Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Hollenway on July 31, 2013, 07:13:59 PM
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I'm sure others are interested as well....... Who are our new club officers ????
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And the answer is:
President - Jim Lape
Vice President - Gordie Chamberlain
Secretary - Jennifer Dimmick
Treasurer - Steve Hermesch
We are working on completing a roster and hope to have it published very soon.
A 2014 calendar will be published. Mike Barker is looking for good car pictures to publish.
The 2014 convention will be in the Seattle/Tacoma area with Gettysburg hosting the 2015 meeting. OKC has been mentioned for 2016, but that's still open.
That's the latest!
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Congratulations Jim and Gordie!
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Sounds fantastic!!
CONGRATS to ALL
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Congrats Gordie and Jim!!!!!!
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Congrats to all of our new officers !!!! I wish you all the best !!!!!!
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Thanks for volunteering for these important posts!
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And in other news, Barbara Mueller continues as Bulletin Editor. Charlotte Dayton continues as Chief Judge. There were 66 cars, give or take, (some came but didn't stay long) and 15 were judged. Judging was somewhat different because it started at 5 PM when the majority of members were getting in line to eat BBQ ribs. It was also lightly raining so there was the aroma from the BBQ and the wetness to distract the judges. It was bright and pleasant the next morning. There will be judging at the National next year.
Jack Mueller submitted Vol 5 of the Handbook at Shipshewana which could be mailed out along with the 2014 Club Calender. It has a lot more content and Jack has worked on the file structure so it should be a lot easier to navigate. I was demonstrating Vol 4 on my Nook tablet at the Meet and while that was impressive, Vol 5 should blow your mind.
Also there are only 139 members getting their Bulletins through e-mail. I was surprised and disappointed that so few members have taken advantage of this service.
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Also there are only 139 members getting their Bulletins through e-mail. I was surprised and disappointed that so few members have taken advantage of this service.
Actually, there are only 128 signed up for email Bulletins, but 2 more joined @ the National.
FYI: you can "sample" an issue without further obligation ... send a request to: bulletin@kfclub.com
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Congrats to all the people that are keeping the club going. I have not looked for this info but how many members are in the club now?
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how many members are in the club now?
As of 7/24/13 there were 1181 active members (Life Members, Annual Members & Associate Members)
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Barbara, Do you know if we are going to get an updated membership booklet?
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Barbara, Do you know if we are going to get an updated membership booklet?
Yes ... now that I've finally got the full membership list, it's just a matter of working out the layout/format & how to send it with a Bulletin (but not "in" the Bulletin) to save on postage. Up to now, I only had a mailing list for the Bulletin, which did not include associate members or phone numbers.
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For many years, the Roster went out as a QUARTERLY issue. When I stated at the Membership Meeting that I could produce four issues of the QUARTERLY in a year within the budget set up by the KFOCI Treasurer, I assumed the practice would continue.
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As was stated by our President elect in the Business Meeting, a committee will be formed of stake holders, et.al, to address the issue of funding/printing/mailing of all Club publications.
No one side can claim to have solved this issue unilaterally!
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Also there are only 139 members getting their Bulletins through e-mail. I was surprised and disappointed that so few members have taken advantage of this service.
Actually, there are only 128 signed up for email Bulletins, but 2 more joined @ the National.
FYI: you can "sample" an issue without further obligation ... send a request to: bulletin@kfclub.com
We now have 133 on the email list.
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Being a life time member for twenty years ... I hate to say it but I would like to suggest expecting Qtrlys / Member Directories / and the Great Bulletin for free ... FOREVER is expecting way to much.
My suggestion is to charge LifeTime Members $10 for their bulletin to cover mailing and printing expenses with the option to stay free if we take it as an emailed bulletin.
I would also to suggest that Canadian member be given a much reduced membership cost if they take their Bulletins via Email.
I have a collection of every paper bulletin ever printed and I am willing to start taking the Bulletin via Email.
