Should FMCA Allow Towable RVs-- Vote NOW

[manholt]

Of the Fraternal Organizations, most depends on dues, gifts, wills and Fund Raisers!  Tax free Foundations, depend on Grants and monthly gifts!  All have both hourly and salaried workers, everything from telephone operators, accountants, comptroller, legal department, Board of Directors, President, VP, CEO, etc.

We, FMCA, is no different.

[BillAdams]

I only point is that someone is getting paid to keep this business in business.  I don't object to the fact that businessmen and women are getting paid to run the business.  My objection is that those running this business have failed to keep this business profitable so they are now going to evolve the business into a completely different business unlike anything that FMCA has been dedicated to for the last 54 year.

Therein lies the heading of this topic.  Should FMCA allow.......It's not just allow, it's a complete overhaul of the business and business plan.

[manholt]

Bill.  FMCA is not suppose to be profitable...it's a non profit corporation!

FMC is the once who you should turn your wrath too!   

[hermanmullins]

Come folks back on the topic. Should FMCA allow towables? 

Herman 

[BillAdams]

They really are one in the same.  What business would FMC have if not for FMCA?

No matter.  As I said above, this is not just a matter of allowing towable to join but a complete change to the FMCA organization.  This would be a change from an organization for the sharing of information for and about motorized RV owners to just another group that will be homogenized to RV's of all types.  This leaves me reading about popups and travel trailers just the same as the other organizations already do.  The rallies would just be Good Sam rallies using a different moniker and I think that's just sad.

[rfsod48]

I agree Bill A.

[jimnorm]

Non-profit does not mean you cannot build a reserve. You can 'make money', but you may have to pay taxes on it, there is a difference between a Not for Profit and a Tax-Exempt organization. FMCA should look to increase its financial strength each year. If it looks to just break even it will break.

As for allowing other than Motor driven, self propelled recreational vehicles into FMCA I am 100% opposed. If I want to go to a general gathering I can go to Good Sam or any campground or RV show. I joined FMCA especially to get more knowledge about MOTOR homes, not RVs in general. Understand I do not dislike towables. I've had good times in CGs with people in towables, RVs and tents. People are people, I agree, BUT Towables are NOT Motor Homes!

Said it before and I'll say it again, until we have been soundly rejected by every MOTORHOME owner we do not need to be looking outside our own demographic. We need to get the Dealers and Builders involved. Get them to include on year of membership, make it a special class if needs be, Instead of a F-##### get a T-###### and see what it is all about. Digital magazine, no mailing, virtually no cost to FMCA, but EVERY new MH Owner or owner of a New or New to them MH gets this. Once they see what we offer and how little the costs are many will join, Of course there will be those that don't. So? 

Then we need to concurrently work on making FAMILY a bigger part of what we do. We need local chapters to work to make rallies family friendly and accessible. If you all want FMCA to succeed this is where we need to go. School time and week days are not available to a vast number of our potential members. Not everyone can take off for two weeks in March to attend a Rally. After 10 years of membership we finally got to attend one, it was a week for us and it was outside school days so we could finally go. We need to realize that towable or MH that restriction will still apply. People have JOBS and SCHOOL and if we don't address that we will continue to be a Grandparent/Retired/Wealthy Motor Coach Association, not a FAMILY Motor Coach Association.

[hermanmullins]

Well said Joe.

Herman

[rpelatt]

6 hours ago, BillAdams said:

They really are one in the same.  What business would FMC have if not for FMCA?

No matter.  As I said above, this is not just a matter of allowing towable to join but a complete change to the FMCA organization.  This would be a change from an organization for the sharing of information for and about motorized RV owners to just another group that will be homogenized to RV's of all types.  This leaves me reading about popups and travel trailers just the same as the other organizations already do.  The rallies would just be Good Sam rallies using a different moniker and I think that's just sad.

Well said BillA

[manholt]

Quote

 

Joe, Bill.  Glad that we are back on subject.  I totally agree! 

