sjmondl

$300 is VERY PRICEY. What ever happened to Dakota Post promising to keep the same mail forwarding rates as FMCA Mail Forwarding was charging for the next 3 years?? Back in July 2014 I wrote in this forum that my wife and I were changing to Escapees Mail Forwarding. We did the move in August 2014. It has been a year now since our change and I can tell everyone that we are extremely pleased with Escapee Mail Forwarding Service. When our year's subscription fee was due, I got an email in advance advising that the annual mail forwarding fee of $115 was going to be charged to my credit card. My wife and I are very pleased with the service that we receive from Escapees. I would rate it as good if not just a little better than the quality service we received from FMCA Mail Forwarding. We had the FMCA mail service for almost 15 years. If anyone is looking for a dependable, reasonably priced mail forwarding service, go with Escapees. The organization as a whole is a top quality RV Association.

We arrived at the Round Bottom Rd. Campground on 11-2-14, we discovered FMCA now has a Campground Host. Its our newest Member Benefit - Campground Host for the Round Bottom Rd. Campground. And what was so much more surprising is that our FMCA Campground Host RV is a 5th wheel camper! Many campground hosts have responsibilities - A campground host usually resides in their own RV at the campground they are hosting, and are typically responsible for: Greeting guests Collecting fees Preparing weekly revenue and attendance reports Helping guests solve problems Cleaning exterior and interior facilities Some light maintenance Have not asked yet if this is a salary or contract position or what responsibilities our campground host may have. Round Bottom Campground Host

Well, it’s official. In an email dated 07/28 from our Executive Director Jerry Yeatts, it was announced that FMCA Mail Forwarding Service in Cincinnati will cease operations effective October 1st. We have been using this valuable service for close to 15 years and have enjoyed extremely reliable and trustworthy mail forwarding from our motorhome association. We have no children so we rely entirely on FMCA Mail Forwarding to receive our mail. We are very disappointed to learn that this essential service will be outsourced. FMCA plans to outsource this member benefit to a company called DakotaPost. DakotaPost is not a member of the BBB. DakotaPost has been in business less than a year and is under new ownership as of January 2014. FMCA officials expect us to trust this unknown company with our mail. Now that FMCA will be closing the Cincinnati Mail Forward Department, what will be next? The Round Bottom Rd. building was used mostly by the Mail Forwarding Dept. and used by our Executive Board to park their motorhomes while conducting FMCA business. Maybe if the building goes unused, should FMCA sell the property? Oh, that's right... our board uses a meeting room in the back of the Round Bottom Rd. building for pot luck dinners, also. And what about those loyal long-term FMCA staff members that faithfully ran the Cincinnati Mail Forwarding Dept.? My wife just called for our mail. She was told that the FMCA Mail Forwarding Dept. employees are in shock and did not expect to lose their jobs on Sept. 30th. This employee stated that she was not offered a job with the new mail forwarding company in South Dakota. Have there been discussions or articles written to notify FMCA Members regarding this closure? To my knowledge, members that use the Mail Forwarding Service were never asked if we wanted "mail forwarding service alternatives that can enhance the service for members". We have not been contacted regarding our thoughts on this essential Member Service. We never received anything from FMCA asking us if we were satisfied with the current mail forwarding service or ask if we were interested in any enhanced mail forwarding services. Who is making these decisions? We thought the backbone of FMCA were its Members. FMCA Mail Forwarding Service users were given a 60 day notice to transfer our mail to a new mail forwarding service. This is not enough time to notify all of our senders of our new address. Magazine subscriptions take a minimum of 90 days to process a change of address. It has been stated that decision makers were told by the mail forwarding staff that 60 days was not enough time to forward non-first class mail. Magazines will not be forwarded by the Post Office. Who chose the date of October 1st for closure? Why didn’t the decision makers listen to their staff’s comments? Why is FMCA rushing to eliminate the Cincinnati Mail Forwarding Service? Members need to call Jerry Yeatts immediately to voice their opinion on the outsourcing of our FMCA Mail Forwarding Service to a private company in South Dakota. To say the least, my wife and I are very unhappy with this decision. We are considering joining Escapees RV Club as they have an excellent reputation and a trustworthy and reliable mail forwarding service. What FMCA Member benefit will be outsourced next? Steve & Jan Mondl, F147279