Barbara switch me to EMAIL ... THOUGHTS??
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Question - Barbara ... what does it cost to print me 12 Bulletins and mail them to me?? I would guess it is costing way more than $10 a year.
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I used to think it was an honor to be a life member. At the National this year another member criticized me for being an LM and told me I was one of the members that is really hurting the club. I got my LM in the 80s and at that time the club was anxious to take my money. Of course at that time they were getting good interest off the life memberships. If they are hurting the club that bad, maybe we should consider a yearly fee for publications and discontinue LM.
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No one should criticize you for making a wise financial choice at some point to be a lifetime member. If the club needs funds, then yes, maybe some things will have to start costing, etc. But for someone to criticize you just isn't right. It seems like criticizing for not paying extra taxes. Doesn't make sense to me.
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At the time the LM program began, interest rates on a CD were over 15%; at that rate the interest coming in more than covered publications and postage. Nobody thought it through back then and considered the possibility that CD interest would plunge well below 4%. Also, nobody thought it through back then to consider there would be a steady increase in the price of postage and printing.
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Jack, I have to take issue with your statement "interest rates on a CD were over 15%." The LM offer began much earlier during the time saving accounts (remember them?) were about 5%. So 5% on an LM investment of $200 (the single payment around 1972) paid for the publications. For quite a few years the Directors always asked the Treasurer at the Board Meeting if the interest return was sufficient to cover the LM expenses. The LM investments moved to money market accounts and then CDs over the years.
There is also an Associate LM category which for a 1 time payment of $50 which essentially enables a person to be retained on the membership list of the Club. No publications but they are full voting members and can hold office.
There are 2 types of people that opt for the LM. The most obvious are people who don't want to be troubled with missed or increased renewals (foreign members would be attracted to this aspect). The 2nd class are people who intend to continue to contribute to the Club. Only a few years ago if you were at the Board Meeting you would find that almost all the people there (not just the elected officials) were LMs. One extremely long time member who is NOT an LM is our current Treasurer and he has a compelling story why he is not one.
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But to get back to a previous post, I would not consider an LM as an honor - you actually paid beyond and above a regular membership. I would call it a demonstration that you are more committed than a regular member.
As an offshot of this discussion, there have been proposals to make certain people Honorary Life Members. One particular name that comes to mind is Bill Clinton. He may have been 1/5 owner of a HJ at some time (who can tell - I don't think he ever had to drive to get anywhere*) but the idea was rejected because his connection was questionable and his activities did not add anything to the Club or the cars in general.
* Now LBJ was a President who liked to drive. He used to get up at sunrise on Sundays at the Pedernales Ranch and get into one of the White House Lincolns, drive down the dirt roads in the area with the Secret Service trying to stay close behind, and drink a warm 6 pack of Pearl beer. By 9AM he would be in church acting dignified.
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Question - Barbara ... what does it cost to print me 12 Bulletins and mail them to me?? I would guess it is costing way more than $10 a year.
For me, the cost for printing & postage per issue in the US is $.94 for a 12 page issue, $1.29 for a 16 page issue. For Canada, it's $1.58 & $1.67 respectively; other foreign is $1.58 & $2.47 respectively. I do not know how much it cost for the 4 issues Jim Lape did earlier this year.
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Barbara switch me to EMAIL
Great! Welcome to the email list
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Regarding Tom's comments on Life Members, it is my recollection that c.1980 there was a meeting in a parking lot at a KFOCI meet. Dick Harder was among the group pushing for the club to adopt a Life Membership program with dues in the category 10 times the normal yearly rate. At the time, Dick's family had a connection of some type with the Kilbourn State Bank of Milwaukee, WI. Proceeds from the Life Member program would be used to open CD's at that bank which at the time offered a very good rate of return; interest was enough to cover price of publications to LM's. The original figure, if I remember right was $250.00 and a number of members quickly jumped on board the bandwagon.
