Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Last year I tried to rejoin a major country-specific society. I sent in the membership dues by check along with the app I'd downloaded and completed. After a couple weeks I sent an email to the Secretary to verify he got it. No reply. This went on for weeks until he finally emailed me back wondering what I was talking about. He said he never got it. I finally told him to forget it and never persued, the check never was cashed.
Fast forward to now. I tried again. Sent in my check and an app around Labor Day. This time he did acknowledge getting it. I have queried him three times since, he is always 'just getting to it'. Last Wednesday he said he'd mailed my card and back issues of their publication. Still not here. He lives one state over, it should be here if he really had mailed it.
I have set my own deadline on this. It was a month ago yesterday he got it. If nothing is in the mail Tuesday I am asking that he cancel the whole thing. That may seem petulant but this is just getting ridiculous.
These are unpaid jobs and some groups are getting what they are paying for. Just saying..
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I don't see it as petulant at all. It does not matter that he isn't getting paid to do the job. It boils down to respect. Too often clubs and societies get comfortable. There's probably a core group of people involved and the officers are quite chummy and all get along quite well, there's some money in their bank account, they all enjoy their involvement in their scheduled shows...in short, they don't need you and probably don't particularly want you. If they get around to processing your new membership application that's good and they might see fit to send you a new member packet....yawn.... They'll sit around and bemoan the decline if the hobby but do they really mean it? these organizations need the vision to put the right people in positions like membership chairman. Anyone expressing an interest in society membership should be treated like gold. It takes someone who loves people to do that job and not someone who gets off on having a title.
Ernie
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Thanks, Ernie. That is my take as well.
I do not want to identify this group but from contact with them at a couple shows I attended that has been my impression. The officers do not seem real willing to reach out and attract new people. They seem happy in their little bubble. My main reason for trying to rejoin is to get their journal which seems not to be happening. Also I wanted to be able to purchase some DVDs they offer. Guess who I have to go through to get those?
I did file a complaint abut him last year- sent an email to the society president. He did not reply directly but copied me on a blistering message to this guy telling him to take care of business. The secretary incidentally, is the son of a former society president and I wonder if he even is a collector himself.
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12:08:40pm
I guess these things can happen anywhere.
About eight or nine years ago I saw something about a stamp club on "USENET" where I had been participating for some time. I found the site and filled out the application info.
I waited some time, probably forgetting about it till the club was mentioned again. I believe I figured that the application was lost as I was not all that trusting of electronic communication then, so I re-applied. More time and then one evening I saw one of the members post something on USENET so I contacted him directly and asked why I had not received any response.
There was a polite explanation (I do not recall the details, an illness, long vacations or something.) but within a week or so I became a happy member.
These things should not, but do, happen.
Does anyone want to guess what club it was ?
Also, three cheers for persistence.
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And sometimes you are just dealing with a disorganized dolt! 
When I took over my club presidency due to the death of our president, I also inherited running our model car show. The secretary / treasurer was a waste of oxygen! He'd forget to do nearly everything, do it poorly or "his way" when he did. He'd say stupid things inside and outside the club that brought us grief. I'd get correspondence from people saying they had contacted him for information and never got a reply. To make matters worse he'd lie that he did the tasks!
He was the first and only person that I had to tell his services were no longer required. It was literally more work to chase after and mop up after this jerk than doing it myself. I told him he was welcome to be a club member but not to serve on the club board or show committee. He got insulted, picked up his toys and went home. Everyone in the club was happier.
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Since starting our local club, I have been the vice president/sec./treasurer from its inception.
I have always made the effort to be prompt and polite to potential and current members.
Unfortunately, organizations and online clubs and do not regularly meet face to face, or if they do it isn't very often for the most part. I think that makes it easier to become complacent and indifferent to others, sadly. I ran across this as well myself, when joining a stamp-collecting 'society' a few years back. (We did end up fixing the problem)
Live by the Golden Rule.
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No mail delivery today due to the holiday. Tuesday will tell the story. If still nothing he gets an email Tuesday night withdrawing the app and telling him not to cash the check. it'd be fun hearing him explain to the prez of the society why a new member pulled his app back. Almost hope it goes down that way.