Hi, garykd, I choose to go to the RV fuel islands for the dump station. I do much "dry camping" and visit very few campgrounds, hence those dump stations come in handy. And I like the RV fuel island as they generally are cleaner (less diesel fuel all over the ground). Maybe the station staff work harder keeping clean the RV islands - more so than they do at the truck lanes. Hate tracking diesel fuel on coach carpeting. If you would have read my post clearer, my specific inquiry was directed regarding the Pump Start Procedure at the RV Fuel Island and NOT the pump cut off $$ amounts that you indicated in your reply. Two totally different topics garykd. And yes, I have registered my FJ RV Card online. Profile updated, too. Been a cardholder for 15+ years. Even took my DL & presented it to a FJ station manager so the "Pump Start Procedure" would be enabled. I have emailed PFJ with the specifics. I failed to mention that in my previous post. But tks for mentioning it. And yes, I can pump $800+ in fuel - all you got to do is have your credit card company enable it!

The basic problems I have been encountering in the past few months have been: Pilot sites want us to use the Pilot Fueler Cards (not FJ RV Fueler Cards), FlyingJ RV Cards are NOT recognized at the RV Island Pumps, station Managers (both Pilot & FlyingJ) pass the blame to Corp. for the RV Fueler Cards NOT working in the card readers (both FJ & Pilot), even after registering my DL with the FJ Manager the pump auto-start feature DOES NOT WORK at the FJ RV Fuel Island, and lack of basic instructions should be posted at the RV Islands - ie: insert credit card first, RV Fueler card second. Come on FlyingJ and Pilot you can do a better job. Lastly, it is not clear (at least to me) on the Real Value Member website what the dollar/gallon limits are for the Pump Start Procedure at the RV Fuel Island. My coach has a 200 gal diesel tank, so at the current price of $4.00/gal, I may have a $800+ fill. Since I have registered my DL with a FlyingJ Manager, does this mean I can swipe my FlyingJ RV Member Card at the RV Fuel Island and the pump will allow me to fill my tank?

I have been using VZW for over 5 yrs now for data. Recently I added the Wilson Electronics Yagi antenna. WOW am I impressed. I did not purchase a booster, just the antenna. I mounted atop my Uncommon USA telescoping 25' flag pole. What a difference this made. I now really zip around the internet. The yagi antenna in a 90 degree directional antenna, so my wife watches the signal strength indicator on the laptop while we use our 2-way radios. The antenna was $50 and the cable $75. Really has made a difference.

Yes, indeed. My wife & I share a VZW data card via Internet Connection Sharing (ad hoc wireless). I have been on VZW data plan for over 5 years. Luckily I have a grandfathered plan so I do not have that 5 GB data limit. But if I go over that 5 GB amount, VZW can "throttle down" my connection speed. For that reason, I keep our usage just under 5 GB a month. So in answer to your inquiry, YES, it is quite easy to reach the 5 GB threshold (and we do not try to watch TV or stream videos). Just surfing and researching. The data plans now with the 5 GB limit charge you much $$ if you go over that amount. Watch your data usage carefully. You can check your data usage in the VZ Access Manger by clicking on USAGE. This figure is expressed in KB. To convert to GB, go to: Convert KB to GB website

At this time we must take action by submitting our comments to the proposed legislation regarding the Senior/ACCESS Pass. In other posts, links have been provided to read about the proposed changes, but you can submit your comments electronically to the via Regulations.gov directly. Link: Send your comments electronically at this Regulations.gov Web page Comments must be received no later than February 1st. Please take a moment of your time and let yourself be heard or we will loose this valuable discount! Even if you are not a Senior yet, you WILL BE ONE SOMEDAY! Steve Mondl

Most refrigs should stay cool for at least 6 hours (unless you are in the desert). So, when you arrive at your campsite, plug into shore power or turn on your genset - your household frig will cool down quite fast. Also, keep in mind that household appliances usually use LESS power than RV style appliances, so you may be able to also run your house frig using your RV's inverter while driving. Most household frigs use less than 10 - 12 amps AC. All of my RV appliances are household appliances - they COST less, too.

Mike, I tell you this, I was very disappointed today when I logged into FMCA.COM trying to get info on Commercial Members. I even read online that Members are to be able to find Comm Member info via the FMCA Magazine online - no so. Members should be able to access this info online easily. Steve M. F147279