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Originally Posted by Fireman
Paul,
God bless you for having plenty of money for the things you need. It might well amaze you to know that not everybody is in that shape. I had to drop my cable tv years ago too... I haven't had a TV at all since the airwaves were digitized, making all old tvs useless. And before you tell me to get a job, I will point out that I work 40 hours a week and have the same job I have had for 10 years now. I know it may seem silly to a younger generation, who have grown up on entitlements, but I pay my own way without help from the taxpayers of this great nation of ours.My grocery budget for a month is less than what that NAR membership would cost.
I would dearly love to be a member again. If they offered a senior membership (with no magazine and no frills) at a reasonable price, I would love to again be a member of an organization that has meant a lot to me since back when I first joined as member 2217 of the organization. But at the current price, I can see that the organization has no desire to include seniors like myself in their membership. We were the ones who built the hobby and created the NAR. But we don't have the cash that the wealthy high power boys have, so we are of no interest to the organization.
I'm not trying to pick on you, and I am not trying to start a fight. Paul, may you always have that cable TV, and a nice shiny car, and a warm place to live. But just for a moment, please stop and realize that their are many people in this country that are not as well off as you are. And whatever you do, never, never, never grow old.
The Fireman
formerly NAR2217,
Peak City Section #2
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Well said...
It's not just the older folks having a hard time of it... I consider myself pretty lucky to have even a hundred or two hundred bucks a year to dedicate to a hobby.
I just think the "one size fits all" approach is wrong. Granted I understand that the leadership and certain segments of the membership would disagree with that statement, but it doesn't make the point any less valid as an alternative.
Lots of arguments can be thrown around about "an organization has to be funded first" and all this sort of thing, but if the "one size fits all" approach is locking people out that would otherwise pursue SOME form of membership, then I personally think it's a bad approach.
HPR came along, and the insurance went up, and there was a kerfluffe I read about somewhere during the 90's where NAR had a hard time getting insurance, so they made it mandatory for ALL members to get insurance, as part of the membership. So, the lowly model rocketeer is forced to pay higher prices for something for which they have little use, whose price has gone up due to bigger, more risky activities done by folks with money to burn. Makes perfect sense to me...
Course I've personally seen HPR guys that think nothing of spending over $100 bucks on a SINGLE FLIGHT whine and complain about having to drive 2.5 hours to a launch in a small car-- like buying $40 bucks in gas was going to put them in the poor house... Heck I've seen guys who'll drive halfway across the US to a big HPR launch and think nothing of it, rent motels and spend a lot of money on food, gas, not to mention reloads and stuff for flying, gripe and complain about the 2.5 hour drive to their "local" HPR field, and then start pressuring me to allow HPR flights on my farms (where a couple different clubs have flown) so they don't have to drive so far... Boggles the mind sometimes...
Just like the BATFE lawsuit was to protect HPR, but EVERYONE ended up having to pay for it via their NAR dues whether they flew HPR or not...
Even the AMA has realized that things are changing in their hobby, and having to make adjustments... their membership had been falling too so I've read, as the days of the "old school" balsa kit plane builders has been largely dwindling in favor of the new "turn key" ARF/RTF foamy park flyers and electrics... as the core membership "old school" gray beards die off or get too old to build and fly anymore, the newbies are flying the ARF foamy park flyers and stuff and "aren't welcome" by "serious" model airplane enthusiasts, and so hence are reluctant to join AMA. After all, most of the focus of membership and most of the costs involved are for insurance, mostly needed by old, rich guys flying big four engine bombers and other giant-scale projects or high-speed turbine planes and stuff where an accident could be catastrophically expensive, and thus require insurance-- insurance that is expensive and borne by EVERYBODY paying dues (under their old "one size fits all" mentality), to protect mostly rich guys with "big toys" who have money to burn... If I'm flying foamy electrics, why would I want to spend my hard earned money for THAT?? I understand now AMA has "branched out" and is embracing the small park flyer crowd and doing more to bring them in and make them feel welcome, with different lower cost membership options and stuff...
Maybe NAR should think about doing something like that for the "model rocket ONLY" (LPR/MPR, class 1 only rocketeers) segment of the rocket hobbiests, instead of simply trying to make itself into a clone of Tripoli...
Nah, never happen...
Later! OL JR
PS. Now I'm sure I'll get flamed into oblivion for "disagreeing" about HPR...