This is what I meant when I said that originally, the LM program was a good deal for the club but today, because of the extremely low interest on CD's we lose on every member.
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While editor of the bulletin, I kept issues to 12 pages at a cost of $.86 per piece mailed to US addresses. The Canadian and foreign were a few within a few pennies of the current cost.
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So if we mail Bulletins to our LM (including ME) at $1 each times 12 = $12. Guessing Color Calendar at $8, Member Directory at $8 and 2 Quarterlys at $6 each ... Adds up to $40 per LM... Sounds like a great way to break the bank. Thoughts??
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Stop offering Life Membership so the problem doesn't get worse?
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The suggestion to end the LM program came up at more than one recent National Convention. The resolution was to grandfather in the existing LM's and announce a cut-off date a couple months after first publication to allow any last-minute joiners.
Each time it was proposed it was not recommended for acceptance and the membership voted it down even after the costs to the club were explained to them.
For those interested there were less than 100 voting members at the 2013 National Convention based on vote tally for the Weidinger change to the Constitution and By-Laws. This came to less than 10% of the entire membership deciding who would be an officer and votes on policy changes.
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When ever the KF Board and General Membership agreed on changes to membership terms or rates, it was insisted that the changes had to be posted prior to becoming effective. Hence, the earliest a dues increase could become effective would be with the August Bulletin.
Contrast this with the Studebaker Drivers Club. They decided to end Life Memberships and decided it was effective upon a favorable vote of their Board. If they had used the same practice as the KFOCI, I would have been a LM of both the KFOCI and SDC.
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Actually, it seems to me that the earliest figure I have seen for a LM was $150 and that was in the late 1960s. The price went up to $200 and I saw an incidence of the Secretary allowing a member to pay 2 installments of $100. It later went up to $250 and that was when I paid (That was more than the combined price of my 1st 2 KFs). Dick & Karen Harder were Secretary/Treasurer and interest rates on CDs were climbing at the time.
My thought was that I was paying 10 years in advance, but I expected the regular dues to increase in 6 to 8 years. So several people had the same line of reasoning at that time.
From what I saw of the Membership records, LMs were 8 to 12% of total membership.
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As a long-time life member and proud of it, I do not want to lose my life membership in the club. I believe I paid $150 about 25 years ago. It was a great investment. It served two purposes - proof that I was committed to my favorite club and that I was cheap, hedging my bets that I would live long enough to enjoy my great savings. I figure it works out to about $6 per year so far and the cost is still going down.
The suggestion that we grandfather in old members and discontinue new ones might be workable. Mike Barker made a suggestion at the National this year (actually many suggestions): "Could all life members and foreign members be required to get the bulletin email as a measure to help contain costs?"
Taking that a step farther, if the LM's and the foreign members still want hard copy mailed to them, they should pay for it. I've been receiving my Bulletins as email since it was first offered. Now how do I balance my Quarterlies, Calendars and Rosters? Perhaps a reduced fee for life members?
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There have been many discussions about ending the Life Member program. I don't claim to have been in all of them but those I was involved in covered taking no further LM applications. ALL EXISTING LIFE MEMBERS as of a date to be determined (the cut-off for new applications to be accepted) would remain LM's. We cannot dissolve their status legally as I understand the club Constitution and/or By-Laws.
Second, I suggest those wanting to force overseas members to take publications only electronically should be aware that unless we do this for ALL Life Members, at home and abroad, we are discrimating against members because of their country of residence/origin. Doing this to overseas memb ers only is in violation of the non-discrimination clauses in our rules and regulations.
Check the facts for yourself.
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Re: the comment about only 100 voting members, that is because members must be present to vote, which I have expressed in other parts of this forum my objection to. I did attend the meet in Kerville, Texas, because it was close to me, but for those of us with kids in school, it can be very hard to get away, even if we would like to.