NMRA timeframe from joining?

P51 - I have been a NMRA member for about 15 years.  I find that membership is a valuable part of my model railroad experience.  However, I am not surprised about your experience.  This problem has been discussed on NMRA forums in the past.  The NMRA needs to do a better job welcoming new people.  

 

I am still undecided about attending the national convention in Portland.  It should be a terrific event.  I have attended 4 other NMRA conventions and I have had a wonderful time at all of them.  I hope to see you there.

 

I am forwarding your post to Charlie Getz, the NMRA President, for his information.  He is a terrific person and I am sure that he will want to know about this.  

 

Joe

p51, don't worry you will soon be getting letters asking for donations. Over the course of my first year I was asked about four times to donate. This was a real turn off for me. I dropped out after 2 years only because my work schedule conflicted with all of their events. I would consider rejoining someday if my work schedule changes. I never made it to their convention so let us know what you think of it. BTW, I didn't get any kind of welcome package that I can remember but I wasn't expecting one either. I don't think the TCA gave me any kind of welcome package either, however I did get a personal email from the president of the New York Central Historical Society welcoming me to their organization when I joined. 

 

Strange that that membership in the NYCHS has been growing over the last two years while the TCA and the NMRA are losing folks. 

I would have expected a membership card. I don't expect to be treated like a king, but I think it's fair to treated like I am a member which I paid quite a bit for.

FYI, I also emailed the national group twice asking for a simple confirmation that they even have me on their rolls. Nobody responded to any of it.

So sad that they've already turned me off as a member so early on. If it weren't for the fact that I might be signing on for the convention, I'd be asking for my money back at this point.

I renewed my membership last month.  Wrote a check and mailed it in and had my membership card back in about a month.  A month is about how long it takes for a few folks at NMRA HQ to process stuff.  It's not a big highly staffed organization, but really just above a bare bones volunteer organization.  I outgrew the instant gratification phase of my life 40 years ago, but maybe I'll re-visit that after I retire - I'm old! Gimme!!!  

 

You belong to Region - which one?  Have you thought about contacting the regional and for that matter the divisional people where you live?  Nat'l has really cut back on sending out new member information over the years and has seemingly pushed a lot of that down onto the regions (and divisions).  I'm a Director of my region, so let me know which region you belong to so I can go kick over an ant hill or 3 - one of my more fun pastimes,

 

"...paid quite a bit for..." I find a little concerning.  Dues with the magazine and maybe the regional and divisional publications usually runs ~$75.  I think mine was less.  That's around a $1.50 a week or maybe a RTR freight car, and if that pains your budget then you may have other financial concerns well beyond this topic that you should be considering.  Dues for my professional societies and organization are an order of magnitude greater - I get a membership card a month (or 2) after I renew with those organization, so cost and size of an organization isn't part of the equation.  They're all slower than a slug in February.

 

Begging for dollar letters - I get these from every charitable organization that I ever gave a dime to over the past 40 years, every educational institute that I, my wife and my daughter ever attended, some with weekly phone calls.  I get a letter from the AARP once a month....talk about begging for dollars!!  They all go into the shredder and then the fireplace - I get a few calories of heat; waste not, want not....  The phone calls all go into answering machine with the sound turned off.  If you are getting 3-4 letters from the NMRA a year, that's well below S/N.  They do send a nice calendar and a few pages of return address labels (useful stuff).

 

 

Almost 70 bucks is a bit much to ask without so much as a reply email when you apply online. It bothers me that there's anyone out there who couldn't see that.
ironically, I DID get something from them in the mail today, a month after joining...
A request to donate money. To a group which hasn't acknowledged me as a member in ANY way than to ask me to give them more money...
Unbelievable.

I know of no one that's ever gotten an e-mail acknowledgement - I don't know that they are set up to do that either.  I've never gotten one.

 

And, you have yet to answer my question regarding what region you are located.  It gets hard to help folks when they are too busy complaining.

Beats me how someone not in the nmra hq is going to "help" anyone merely by knowing where they live.
I'm in the Pacific Northwest, not that makes any difference.

On the few occasions that I have had to phone the NMRA National HQ, I have found that the staff is very friendly and helpful.  You may want to phone them about your card.  I got a card about a week after I phoned about replacing my lost card.  I always get a card promptly after renewing my membership.

 

I have received items that I bought from the company store within a week after ordering the items online.   

 

The NMRA new website is a work in progress.  It came on line just a few months ago.  I don't have a clue why you haven't received your card after joining online a month ago.  I just find this to be unusual.

 

Joe 

 

 

Well, you've managed to just prove how little understanding you have about the organization that you have joined.  You might take a few minutes to try to learn a bit before stalking down the petulance trail.  You're in a Region and the Officers of the Region that you automatically belong to by your residence therein can act on your behalf and help you

 

Despite the Nat'l NMRA web site's growing pains, it takes about 30 seconds to look up that in the Pacific Northwest Region:

 

Member Aid: Bruce McCosh

Phone: 208-386-9629

email: bmccosh@cableone.net

 

Membership: Shirley Sample

Phone: 509-292-8332

email: shirley@busnws.com

 

And yes, calling Nat'l instead of sending e-mails tends to work a lot better.

 

You're truly not grasping my point here.
I'm new to the organization, have gotten no responses to anything and instead got a letter asking for more money.
So instead of realizing how this looks to anyone in my position and understanding that it wouldn't look good to a new member at all, you're instead saying it's all my fault somehow...
the first thing a new member should get after a month after joining should NEVER be only a request for more money.
and if you can't see the point there, well, maybe I have my answer after all.

