The Future of FMCA

[wolfe10]

48 minutes ago, manholt said:

Mark, it's not you and it's not funny...bloody pathetic!  

 

Guess I'll be a contrarian here.

 A full time manager with a staff of 35 covering such a wide range of activities and reporting to an outside board should NOT have the time to take off and RV.

Rent one? Attend a convention staying in one?  SURE.

But we need a full time manager, not part timer.

The CEO of FMCA is a policy IMPLEMENTER. The Executive Board is the policy MAKER.

[marktaylorjets]

Shouldn't everyone be able to take time from their job, no matter how important,  to enjoy life and their family? 

I think the first line on someone's resume for the job should go something like, " I own XYZ rv and have been camping for XX years with my family."

[wolfe10]

IF (yes, big IF) you are going to hire a CEO based on their hobbies, leave me out.

Did I have a hobby when running large automobile dealerships-- absolutely.  But, to tell me what my choice of hobby/stress relief was a requirement for employment-- not rational.

Even when I was General Manager of the largest Chevrolet dealership in New Mexico, my hobby/stress relief was sailing.  Yes, even in New Mexico. If on my interview for the position I was TOLD my new hobby was to join a Corvette club and go to all their rallies, I would not have taken the position.

Again, it comes down to job description.  Running an organization effectively is quite different from being the policy maker for that organization.

[fmcastaff]

20 minutes ago, marktaylorjets said:

Shouldn't everyone be able to take time from their job, no matter how important,  to enjoy life and their family? 

I think the first line on someone's resume for the job should go something like, " I own XYZ rv and have been camping for XX years with my family."

I will have to wholeheartedly disagree with your assessment.

Does the CEO of Delta have to own a jet? Be a pilot? Both?

I know there are plenty of individuals that run very successful sports franchises that are the most unathletic people imaginable. I could go on and on with examples.

We have an Executive Board that own RVs and live the lifestyle. They are the decision makers. As Brett said, I carry out their directives. And owning an RV has not hindered that once in 3.5 years in the position.

[marktaylorjets]

I never implied I was very smart.  Besides, everyone knows if you have enough bananas, you can teach a monkey to be a Fighter Pilot.  I'm living proof. 

We are all like-minded people in pursuit of the same thing, the enjoyment of our RV's.  I/we are in it for the long haul, no matter what. 

[docj]

2 hours ago, manholt said:

Mark, it's not you and it's not funny...bloody pathetic!  

Jim S.  Agree.

When I first read it, I thought it was a joke, like something from The Onion! 😂

[cwswine]

If you have Medicare Part A they will move you to a hospital that care for you.  Our local hospital doesn’t have the staff to for care of heart patients.   They stabilize and move them to facility about 60 miles away for longer term care at no cost under Part A of Medicare.  To use it you have to coordinate with Assist folks and I don’t want them to take the time, just go thru regular channels they use everyday.

I keep hearing about our members want events.  If that was true they would get more 2 or 3 percent attending. With 79,000 members and only 2,000 showing up for rally like Tucson is less than 3 percent of the membership.  I think you find that attendees attend several rallies during the year and make up the majority of the attendees.  The local FMCA chapters seem to do much better job of attracting attendees.  

FMCA issued couple thousand certificates to people that was at Tucson and think if thousand show up next year at Perry rally they won’t have the funds to put a decent rally.  Just kinda prolonging the pain.

The only benefit we used in 4 years is had tire change on our toad so I going to have to evaluate my membership next year.

 

[wildebill308]

49 minutes ago, CWSWINE said:

If you have Medicare Part A they will move you to a hospital that care for you.  Our local hospital doesn’t have the staff to for care of heart patients.   They stabilize and move them to facility about 60 miles away for longer term care at no cost under Part A of Medicare.  To use it you have to coordinate with Assist folks and I don’t want them to take the time, just go thru regular channels they use everyday.

That is true but who at Medicare do you call to move your RV and maybe your toad. Do you travel with any dependents? Do you have any pets? What is the number at Medicare to take care of them?

 

53 minutes ago, CWSWINE said:

The only benefit we used in 4 years is had tire change on our toad so I going to have to evaluate my membership next year.

I think you should evaluate your membership next year. Have you joined any of your local chapters or clubs? Have you participated in any local Rallies? Volunteered to help put on a rally? 

Bill

 

[richard5933]

Speaking of events - I've always wondered why every event needs to be a rally.

Personally, I'd love to have a local event here in SE Wisconsin just to get to meet other FMCA members. Could just be a social gathering, or maybe a meet-up at a local RV show (there are typically 2 a year in Milwaukee area). Or maybe FMCA could have an information table at one of these shows with a social gathering for members during the show.

