TCA Dues now $50.00. What will be the impact?

[cwburfle]

I complaint I heard from a TCA member here in south Florida is that the TCA is charging members for entrance to a TCA train show.

The national organization is not charging anything to attend your local TCA show. Its the local TCA folks that decide whether to charge admission.

Another poster mentioned opening the show to the public.
First and foremost is the sales tax issue. As has already been written, every tableholder would need a tax number to participate if the show was open to the public. No big deal to those only interested in the dealer halls. For the rest of us, that would be a big deal, and would be the death of the show.
Secondly, there are many people who admit to only belonging to the TCA so they can attend the York Train show. Membership would certainly drop if it was not a requirement to attending.

[Nationwidelines]

dlagrua

If in 2015 the TCA membership plunges (as I expect it will) that will tell the story. If the membership or revenue grows that will prove me wrong. Lets wait and see who is right but I will take bets that my prediction is correct.

 

I don't see the TCA membership plunging just because of a dues increase that has been well explained to the members.&nbsp

[Nationwidelines]

Firelock76

If the TCA wants to make additional money there's and easy and immediate solution:

Open York and other TCA train meets to the general public, don't keep it members-only.  I believe others have been saying this for a long time now.

Why it's members-only I've no idea.  Security?  Come on, it's a train show, not an atomic bomb market.

The plain fact of the matter more people have to be gotten interested in this wonderful hobby.  I know there's trouble coming when I go to a local train meet and I'm "The Kid" at the age of sixty!

 

I believe that the reason York is members only, is because if they opened it to the public, then all the little mom and pop sellers would have to register with the state of Pennsylvania and collect sales tax on all sales made at the show. 

That frankly would go over worse than all of you people bitching about the first dues increase in several years. 

[Rob412]

While the dues have gone up so have the utilities, maintenance costs, necessary improvements and supplies needed to run the organization. For perspective the $15 increase is about 4 gallons of gas which is not enough to get me round trip to a TCA meet. Fifty dollars is ONE dinner for 2 at a reasonable restaurant. Everyone will ask the same question "What is it worth to ME". While enrollment may drop off- if there are not enough funds it will not matter since the TCA would become a fallen flag itself.

[ADCX Rob]

dlagrua

If you honesty feel that a 40% increase in TCA dues is fair why not just send them more of your money?

Members that make this kind of statement are the kind of member that will be weeded out. Rather, think not what your TCA can do for you — ask what you can do for your TCA.

[phillyreading]

I complaint I heard from a TCA member here in south Florida is that the TCA is charging members for entrance to a TCA train show. TCA members now pay $3.00 and non TCA members pay $5.00. My concern is paying $50.00 for the national dues and then another $12.00 for the regional/southern TCA dues, so I dropped out of TCA a few years ago due to my finances going under water. I can not blame the TCA for raising the dues but everybody has some financial problems down here in south Florida currently.

[dlagrua]

If you honesty feel that a 40% increase in TCA dues is fair why not just send them more of your money? Maybe train collectors will end up sending the TCA anything that they ask for, but maybe not. If in 2015 the TCA membership plunges (as I expect it will) that will tell the story. If the membership or revenue grows that will prove me wrong. Lets wait and see who is right but I will take bets that my prediction is correct.

[ADCX Rob]

Firelock76

If the TCA wants to make additional money there's and easy and immediate solution:

Open York and other TCA train meets to the general public, don't keep it members-only.

And charge $50 admission plus registration to the first meet you attend, the rest for the next year are are registration only.

[Firelock76]

If the TCA wants to make additional money there's and easy and immediate solution:

Open York and other TCA train meets to the general public, don't keep it members-only.  I believe others have been saying this for a long time now.

Why it's members-only I've no idea.  Security?  Come on, it's a train show, not an atomic bomb market.

The plain fact of the matter more people have to be gotten interested in this wonderful hobby.  I know there's trouble coming when I go to a local train meet and I'm "The Kid" at the age of sixty!

[ADCX Rob]

dlagrua

TCA Dues now $50.00. What will be the impact?

I will be a member of a very exclusive club once you all drop out.

[M. Mitchell Marmel]

FWIW, this problem is not limited to TCA;  the NRHS, for example, is undergoing similar issues. 

The problem, as I see it, is what I call the "10 to 40" gap.  Kids like trains up to about age 10 or so, when most drop the hobby in favor of more modern activities such as video games.  Once they get more settled in their 30s and 40s, they may return to the trains of their youth...but what's needed is something to keep 'em interested in the between years. 

Mitch

[Buckeye Riveter]

I hardily recommend that the TCA read the book, "Race for Relevance".  From my vantage point, the TCA has many interesting problems especially with poor communications.  The most basic question that needs to be asked is "What value does a membership provide?"  Most organizations with decreasing memberships have superficial answers to this question and they continue to slide down the hill to irrelevance.  Stepping down now.

[cwburfle]

While your comment about a forty percent increase is true, it is also misleading. The dues were raised from thirty-five to fifty dollars. That is a fifteen dollar increase. This is a hobby where a piece of plain track is approximately four dollars, a remote switch is over seventy-five dollars, and a plain car (rolling stock) starts at thirty dollars and increases rapidly from there.

There will be a few people who drop out of the TCA.
IMHO, most will stay.

IMHO, dropping the two signature rule will have a much bigger impact on membership numbers than the dues increase. As the rules are currently defined, folks can join the TCA when they plan to attend a TCA members only function, and let their membership lapse during the years they do not place to attend,
(we all know that there are a significant number of people who only belong so they can attend the private meets).

[sir james I]

TCA expected at least a 10% loss due to the increase. Of course they also know some of us will pay because of York. When I decide I don't need York, I won't need TCAs $50. dues either.

S.J.

[BigAl 956]

In the most recent National News Robert Obara spells out the reasons for having to raise the dues and it's hard to argue against him.

Yes 40% all at once is a huge hit but the dues have been where they are for decades. Yes, you personally did not see a 40% raise this year but  I'll bet your income has gone up considerably since the dues were last set at $35. .Look at the price of everything from postage to electricity and you'll see how fortunate we've been having the TCA keep dues down as long as it has.

But membership is starting to decline. Let's face it ours is an organization with an elder member core and the demographics will catch up to us all eventually. I suspect the magazine and Interchange track will be the next casualties. With postage and printing what it is I would assume these will all move to e- Publications in the not too distant future.

In conclusion if you do not attend the meets or conventions and are only in this for the magazine You can do better elsewhere. But have you checked the price of CTT magazine lately? It's almost as much as a TCA membership.

[dlagrua]

As a long time TCA member, I was taken back when the membership dues jumped from $35 to an exorbitant $50 this year. That is a 40% + dues increase. Although I have been a member since 1979 I have chosen not to renew my membership for 2015. TCA is just not a good value and their magazine is skinny; about 1/5th the size of Classic Toy trains to which I subscribe. My income has not risen at all let alone 40% so I can not support anyone raising prices this much. I am of the opinion that if this increase holds it will signal a sharp decline in TCA membership. Next years membership numbers may be a telling story. I was just curious how other TCA members perceive this exorbitant dues increase?