The donation letter proves you're in the system. There should be a membership number on the letter, that's basically all you need for convention registration. You should get a membership card eventually. That's what I remember only getting. They come a month or so after sending in the renewal (I just mailed mine in a couple days ago). I got the renewal and the donation request letter at the same time The PNW Div is pretty active with some great regional conventions the past couple years, and the National should be great too.

 

Peter

Hi Lee,

  First of all, thank you for joining the NMRA.

I have been a member since 2001 and have enjoyed all the benefits of membership. The NMRA is,IMHO,a grassroots group that starts with your Division,Region and National.

I have been in our very active New Jersey Division serving as a Division BOD and over the years have met many.many fine modelers in all scales such as MWB-who is a Director of the Mid-Eastern Region,which my NJ Division is very proud to be a part of.

Marty has supplied you with the folks to contact in your area, give them a call,find out when the next Division or Region meet is, attend and have FUN.Please remember this is all a volunteer effort.

This is a organization where truly you get out of it what you put into it.

 

John

 

 

Well stated, John.  Thank you.

Lee, I can definitely see your point. I am not bashing the NMRA but with the problems they are having keeping members and getting people to join up you should have been contacted like I was from the NYCHS. It would have been just plain nice for them to do so and it would make you, the new member, feel good about your decision to join. Just to be clear I like the NMRA and someday I would like to rejoin when my schedule permits it. I do think it is a worthwhile organization but one has to have the time to participate in it.

 

To elaborate about my experience when I joined the NMRA I remembered some more facts. Although I didn't get any kind of welcome package I did start receiving their magazine within 2 weeks of joining so I knew I was a member. I am surprised that you have been a member for one month have not received the magazine. Unless perhaps, you choose the non-magazine option? I think my membership card came about a month after I joined. A short time after that came the first letter asking for a donation. I assumed it was like the TCA and once a year they requested donations so I donated. Over the course of the year I got 3 more letters asking for a donation so in hindsight I guess they put me on the "yes" list of people who donate just like charities do. I can understand doing fund raising once or twice a year but I thought to myself how bad is their financial management if they have to always be asking for more money? One last thing when I had a question I was able to contact my local rep and he responded within a day or two with an answer.

Phil,

It's not a question of their financial management; it's more a consequence of being a volunteer run organization and it's even more a result of a very high percentage of members that throw a tantrum over the dues and everything else costing so much - the same guys that spend 10- to 100-fold more on trains every year (or month!),  

 

There are real costs to running such an organization, but way to many people seem to feel that they are entitled to have everything for free, or like Lucy - everything should cost 5 cents.

 

And, they don't single out new members with that begging for dollars letter - every member got one.......going to be a cold weekend and my fireplace will need a little kickstart,

Martin, I understand that there are real costs to running an organization like this. I just looked at their website. Dues are now $66 a year. They know approximately how many members they have and they know some will drop out and some new ones will join. My point is they know approximately how much money they are going to have coming in and they know what their expenses are. Obviously, they don't want to raise the dues too high because people will complain as you mentioned but why are they so far under budget that they have to do so much additional fund raising? I have no idea because I don't know anything about how the organization is run. I know that one of the problems with the TCA was that they took out a mortgage on the museum when membership was at an all time high. They lost members and that mortgage became a financial nightmare.

 

I never thought that only new members got the donation letters. You know, I get these letters from charities too and I feel bad that I can't constantly donate to them or the NMRA.

 

I still think the NMRA is worthwhile organization in part due to guys like you helping to run it.

I sent my check to Hobbyhill for individual registration at the March Meet in Chicago and received an email confirmation and "thank you" within a few days. I appreciated the

quick response, especially considering that these meets are organized by volunteers. An

email response does't take much time or effort, and is well worth the few minutes it does take in terms of fostering good relationships. In my opinion ...

My understanding is that the NMRA is in very good financial shape following a couple of decades of poor finances and management.  The NMRA sold their headquarters last year for about $900K and moved the office to rented space.  This is saving thousands each year.  The have partnered with the CA State RR Museum to house much of their library and are building a model railroad history exhibit at the museum.  The library move is saving more money.  The model railroad history exhibit funding is coming from a separate fund raising effort.  

 

Actual dues are $44 per year.  The subscription to the NMRA Magazine is $22 per year bringing the total to $66.   You can elect to join the NMRA without the subscription.  The NMRA Magazine is a terrific publication and I believe it is well worth the $22.  It is published monthly unlike many other model railroad magazines.  

 

My understanding is that one of the NMRA's long range goals is to build an endowment that will provide funds to help offset future dues increases.  Building an endowment requires funding now.  Hence the ongoing donation requests.  

 

This is no different than most of the the other non-profits.  They all send out several donation requests per year.  You just have to look at TV to see non stop ads for donations to various non-profits.  I find it annoying but it is a fact of life.  My wife and I also solicit donations throughout the year for the various non-profits we support.  I am sure that our friends are tired of hearing about the needs for the local non-profits in our town.

 

Joe

I suppose it is when you actually get it. My issue all along has been that it's been over 5 weeks now and the only thing I've gotten at all is a letter asking I give them more money.

So, $66 bucks and the only thing I have to show for it in over a month is a growing sense that I got ripped off.

You can write over and over how awesome a group this is, but if this is how they treat new members, I've already made up my mind that I won't be nenewing.

And the HQ is going to get one heck of a letter as soon as I can write one.

How many people run the NMRA as it sure sounds like a very few that can't keep up with the business of running theh outfit. 

 

Phil 

I also joined the NMRA to try them out a couple of years ago. Not one response from the national or the local chapter of who I contacted several times also. Not one response from either one by email, mail or phone. 

 

I did get request for donations though, give me a break.

 

Think I renewed, think again.