Ernie's description totally fits this group. They have an online forum I stopped participating in. All it consisted of was 4-5 guys talking arcane postal history and exchanging tips on honing up their exhibits to win another prize at some show in Monaco or someplace. I went back there and looked st the site this weekend. Same guys, years later. Same stuff.
Each group has an individual personality.
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Tuesday came and still nothing. Last word was a week ago - a message sent from his phone that my 'Welcome'package was 'on the way.' Yeah, sure. He is full of it.
I told him I was withdrawing the application and to confirm he'd destroy the check. I actually doubt he is going to try hard to keep my application active.
You live and you learn in time who the bad ones are. This group is one of those. Lesson learned.
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I've read the whole of this thread and find it strange.
How difficult is it to write an e-mail saying they'd received your cheque and you'd get a pack in the post very shortly?
If they don't want members why bother advertising for them?
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This sort of thing doesn't only happen in hobby clubs. I used to be Secretary of my son's school Parent Teachers Association ( they are 36 and 34 now !) - I had a full time job doing shift work which often clashed with meetings - so I had all the hassle of exchanging shifts or getting stand-ins etc.
There were times when I really didn't want to go, or type up and distribute the minutes - particularly when I had been at work at 5 a.m. ( and needed to be at work again at 5 a.m.the next day ) or it was cold and wet or snowing.
However it is about responsibility and following through on what you promise. You accept the job- you walk the walk.
And when my paid job finally became just too demanding and I was forced to resign the association, the nice things they said about me made it all worth it, and made me feel all warm inside. Aaaaaaah !
I think though that the Internet,mobile phones and instant communication make it even more of a chore today to go out and participate in person.
Malcolm
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Philatelic societies rely on volunteers to do their work, I understand that. Also that these folks have jobs and lives to live. Sometimes however you encounter a situation that just leaves you shaking your head.
Last year I tried to rejoin a major country-specific society. I sent in the membership dues by check along with the app I'd downloaded and completed. After a couple weeks I sent an email to the Secretary to verify he got it. No reply. This went on for weeks until he finally emailed me back wondering what I was talking about. He said he never got it. I finally told him to forget it and never persued, the check never was cashed.
Fast forward to now. I tried again. Sent in my check and an app around Labor Day. This time he did acknowledge getting it. I have queried him three times since, he is always 'just getting to it'. Last Wednesday he said he'd mailed my card and back issues of their publication. Still not here. He lives one state over, it should be here if he really had mailed it.
I have set my own deadline on this. It was a month ago yesterday he got it. If nothing is in the mail Tuesday I am asking that he cancel the whole thing. That may seem petulant but this is just getting ridiculous.
These are unpaid jobs and some groups are getting what they are paying for. Just saying..
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11:00:15am
re: Strange Situation with Society
I don't see it as petulant at all. It does not matter that he isn't getting paid to do the job. It boils down to respect. Too often clubs and societies get comfortable. There's probably a core group of people involved and the officers are quite chummy and all get along quite well, there's some money in their bank account, they all enjoy their involvement in their scheduled shows...in short, they don't need you and probably don't particularly want you. If they get around to processing your new membership application that's good and they might see fit to send you a new member packet....yawn.... They'll sit around and bemoan the decline if the hobby but do they really mean it? these organizations need the vision to put the right people in positions like membership chairman. Anyone expressing an interest in society membership should be treated like gold. It takes someone who loves people to do that job and not someone who gets off on having a title.
Ernie
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re: Strange Situation with Society
Thanks, Ernie. That is my take as well.
I do not want to identify this group but from contact with them at a couple shows I attended that has been my impression. The officers do not seem real willing to reach out and attract new people. They seem happy in their little bubble. My main reason for trying to rejoin is to get their journal which seems not to be happening. Also I wanted to be able to purchase some DVDs they offer. Guess who I have to go through to get those?
I did file a complaint abut him last year- sent an email to the society president. He did not reply directly but copied me on a blistering message to this guy telling him to take care of business. The secretary incidentally, is the son of a former society president and I wonder if he even is a collector himself.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
09 Oct 2016
12:08:40pm
re: Strange Situation with Society
I guess these things can happen anywhere.
