VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Oct. G&D

Oct. G&D had some very important items (IMHO):

1. Very interesting letters to the editors.

2. Some of our motions discussed here on Chatter listed.

3. Special meeting of the BOD; results of that meeting.

4. National election material.

It seems to me that the VCCA is starting to make some changes.

Are these good changes or bad changes?...Oscar

That is in the eye of the beholder...However...

In my opinion only it is "good" because they seem to be changes that are needed in order for the VCCA to grow and stay alive.

Cool

That's two opinions Louis C

When did you get the October issue of the G&D? Nothing here yet!

:( :( :(

Mine came today (10/11/06).

I guess California to Vermont is quicker than California to Oregon this month.

What happened Doggie? We got ours in TX last Thursday or Friday. Didn't give the mailperson (oxymoron) enough horse hay?

Got mine on the sixth, err, maybe I got JYD's.

Chippy Dippy: We don't have a "mail person"......just someone that brings the mail whenever they feel like it. Now, if it was a horse we would feed it hay and no doubt we would have regular mail service and the mail would be on time as well.

I don't recall when mine arrived. I'm pretty sure it was BEFORE our monthly meeting on the First Tuesday, which was October 3rd. I'm 'guessing' it arrived on Monday 10/2.

Maybe it isn't so far from Cali to Orygun afterall!!!

Incidentally, no horses or dogs at my house. No poop either. Well, just the nieghbor's dog's poop. That dog will have a couple of BB's stuck in him if I ever catch him doing "it."

doggy,

my wife commented to me that something wasn't right, as she handed me the g&d last thursday!..


epi

JYD, there are a lot of interesting items in the Oct. issue so maybe it is taking the letter carrier longer to read it...

My copy arrived last Monday.

We thought we were receiving G&D late in Norway, but the magazines to Australia must be sent by "slow boat via China". During the last two years we have had too much irregularity. Several members have started to complain, and we have trouble to keep them, renewing their VCCA-membership. We also have trouble to return the ballots in time due to the present situation. (Earlier the magazine came 6-8 weeks after the domestic delivery. Could this be improved,as some deliveries have shown to be possible?)

Sorry to say, we have not been able to find or get the explanation to these delays and even also very fast shipments. We believe this irregularity is due to the transport company after receiving the issues from the printer, but cannot confirm it. We have asked the editor repeatedly during the last 6 months, but so far not received a clarifying and understandable reply. We have difficulty to understand this long delay and are not satisfied with the present situation.

As we only want the best possible future solution for our own VCCA-members, and not the neck of anyone, we really hope our motion to the board can help clarifying this matter and give any International member his/her issues regularly and faster in the future.

Issues/2006 have been received in Norway as follows: Jan: Late March, Feb: Late April, Mar: Late May, Apr: Mid June, May: 08. 22, Jun: 08. 23, Jul: 09.01, Aug: 10. 13. , Sep: 09. 26., Oct: 11. 01. We also have had delays last year and before, but not so bad.

Another subject, not clarified is:
When should new International VCCA-members expect to receive their first G&D? When they pay, they get the membership card not so long after. But they say they also should receive the magazine just as fast, not 2 - 3 months after VCCA receive payment. Comments?

Here in England it was 2 months before my first G&D arrived when I joined the VCCA, I then received the next issue fairly quickly with issues running 4 to six weeks behind the US members.
It is a problem, hopefully the new Chat region & participation on this site will help to overcome.

Kipper

I joined in jan and to date have only recieved mar, apr, may, jun, july and sep. Aug seem to be missing in transport.
I have my membership renewal now.
Tony

Hey Tony
The same story from new Norwegian members, not receiving issues from when they have paid and become members (or the month after) but another month later. Then they get the reminder from membership secretary around two months before expire date. That is OK, but if a new member does not want to renew, they are not receiving the G&Ds after expire date, and will not receive one or two magazines because of the delay at the beginning.

To avoid a lot of private, sensitive information about Visacards etc. sent around and stored Chevrolet Club of Norway has arranged so VCCAmembers can pay through the club account. Thereafter that special account can be debited by VCCA at expire dates.