Carl

[jamesf3254]

This is from a family that has owned them all, towable, 5th, and motorhome.  We joined FMCA because it was a motorhome orginazation, but reality is, there are fewer and fewer of us.  We summer work in a campground in College Park, MD so we see fewer motorhomes than in the past.  Nothing I will be saying is to do away with the motorhome aspect of FMCA, but we need to increase our membership.

What if we allowed towables at chapter and all other rallies.  To attend they would have to pay addational fees, to be determined.  My thinking is that we would be exposing these folks to a motorhome environment, and plant the seed of a motorhome.  We have traveled with people that have towables and when we stop to go someplace and dont have hookups they moved all their pets over to our motorhome, because we had a gen and could turn on the air.  After a year or so of this, last spring when we met up, they had a motorhome and were towing their tow rig they used for their 5th.  Reason being, we saw how easy it was to travel and such.  The vendors would have a better exposed and after market vendors would also recieve a benefit.

By attending the FMCA rally, they would be immeresed in the motorhome culture and see lots of styles and types of motorhomes.  They might not jump to a motorhome at that poing but we sure would plant the seed for the future.  If the addational registration fee also included the magazine they would have a year of motorhome knowledge on their plate..  

My thoughts on the fee including the membership it would be with a different type number.  Instead of a F279425, like mine, it would be something like AX279425 and not include voting rights.  Also, if somebody with a motorhome moved to a towable they would be moved for a F membership to an AX membership, but still be able to attend rallies and get the magazine.  However, we dont give up on the motorhome rv, and remain true to the FMCA we all know.

Jim Fagan, F279425. 2002 Windsor

 

[hermanmullins]

Jim,

Welcome to the Forum. There is a provision not for FMCA Members that down size to a towable. It is an Associate member. "A123456". They maintain membership with the benefits but can not hold an officer nor have voting privileges.

I have parked towables at the last two Conventions, Chandler and Indianapolis. You are right they were all very nice people and I hope by attending they were inspired to move up to a Motor Home. 

Herman

[dons2346]

James, as the proposal is written, there will be no differentiation between towables and motorcoaches. If you read the proposal, you will see that you will be voting on changing the wording of the documents from "motorhome" or "motorcoach" to "recreational vehicles". that is all. Any other changes will have to be done by the governing board at a later date.  If you join FMCA, you should get an "F" number, period. By giving out some other designation would cause more problems than it would solve as there would appear to be two or more "classes" of membership. One type of membership is plenty.

Now, did you know that there are a number of "towables" already a member of FMCA? Yup, it is true and it was done legally. If you at one time had a motorhome and joined FMCA and later traded for a towable, you can retain your membership as an associate member. A lot of people do not know this.

In my vast travels I have seen a number of trailers with the goose egg on the back. I always check the back of any RV I see on the road and sometimes the wife hauls out the computer to check who belongs to the goose egg.

[jamesf3254]

I was just rambling, because with the rally in Perry, GA next spring.  A lot of rv owners will be heading north to their summer locations.  If we could round up, and hold a bunch of those folks with towables maybe we could enhance the numbers.  I guess why I am talking, is we joined in 2000 with our first motorhome and we enjoy and have learned a lot with the magazine and talking to other members.We MUST keep this organization going. If we loose it we will never get it back.  We plan on attending the Monaco Intl. and the FMCA rallies in GA next spring.  Jim Fagan F279425

 

[jimnorm]

James, I agree with you that if we lose this organization it will likely be gone forever, however at that point we diverge. I feel if we actively recruit Towables we will radically change what FMCA is or is supposed to be. We will lose it. We have nowhere come close to actively recruiting all of the owners of Motorhomes. I'll not repeat my entire earlier post (about 6 posts up) but there are a number of free or nearly free ways we could enhance our membership and attract new members. We have not done so. We are admitting defeat by going after towables and we will go down in flames. Why should a towable join us? There are already myriad orgs for them. This is the ONLY MH Only org out there.

[manholt]

Just a note of interest.  JimF, you joined in 2000 and have a F279xxx, I'm parked next to a F463xxx...almost 200,000 in 17 years!  If we are "loosing" money, it's going out the back door!  We need to find out the, who, where and why....

