With over 2000 members and only about 100 G's on original or converted status listed, this club is catering for a car with cult status, but not a lot else going for it. There's obviously a lot goes on behind the scenes to keep it's spirit alive, but isn't it time for a broader input in the form of at least an owners membership fee. We all come on here and get access to a world of knowledge,assistance and specialist parts for free. Time to part with a tenner maybe? Not exactly breaking the bank is it?
TBH, instead of charging we ask people buy our belts, lube, stickers etc and we raise some money to run the club like that (financially anyway).
If we charged £10 what would we spend it on and what would people expect??? a year book? discounts? t-shirt? it needs some one to do all that behind the scenes!
What we do require, in my opinion, is volunteers to .
1. Organise club stands (and people to turn up at these!)
2. organise club meets/rolling road days/rallies (and people turn up at these!)
3. Pursue discounts/group buys/niche products (like I, Andy, Yoof, Justin have done)
4. Write FAQs
5. Continue contributing to a small but perfectly formed forum.
Pete
In my opinion I think the club runs OK as it is.
As soon as you start taking people's money the club would need to get itself on to a whole other level in terms of what it offers. People will want things like newsletters, discounts on car parts tuning etc... and all together it'll be a lot of work. Way more work than I have time for and I'm sure the same goes for Pete, Sam & Dan.
I also don't think hardly anyone would actually pay. It's too niche a car to attract enough members to make it all worthwhile. There's probably only 50-100 regular members at any one time, I bet we'd not get more than 20 members.
As it stands the club doesn't really cost anything to run. I host this site for free and I give up my time keeping it going. I do plan on giving it a fairly major overhaul in the near future (but I need to build a new server image for it first). As Pete says, we make a tiny but of money from selling things like charger sprays and belts which goes on the things like club stands at shows and banners.
Personally I think it should stay run as it is.
Agreed with the above.
The other thing with asking for membership is that its ok saying its only a tenner but if you need/want to join another club for another car or area of the 'scene' it can start to add up. If this place was a tenner with the other cars I own I could easy spend £40 a year on forum membership without even trying.
The only thing we could do with improving is sorting something out like the rally's of the past. We've not done them the last few years with it clashing with the track days but we did get some good numbers to those events and they were good weekends.
Sack Hayesey, I've not seen him do a sick-up at a show for ages, poor at best.
a show? what are these you talk of.
I'll be doing a sick at Dan's house on saturday night.
Tbh either way i'd be happy, I didnt realise a site running fee came from the shop, i'll get on to Pete to order my bits then :D
Quote from: DKnight on November 01, 2012, 02:35:24 PM
a show? what are these you talk of.
If Hayesey doesn't sick at your gaff then you should also be sacked, at 88mph.
Quote from: POLOMON on November 01, 2012, 03:02:52 PM
Tbh either way i'd be happy, I didnt realise a site running fee came from the shop, i'll get on to Pete to order my bits then :D
Buying from the club is good in two ways. Firstly as pointed out it helps with a bit of income for the club to buy banners etc. Secondly a lot of research has been done to get the best quality items, for the best price possible. A lot of effort has been made to source harder to find bits.
I dont think I've ever seen Hayesey do a sick up. I'm sure he'd never waste his ale like that!
VW Action 2011 was the last time. It looked like he'd shat out his mouth, wrote off Chris' tent. ;D
Quote from: hayesey on November 01, 2012, 11:58:46 AM
In my opinion I think the club runs OK as it is.
As soon as you start taking people's money the club would need to get itself on to a whole other level in terms of what it offers. People will want things like newsletters, discounts on car parts tuning etc... and all together it'll be a lot of work. Way more work than I have time for and I'm sure the same goes for Pete, Sam & Dan.
I also don't think hardly anyone would actually pay. It's too niche a car to attract enough members to make it all worthwhile. There's probably only 50-100 regular members at any one time, I bet we'd not get more than 20 members.
As it stands the club doesn't really cost anything to run. I host this site for free and I give up my time keeping it going. I do plan on giving it a fairly major overhaul in the near future (but I need to build a new server image for it first). As Pete says, we make a tiny but of money from selling things like charger sprays and belts which goes on the things like club stands at shows and banners.
Personally I think it should stay run as it is.
As someone that has run a VW club I could not agree with this more. Totally shifts the goalposts and changes the whole feel of the group b
This is the best forum I've ever been a part of. Its small, you get your answers and there are some developments and investigations for the cars still happening here and there on the forum. I love it, it just works!
Quote from: hayesey on November 01, 2012, 02:58:43 PM
I'll be doing a sick at Dan's house on saturday night.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/Young_Un/haysey.jpg)
YES ;D
hahahahahahahahaha...... reminds me of a past night out in brum after a RR day!!!
as for paying membership, i agree with the above. people will expect something for their money and will want to know how its being spent, giving someone the arseachingly boring job of doing the accounts. i for one dont mind making a donation now and then to keep the place ticking over and buying bits n bobs from the shop. i also dont mind giving up my time to help whenever its needed.
There we go! Discount for paid up members on Club G40 Barf Bags. Seriously though and without being patronising, the work that's done behind the scenes is pretty extensive and time consuming. There are a few areas mentioned where a wee bit of financial input wouldn't go amiss. A decent quality video of the cars, in original, modded and track form. A look at developments a la Yoof and Andy. Pete's charger work and other input from such as young Justin. The general workings of the club's behind the scenes activities(drinking and barfing). Nothing wrong with a bit of self promotion. The ability to pay others to carry out some of the show related tasks if need be. A bit in the bank to fund manufacture of obsolete parts.
As for cash, quite frankly, if a tenner is a challenge to youre lifestyle then maybe you'd be better with a bicycle. I'm now low income retired and put out £40/annum for angling club, £25/annum for gun club and £10 a month to charities.
I definitely do appreciate what's done by others on my behalf, but ultimately, G40 ownership is an increasingly rare pleasure and one we should all try to maintain. For some , the option of being a helping hand isn't an option and for that reason I feel a membership fee is in order.
how about setting up a paypal for donations or something? No expectations but a little contribution to help set up products a nd club stand freebies etc. I appreciate somewhere to hang with the old school polo crew.
Sounds fine to me; no arm twisting but a chance to help out.