Club Membership

[scotsjohn]

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?

[PeteG40]

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

[hayesey]

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.

[samg40]

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.

[Yoof]

Sack Hayesey, I've not seen him do a sick-up at a show for ages, poor at best.

[DKnight]

a show? what are these you talk of.

[hayesey]

I'll be doing a sick at Dan's house on saturday night.

[POLOMON]

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

[Yoof]

a show? what are these you talk of.

If Hayesey doesn't sick at your gaff then you should also be sacked, at 88mph.

[samg40]

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

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!

[Andy]

VW Action 2011 was the last time. It looked like he'd shat out his mouth, wrote off Chris' tent. 

[AlexG40]

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

[Justin14100]

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!

[Yoof]

I'll be doing a sick at Dan's house on saturday night.

YES 

[vwmk3jon]

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.