VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Canadian Memberships???

I noticed that VCCA is not taking any Canadian memberships at this time due to postal changes. Is it a rate change? If so I'm sure the rates are available and date of change. Just wondering.

Cheers!!

We welcome all memberships... The temporary application doesn't list the annual fee, since the postal rates changed last month... as I understand it, the US Post Office dropped our class of mailing (Periodicals) and the next rate that we can get raises the fee over $100 per year, per member... so the club is trying to figure out how to handle that. As a result the application form has temporarily suspended listing the annual membership fees for International and Canadian membership.

Do as the form suggests, send a note to the Membership Secretary and get a quote. We'd love to have you join!!

Thanks for the reply Bill. I noticed after I posted this thread that the application via the home page lists the rates. I will assume those are the old rates. I'll contact the secretary and carry on from there. Thanks again.

Here's a quick overview of what we are trying to accomplish in the near-term. I have contacted the presidents of several similar clubs, to compare notes. I have found that most of them are using private services for International, and I have made initial contact with 3 such services. In the past, the Board has been told that we don't meet the minimum volume requirements to qualify to use these firms, but I am finding that this isn't necessarily the case. We have assigned the task of understanding the bids (they use complex formulas, not something so simple as "this much per piece, per pound" etc) to Gloria Palazzo. She is currently the Chair of the G&D Committee, and very capable. She has been traveling much of June, but is home and getting back on this task now.

This problem has the full attention of the Board, and we are working on several fronts to try to develop options. We will probably find something that is more costly than what we used to do (but better, quicker service) - but cheaper and slower than USPS First Class. We will probably end up offering two different options to international members, and let them decide how much they want to spend, for which level of service. It is a surprising amount of work to try to get this accomplished! But we clearly have to find some alternatives.

We feel that we cannot accept any new international members right now at the old rate; we simply loose too much money if we do that. We will figure this out and get some options out there for you as quickly as we can get sound information and make an informed decision about what the rates need to be.

FYI, the US$100 increase figure is for Europe and Australia, the Canadian increase is "only" about $65, for the present First Class service we are forced to use.

Don Williams
President

Don; Thank you for the reply. Two options of membership fees is a great idea. In the days of rising fuel costs it's just a way of life lately. The value of knowledge from this site has surely out weighed any rise in cost of membership fees. That's for sure.
I again thank you and Bill for the quick replies and I'll be watching for the rate changes to be posted at which time I'll apply for membership. I should have done it long ago but you know how it is. Thanks.

Cheers!!

Good Morning All!! I was just wondering if there has been any resolve to the international membership fees? Thanks.