road. Looks like it has stopped dropping and may have increased a bit. It has probably stabilized at a figure that will fluctuate a bit for the next few years, but may drop again as the internet plays more of a part in membership organizations. I don't know whether the WBCCI has a good internet program, but several years ago that was in turmoil. Hope that has been solved.

I suspect the Club is more for people who don't travel a lot and want to stay within a few hundred miles of home. For we drivers who like to cover thousands of miles at a time, there's no time left for this Club. There is too much to do to do everything. Perhaps when we can't travel as far, the Club would make more sense to us and we would join and increase the average WBCCI age a few years.

Pro, maybe you'll want to run for higher office after a year as a unit official, and will in several years be a board member or officer. You never know what the future will be.

Gene