EAA Membership Renewal Notice or Collection Agency?

[JNicol]

I wish EAA would not resort to making membership reminder notices look like collection agency letters with what you see below.


5076

[Byron J. Covey]

I wish that I could get a membership card with a homebuilt on it rather than a B-17.


BJC

[FlyingRon]

I guess it doesn't concern me since I don't tend to get letters from collection agencies. Frankly, it looks like the junk mail spam I get for mortgage refinancing more than anything else (which I just toss anyway).

The EAA could save the money and not bother to send me such junk. I never open them. I don't carry my card either. I memorized my membership number long ago and there's only twice that I ever need it (once to register at Oshkosh and once to retrieve my Vintage swag for being a show plane).

[Mayhemxpc]

That B-17 is registered in the Experimental category. You know, the E in EAA?

To the point of the string, the envelope succeeded in getting your attention. From the photo it looks like one of those "suspicious packages" that EOD teams respond to.

[Byron J. Covey]

That B-17 is registered in the Experimental category. You know, the E in EAA?.

That is why I said "homebuilt."


BJC

[rwanttaja]

That B-17 is registered in the Experimental category.
BZZZT! It's not experimental, it's in Limited category. N5017N.

Ron Wanttaja

[JNicol]

I do agree about the B17. I am former military and always loved the B17 and have an awesome hawaiian shirt with the B17 on it.... (OK, it is awesome to me...not so much my wife). I am just not seeing the link to what we do when I see Aluminium Overcast on the card.

It would be good to see some variety with the images and have experimental aircraft on the design. I guess though it might be seen as free advertising for a particular manufacturer.... unless it was opened up as a competition for EAA members to decide what the following year image was going to be? Maybe as an alternative putting pioneer experimental aircraft on the card like the original Poberezny Baby Ace? Maybe for the next little while put up one of Paul's designs every year?

[Frank Giger]

I renewed my membership online a couple months ago and have dunned the membership department for my card a second year running. They'll get it to me and it's a really low item in my Things That Bug Me list, but still...

[Mayhemxpc]

OK, I screwed up. It is "Limited" category. I agree with the suggestion of a different airplane every year. EAA represents a wide variety of airplanes that share the same spirit. Homebuilt/EAB, ultralight, vintage, warbird, aerobatics. Why not recognize each of those? Other organizations seem to be able to do that, why not us?

I still think I would send John's package to the bomb disposal unit.

[dewi8095]

The image of a different classic homebuilt on the membership card every year might turn the cards into collectibles in a few years.

Don

[Infidel]

Having memorized my membership number, I carry the card for those times I lock myself out of the house. It's usually good for one or two jimmies.

[FlyingRon]

Having memorized my membership number, I carry the card for those times I lock myself out of the house. It's usually good for one or two jimmies.

Or to scrape the ice off your windshield :)

[krw920]

I renewed my membership online a couple months ago and have dunned the membership department for my card a second year running. They'll get it to me and it's a really low item in my Things That Bug Me list, but still...

Not sure what your renewal month is, but if it is July, be prepared to wait a bit for your card. With the number of memberships started in July due to AV, it is the busiest time of year for card production. Did you know all cards are produced in house by two staff members? That all card mailings are manually stuffed by volunteers and the two staff members, matching the card to the card holder, then stuffing in the mailer? A lot of work to be done during the busiest time of year for the print/mail center. You wouldn't believe the amount of AV materials that are produced there, from the parking passes, camper registration forms, parking receipts, and an whole host of other forms and passes, by a total staff of 3 permanent employees, and two summer interns, and host of volunteers.

Give the card people a break, they are working as fast as they can.

[Glider-Rider]

A different plane each year would be neat, but all are good. Maybe a Corsair, a Hellcat, a Super Cub, or a Schweizer (SP?) 2-22 (Red & white please).

As for the appearance of the envelopes etc, I find few things less important.

Plane landed upside down in the cornfield this weekend, no injuries. Perspective.

[Frank Giger]

Oh, I had forgotten about Oshkosh's crush of casual memberships - which is great for the organization - mucking things up for us regular Joes! I was pretty gentle in my letter, so I don't think I caused any more stress.

Thanks for giving me the heads up on that.

[Eric Cernjar]

Hello All,

Just wanted to say thanks for the feedback, it's all welcome and helpful.

On the renewal notice itself, I can understand some of the resistance to it. We're in a bit of a tough spot there--we don't want to appear distasteful but we are also doing everything we can to ensure people remain members with EAA. During the various mailing tests we’ve conducted, the current format has seemed to perform the best, although again I can understand why it isn’t as appealing.

On the card art itself, the reason we ended up with the B-17 was primarily because it was the least offensive! When presented with many different card art options, there was no strong consensus on which plane makes sense to represent EAA and its members who share such a diverse range of aviation interests. By default the B-17 won!

It has been a while since we started going with the B-17 and we may be looking into some potential new designs. We’re not far enough along yet to give details, but stay tuned!

Thanks again,
Eric

[Byron J. Covey]

Having memorized my membership number, I carry the card for those times I lock myself out of the house. It's usually good for one or two jimmies.

Several years ago, buying an admission into the annual convention and fly-in, gave them my membership number (5 digits) and was told that no such membership existed. After a couple minutes of discussion, added leading zeros to the number to satisfy the computer, and there it was. That has since been corrected in the software, but I still carry my card just in case there is a problem with the computer system.


BJC