To me it would be really nice to be able to build connections in person with other members, even if our rigs are not involved. Sure would make the rallies more meaningful if you were going to see friends that you interact with in person throughout the year.

[manholt]

I certainly enjoyed meeting you in Gillette, WY at the FMCA Natiomal, meet & greet at Hermans coach!  Have you been to one of the Area Rally's?  

[richard5933]

41 minutes ago, manholt said:

I certainly enjoyed meeting you in Gillette, WY at the FMCA Natiomal, meet & greet at Hermans coach!  Have you been to one of the Area Rally's?  

Not yet - the timing has not worked out yet. Between a work schedule to accommodate and not bringing the coach out of winterization until late April, it just hasn't been possible yet.

Especially up here in the north, doing something in the winter season without the coaches would give members a chance to interact. Since the RV shows are in the cold season up here, it would be a great thing to build an event or social activity around.

 

[wildebill308]

12 minutes ago, richard5933 said:

Since the RV shows are in the cold season up here, it would be a great thing to build an event or social activity around.

One of my local clubs The Red River Rovers has it's December get together at a local restaurant. Always lots of fun.

Bill

[cwswine]

2 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

That is true but who at Medicare do you call to move your RV and maybe your toad. Do you travel with any dependents? Do you have any pets? What is the number at Medicare to take care of them?

That is what friends and family for, not sure i would want to  leave that to stranger!

I think you should evaluate your membership next year. Have you joined any of your local chapters or clubs? Have you participated in any local Rallies? Volunteered to help put on a rally? 

Bill

Nope and probably never will go to one.  They seem to do a better job with the chapters than FMCA does but just interested. 

 

[ianbullock]

Did everyone see this deal from FMCA posted on Facebook and Twitter this morning? Even though my membership wasn't expiring soon, I added a year to my membership right away. 

1 week only - April 23 - April 30 - we are offering throwback pricing for new and existing members. Current members click here to RENEW for $50 - https://t.co/tMcZJe9Ley 

New members click here to JOIN for $60 - https://t.co/LbgBrpo47v #fmcaRV #rvclub #rv #rvlife https://t.co/9rbSxtjOV4

You must click the links above to take advantage of the deal. It is not offered on the FMCA regular web log in.

What a deal!

[docj]

1 hour ago, IanBullock said:

Did everyone see this deal from FMCA posted on Facebook and Twitter this morning? Even though my membership wasn't expiring soon, I added a year to my membership right away. 

1 week only - April 23 - April 30 - we are offering throwback pricing for new and existing members. Current members click here to RENEW for $50 - https://t.co/tMcZJe9Ley 

New members click here to JOIN for $60 - https://t.co/LbgBrpo47v #fmcaRV #rvclub #rv #rvlife https://t.co/9rbSxtjOV4

You must click the links above to take advantage of the deal. It is not offered on the FMCA regular web log in.

What a deal!

Of course, this is a classic accounting tactic by which revenues from future years are used to resolve a current cash flow problem.  It doesn't fix any problems; it simply delays them.

[fmcastaff]

20 minutes ago, docj said:

Of course, this is a classic accounting tactic by which revenues from future years are used to resolve a current cash flow problem.  It doesn't fix any problems; it simply delays them.

I don't know of a company that does not run promotions. FMCA does not do it very often.

[ianbullock]

7 minutes ago, smithy said:

I don't know of a company that does not run promotions. FMCA does not do it very often.

IMHO, all the more reason to take advantage of this offer before it expires in a few days.

[wildebill308]

32 minutes ago, docj said:

Of course, this is a classic accounting tactic by which revenues from future years are used to resolve a current cash flow problem.  It doesn't fix any problems; it simply delays them.

Lets heare some of your ideas on how to fix the problem.

Bill

[fmcastaff]

22 minutes ago, IanBullock said:

IMHO, all the more reason to take advantage of this offer before it expires in a few days.

Glad you enjoyed the offer Ian!

[wolfe10]

12 minutes ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

Lets hear some of your ideas on how to fix the problem.

Bill

AMEN.

Criticizing is easy.  Offering solutions is more difficult.

To me, the discounted membership offer is a WIN-WIN.

Member win by getting a discount on membership.

FMCA gets a capital infusion at an extremely unique-- a historically unique time. Thinking outside the box will help separate those organizations that come out of this pandemic and those that do not.

IMO offering the discounted membership is a much better idea than cashing in invested funds right now to pay for ongoing expenses.