About eight or nine years ago I saw something about a stamp club on "USENET" where I had been participating for some time. I found the site and filled out the application info.
I waited some time, probably forgetting about it till the club was mentioned again. I believe I figured that the application was lost as I was not all that trusting of electronic communication then, so I re-applied. More time and then one evening I saw one of the members post something on USENET so I contacted him directly and asked why I had not received any response.
There was a polite explanation (I do not recall the details, an illness, long vacations or something.) but within a week or so I became a happy member.
These things should not, but do, happen.
Does anyone want to guess what club it was ?
Also, three cheers for persistence.
Login to Like
this post
re: Strange Situation with Society
And sometimes you are just dealing with a disorganized dolt!
When I took over my club presidency due to the death of our president, I also inherited running our model car show. The secretary / treasurer was a waste of oxygen! He'd forget to do nearly everything, do it poorly or "his way" when he did. He'd say stupid things inside and outside the club that brought us grief. I'd get correspondence from people saying they had contacted him for information and never got a reply. To make matters worse he'd lie that he did the tasks!
He was the first and only person that I had to tell his services were no longer required. It was literally more work to chase after and mop up after this jerk than doing it myself. I told him he was welcome to be a club member but not to serve on the club board or show committee. He got insulted, picked up his toys and went home. Everyone in the club was happier.
Login to Like
this post
re: Strange Situation with Society
Since starting our local club, I have been the vice president/sec./treasurer from its inception.
I have always made the effort to be prompt and polite to potential and current members.
Unfortunately, organizations and online clubs and do not regularly meet face to face, or if they do it isn't very often for the most part. I think that makes it easier to become complacent and indifferent to others, sadly. I ran across this as well myself, when joining a stamp-collecting 'society' a few years back. (We did end up fixing the problem)
Live by the Golden Rule.
Login to Like
this post
re: Strange Situation with Society
No mail delivery today due to the holiday. Tuesday will tell the story. If still nothing he gets an email Tuesday night withdrawing the app and telling him not to cash the check. it'd be fun hearing him explain to the prez of the society why a new member pulled his app back. Almost hope it goes down that way.
Ernie's description totally fits this group. They have an online forum I stopped participating in. All it consisted of was 4-5 guys talking arcane postal history and exchanging tips on honing up their exhibits to win another prize at some show in Monaco or someplace. I went back there and looked st the site this weekend. Same guys, years later. Same stuff.
Each group has an individual personality.
Login to Like
this post
re: Strange Situation with Society
Tuesday came and still nothing. Last word was a week ago - a message sent from his phone that my 'Welcome'package was 'on the way.' Yeah, sure. He is full of it.
I told him I was withdrawing the application and to confirm he'd destroy the check. I actually doubt he is going to try hard to keep my application active.
You live and you learn in time who the bad ones are. This group is one of those. Lesson learned.
Login to Like
this post
re: Strange Situation with Society
I've read the whole of this thread and find it strange.
How difficult is it to write an e-mail saying they'd received your cheque and you'd get a pack in the post very shortly?
If they don't want members why bother advertising for them?
Login to Like
this post
11:33:51am
re: Strange Situation with Society
This sort of thing doesn't only happen in hobby clubs. I used to be Secretary of my son's school Parent Teachers Association ( they are 36 and 34 now !) - I had a full time job doing shift work which often clashed with meetings - so I had all the hassle of exchanging shifts or getting stand-ins etc.
There were times when I really didn't want to go, or type up and distribute the minutes - particularly when I had been at work at 5 a.m. ( and needed to be at work again at 5 a.m.the next day ) or it was cold and wet or snowing.
However it is about responsibility and following through on what you promise. You accept the job- you walk the walk.
And when my paid job finally became just too demanding and I was forced to resign the association, the nice things they said about me made it all worth it, and made me feel all warm inside. Aaaaaaah !
I think though that the Internet,mobile phones and instant communication make it even more of a chore today to go out and participate in person.
Malcolm
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this post