a whole bunch of members (I believe). We have many members that are seniors living on a fixed income & probably would not renew. While many members participate in this club & the hobby and as such get more out of the club & the hobby, we have a fair amount of members that look at the quarterly magazine as really the only benefit of membership. Would they think that those four magazines are worth another $10 per year? We lost quite a few members when the membership went from $20 to $30 at a time when even at $30 per member, we were losing money on each member. Through the diligent efforts of past & current BoDs as well as the past & current magazine editors, the cost of "servicing" our membership has decreased to where the club actually makes one or two bucks per membership.

With regards to "bulking up the pre-registration packages", the past & current BoDs have also looked for way to increase the value for pre-registration. This year, David & Debbie Harber did a GREAT job of adding give-aways for those members that pre-registered & stayed at the host hotel. Both Sheldon Smith & I have spent countless hours in futility attempting to get local casino/hotel/restaurant participation in give-aways or coupons to help reward those that pre-register. Maybe when the economy gets better we will have better luck...and we will continue to look for ways to improve the value of both membership and pre-registration.

Thank you for your thoughts, Jim.

Steve Bedo
Membership Officer