I hope someone can answer this for me.

How much would it cost for a member here in the U.S. to mail the G&D 1st class to a member in Australia? England? Norway?

If a member overseas wanted to pay me for just the cost of the postage or envelope I for one would be happy to have their copy of the G&D delivered to me and then I would take it to the post office and re-mail it 1st class or whatever to the overseas member.

I don’t know how many ways someone has nowadays to mail a G&D or a magazine or what it costs so it could get overseas faster and I also don’t know if anyone overseas would want this done for them.

Don't know if there are other ways other than the post office to do this either.

Maybe East coast members could do it for Europe and West coast members could do it for Australia.

Maybe the cost would be too high for this to work but I thought I would ask….never know if something can be done until you get all of the facts.

---------------------------------------

On sort of the same subject, I think it would be possible to take a close-up digital picture of a classified page or all of them and then email it to a valid current member of the VCCA overseas.

All the member would have to do is tell us what classified section they would like to see… since we couldn’t take the pictures until the G&D arrives at our homes it would not give anyone an unfair advantage, instead it would make the playing field more level. IMHO

The ”˜EXP DATE’ of membership is on the mailing label so it would be easy to see if the person is a valid member. They could just email a close-up picture of their mailing label to me first.

This emailing could be done by the members of Chat Chapter….another example of how this chapter could be helpful to all members.

What do you guys think?? Reactions????????????

Well Lou, if the "Chat Chapter" gets approval, I as it's Sectretary would be glad to post any important News here on this Site so guys overseas, or out of town would be able to stay informed.
RayG

That would be helpful.

Ray, did all of your emails to the BOD go thru?

What about suggesting that the Chat Chapter, owing to it's online nature and far-flung membership, scan a full-color version of the G&D and distribute to it's members electronically in PDF format?

Saves time, postage and trees.

When checking the price list of USmail, the cost of sending G&Ds to Norway is USD 1,46 (magazine postage, economy). The cost of sending first class would be much higher as there are no special, cheap prices for speedy deliveries of magazines. We would have to pay a lot more to get G&D in 10 - 14 days. :(

Hopefully the Board will get the deliveries of G&D steady on the road again, to all International members in short time. :)

We certainly also will appreciate the ads to be put up on the webpages at same time as G&D arrives US-VCCA members. Hurrayyyy! That would be a very super service!!

The REAlo solution to this situation is to have an entire electronic version of G&D done by the editors as the very first draft of the magazine, do the editing on the computer, then print out a master copy for a permanent paper copy, and send the electronic version to the printer to be printed and sent by mail to those members that do not want an electronic copy only. All the overseas copys could go to members with email access and maybe to a central printing vendor to make local hard copies and send them out to any member in the area without email access.

Another good feature of the electronic version would be the ability to send all the photos in living color, I think I have sent in a story and photos in by email and also a paper copy and a 3.5" floppy backup by mail)
The number crunchers could work out an equitable additional fee for special service (also kept on the new database).... New Database...to be created and arrive at a later date!!!

USA Today has been doing something simular for years.

Likely as not, the printer who does the G&D has the means to accommodate this special service and could tack it on as part of their job for a modest fee. Unlike in the old days, digital technology is readily available and commonly used in the printing industry.

In many cases, the only reason people don't take advantage of improved service is they don't think to ask in the routine of business as usual. "The way we've always done it is good enough." It's worth asking, especially if it brings international members closer to the VCCA community and speeds up the delivery of critical information.

-Pat.

We have received several e-mails from different board members this last week, and trust the distribution problems will be minor after some discussion and new decisions during the next weeks. We also have the strong feeling that the situation was not created by our own people or the printers of G&D. Still, we feel we should have got an understandable explanation earlier. :rolleyes:

Nevertheless, thanks all of you for going into the matter to find the better solution for all members wanting the G&D and faster, the better.

Hopefully, in future the ads will be put on the web site at same time as the estimated arrival date to the domestic members. It will be a great improvement in service to International members. :)