[BillAdams]

The problem is that FMCA has lost 250,000 members (I'm guessing) in the same time frame.  There was a time where some manufacturers were giving out free memberships and there were some reduced price offers, multi-year offers and life memberships offers (really needed to raise some cash) but nothing seems to being done to encourage younger members.  There ARE young motorhome owners out there which would help drop the average age below 71.  There is always a long list of members who made their final trip in each magazine and there are many who just don't see any value in the club any longer.  Certainly if you have been to the Perry, GA rally once you are not really going to have any great desire to go again.  However, year after year after year we have a rally in Perry in the Spring in the rain!

[hermanmullins]

On 8/17/2017 at 3:20 AM, hermanmullins said:

Come folks back on the topic. Should FMCA allow towables? 

Herman 

Nuf Said.

Herman

[manholt]

Herman.

I think we have beaten this horse (topic) to death!

[clark247]

So, when and how do we get to vote?

[manholt]

clark.

Go to top of page 3...full explanation!

[jeff753]

On 8/13/2017 at 10:26 AM, BillAdams said:

Where did you get the 6163 number?  Even if that's accurate, that means of the 40,000 RV 33,837 were NOT eligible to join FMCA.  FMCA is just chasing the money.

According to RVIA:

"Motorhome shipments led by Type C motorhomes, totaled 6,163 units, up 27.5 percent compared to May 2016.  Year to date Motorhome shipments ar at 27,610 units, up 15.6 percent compared to this point last year."  

A side note all towables, led by travel trailers, are at 39,960 year to date. 

My point is the market for motorhome only members appears to be there. 

How many members has fmca lost and gained during this time frame?  

[jeff753]

On 8/15/2017 at 6:34 AM, BillAdams said:

I'm sorry but FMCA is just a business.  If the folks running the business are not doing the job then you fire them and hire people who can do the job.  It's not the job of the folks who represent the business for free as they travel around the Country to run the business.  Someone up there is getting paid to run the business.  It sounds like they are failing to keep up with the needs of the consumer.  As with an business, it either needs to fix the problem or go away.  I am sure the owners of this business have decided it's best to switch than fight (evolve) and will end up as just another humongous RV group like Good Sam or Escapee.  This might be a good business move as they will have access to the 80% of RV owners that do not own a motorhome.  The new business will no longer carry Family in the name and it won't say Motor Coach so FMCA will mean nothing more than FMCA.

This is not our club as many have repeated again and again.  It's a business and someone needs to start running it like one.

I will say fmca has recently  appointed Chris Smith as Executive Director and very recently replaced the Events Manager with Doug Uhlenbach. 

Both of these positions now rest with younger very capable people and things are changing. 

At past conventions getting something different at events was very very difficult.  Now...if it can be done it is. Doug's first rally was Indy and he acquired that one very late in the game.  I will say I'm impressed with Mr U and his staff. 

[jimnorm]

We keep getting asked to stay on topic. The topic being, 'should we allow towables'. Underlying this is why is there a perceived need to expand membership to towables? It looks to me like what we have done is to rest on our laurels to the point where we are aging out. at 64 I am a young member! That is scary and is certainly not an omen that the organization is growing. We, the members are dying. Our average member is at the end years of active life. We need to find a way to attract the younger MH owner. What good will we do if all we do is move from having the average member own a MH and be 71 to having the new average member own a towable and be 71? This is the problem that needs to be addressed. How do we get the people that own or are in the process of buying a MH to join us regardless of their age?

 

[BillAdams]

The problem is that "we" haven't done anything.  Doing anything is not our job.  The problem is that the folks who own this business have not done anything and now, as the funds are drying up, these business owners are looking to find a way to keep a dying business alive.  The business is failing because the business owners have failed to keep up with the times and they now don't see any other path to profitability other than whoring themselves out to every RV owner completely wiping out the original intent of this business.

Yes, Herman, I am still on topic.  I really don't need any additional chastising from you.