 

[docj]

19 minutes ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

Lets heare some of your ideas on how to fix the problem.

Personally, I might consider something like a two-tier organization.  The low-cost-of-entry primary tier would be a broadly based organization focused on providing useful information to the RV community.  Since Good Sam looks like it is finally on its last legs, maybe FMCA could take over the discount function that attracted so many people to GS.  The online-only magazine would contain information covering all aspects of RVing.  I don't think there currently exists any broadly-based entity that serves this role.  I'd be willing to pay $30-40/year for such an organization if it included GS's discounts.  It would have to change its name from FMCA to something that reflected an appeal to a broader base.

Then, inside this first tier there would exist a smaller organization which is focussed on staging rallies and other activities for members who like to participate in them.  There are some RVers who consider such events central to their concept of RVing and others who aren't the least bit interested.  At present, FMCA's cost structure is built to sustain such an organization but the membership numbers don't support the superstructure.  I suggest that the entire enterprise be rebuilt from the ground up.  In other words, figure out what a stable membership number would be at a dues rate <$100/yr and then create an organization to fit it.

When thinking about what benefits to price into these two organizations,  one needs to step back and analyze how its members use their RVs and what benefits they would be interested in.  For example, since many (most?) RVs are used by many owners for only a limited number of trips each year and most of those trips aren't all that far from home (RVIA data), maybe TravelAssist isn't all that important to them.  Furthermore, Michelin tire discounts may not be all that important to people buying tires sized for most towables.  Scaling back benefits will permit the organization(s) to better use their dues revenues.

I'm sure this proposed organizational structure will appeal to some and will be antithetical to others.  But if FMCA is to survive I think that it has to engage in a "bottoms up" rethink of its entire raison d'etre. Several of you challenged me to come up with ideas; here they are.

[richard5933]

Seems to me that a key to FMCA continuity is bringing in younger members. Does any one know if any type of survey / study has been done in recent years to determine what those younger members might find attractive?

[five]

As my favorite talk show host says, "follow the money."  The younger generation, who assume they won't need the FMCA Assist Program, think $85 is a bit steep for a monthly magazine, a magazine, which in IMHO is not as good as the main competition.

 

So the question is how do we gain members and increase revenue?

 

-  Like Carl, I like the hard copy magazine, but if it will save $300k to eliminate it, do it.  Most mags, and now even local papers operate that way.

-  Drop FMCA Assist., then....

-  Cut the dues in half.

-  Reduce staff and/or salaries.

-  Charge for using the FMCA CG.

-  Fixed facilities....reduce those/move to a smaller cheaper location.

-  Increase new membership.  That is the problem.  Going up to an RV in a CG and try to convince somebody to join FMCA is tough.  What do we tell them?   FMCA Assist and maybe a deal on tires are the only real advantages over anything else.  I don't think advertising rallies will sell many memberships.  Otherwise it's $85 a year for a magazine. 

 

It has been inferred that if you have a full time job you don't have time for an RV.  I must disagree with that.  The "RV" doesn't have to be a high dollar MH.  My first RV was a 3/4 ton truck and a slide in camper.  When not RVing, the pick up was my daily driver and the camper sat in the yard in the back.  I not only had a job, I was in Army.  When I got orders overseas, the truck/camper stayed with my in laws for three years.  When we returned, we picked it up enroute to my next duty station. 

[rossboyer]

6 hours ago, docj said:

Of course, this is a classic accounting tactic by which revenues from future years are used to resolve a current cash flow problem.  It doesn't fix any problems; it simply delays them.

Not in FMCA. Dues paid ahead are placed in reserves and recognized in the year and month of the anniversary.  What you describe is the way accounting was done in 1990-2005 and maybe more years. The advantage to FMCA is the possible earnings on the investments and probable renewals. 

[C010875]

On 4/20/2020 at 4:04 PM, hermanmullins said:

Chuck Woodbury, will do anything to garnish attention. After reading his so called article I can see why he went broke with his magazine.

Unfortunately he has gotten just what he wanted. Attention.

Herman

Herman, when did I go broke? I lost a lot on a printed magazine 35 years ago, but did not go "broke," and paid off my bills.  And in the process I learned a lot of lessons. I will "do anything to attract attention?" Come on, how do you draw that conclusion? Like any business person I seek attention to grow our circulation. And it works. We dwarf FMCA in readership. RVtravel.com is financially solid. We have four employees, not 35, and we publish about 400 newsletters a year, all in the black. Printed magazines are 20th century; just look at the industry statistics -- Chuck Woodbury