NEW POC Membership Roster

Cliff54 · June 05, 2006, 11:34:45 PM

Yep,
Harris got me for my, Fraternity and University before I found out that it was just a money making tool, and had little to do with the organizations themselves.

I think in the future, I will pass when it comes to any other ROSTER from Harris.

Cliff54

Ed_Ungerman · June 01, 2006, 05:41:21 PM

I received a second card from them yesterday. And today, I got an email from them that said the same thing as the card. my wife also got a second card from them for her high school class (1967). Whoops, maybe I shouldn't have given her date. :o

FourDoor · May 28, 2006, 09:30:45 AM

:o I was informed yesterday by the printer that a copy of the new roster delivered to my home in Canada is $125 Cdn. HOLY HARD COVER BATMAN!!!!! I won't be buying a copy in this life or the next thank you very much.? (The Cdn.$ is now .91 cents U.S. and climbing towards par by the end of the year.)

furylee · May 23, 2006, 09:17:33 AM

I too got the post card in the mail last week. Thinking I didn?t fill something out correctly, I called the 800 number. Boy, these guys have it all figured out! They get around the new telemarketing laws by getting you to call them, and then give you the ?Buy it now, or never? ultimatum. Well, I also declined the ?offer?.
This was mentioned at the Spring Nationals last year in Peoria, but the price tossed around then was in the $40 - $50 range. I thought then it seemed a bit pricy, but on the other hand it sounded like it could be pretty nice.
Jim mentioned the last roster cost the club ?big bucks?. What is considered ?big bucks?, $15 per issue? $20 each? I would gladly pay that, especially if they only do it every 7-8 years like this Harris Publishing is talking about.
Why didn?t the club go to their regular printer and get the cost to print a roster similar the 2000 issue? Then, they could pre-advertise it to the general membership and in the bulletin, take orders, and print roster for those who want it at no cost to the club.

Jim Benjaminson · May 17, 2006, 11:35:27 PM

Hi Tod - as per your question if the info in this new roster will be included in the club data base....yes, provided members have updated me with their car lists. If I don't get the info, there may be cars listed that have been sold and cars not on the list that have been purchased. Jim B.

TodFitch · May 17, 2006, 01:02:05 PM

Paid members of the Golden State Region can query/view an electronic copy of the roster on the region's website. When we get the membership and car data from Jim we electronically merge it (not a perfect match but we try). So you can query to see who lives in an area and owns a particular kind of car. Useful if you are looking for someone else nearby with a car like yours so you can share notes.

You must log in to the site to get to the national roster page. In fact even if you bookmark the page the bookmark will not work unless you are logged in.

But that reminds me, I need to update the site with a more recent set of data. . . Time to email Jim.

My big question for Jim: Will the data gathered by this company making the printed roster be factored back into your information about car ownership?

POC-Admin · May 17, 2006, 12:20:15 PM

If enough people are interested, I could convert the roster from Jim to a PDF file from time to time - say every six months or so - then you would not need Excell to view it. I could put it in a non-published location - the actual URL would not be linked but listed in the Paper Bulletin - We can also make that area where it would be stored a secure area on this site so that it would require another log-in and password to get to (paid POC members only) - I have set a location like that for meeting minutes and member lists on another site I maintain.

Otherwise just take Jim up on his offer.

Mark Olson

Jim Benjaminson · May 17, 2006, 01:13:32 AM

Hi Guys (and Gals) Yes - this particular roster is a "for sale" item. Harris does a lot of them for colleges, etc., etc., Sales are not expected to be high (probably explaining the high price) but its not costing the club any money to produce the roster. The 2000 Roster some of you mentioned cost the club big bucks in printing and postage - enough to do 2.5 color issues of the Bulletin. So the reasoing behind going with Harris on this project. BUT - all is not lost for those of you who don't want a coffee table type book laying around. If you are a member and have computer access, you can request a copy of the membership roster at anytime. In fact, the roster gets updated with each issue of the Bulletin as new members join, addresses change, some members drop out or pass away, etc. All you have to do is send me an e-mail request and I'll send it to you. Its a large Excel file so if you can handle it, I'll download it to you. Current membership (don't have the extra number in front of me) is in the 3,400-3,500 range. Jim Benjaminson, Mem. Sec.

Bill Davis · May 16, 2006, 11:27:21 PM

Lindsay,
I received my post card today and called the 800 number.? You pretty much summed it up
the way I saw it.

I guess that I did not know that it was going to be a sales pitch when I called.? I also
declined to buy either book.? I would like to have a copy, but I think the asking price is
a bit much.? I am not saying that the book won't be a first class item? --? I'm sure it will.
But, like you, I would just as soon have a CD or loseleaf sheets, stapled together.? I don't
care about the presentation, just the contents.? Maybe something else will be offered to
the membership at a later date.

Ed_Ungerman · May 16, 2006, 11:23:42 PM

I got the same card in the mail today. Also, my wife got one from the same company. Except it was for her high school graduating class of 1967. According to the card, they wanted info on her to include in the book.

Lindsay McConnell · May 16, 2006, 07:50:39 PM

Just yesterday, I received a small post card in the mail from the Harris Connect Directory Office.
These are the folks that are putting together the soon to be Membership Directory.
They kindly asked me to phone them within the next two weeks so that they could verify biographical information with me.
Well, I phoned them today, only to find out they it basically was a phone call to "sell" me a copy of this new roster, in a hardbound, limited series, for two payments of $49.95. Catching me off guard, I actually had to ask the Lass if this was something "special"? I told her that I simply would like a paperback copy, similar to the one I received back in January/February of 2000. She stated that there could be some "paperback" copies made, and that if I wanted one of those, that I would save myself $20.00.....
Still a bit fickled, I asked, Are all of these new rosters either 80 or 100 dollars? She answered Yes, but only for a limited, one shot deal that I must accept immediately.
Needless to say, I did not accept her offer.
I am not sure if I missed something somewhere?
I had no idea that the new roster was going to be available for a price, and not sent out to membership as it has been in the past.
If I did miss the boat on this, I will apologize in advance. If not, then what is going on?

I figure, that if one is a member of a club like this one, that members should have to opportunity to know of all the names and locations of the other members of the club. All this without having to pay close to $100.00 premium for.
This could simply be the same information that is being collected for this book, only made available on CD, or maybe on the club website?

I do not know what the membership numbers are at this time, I'm sure that Jim B. could let us know, and, I'm SURE that it is much more than in mid 1998 when the last rosters information was collected, but I feel a publication like Volume 41,Number2 should be available to members at a rate better budgeted for hobbyists and the clubs members. I know that publishing, and mailing costs have changed with everything else since the year 2000, but let us not let the price of our club roster go up like the price of a gallon of gas!

This is simply my two cents worth, and nothing more. I do not wish to "start" anything with other members, and members that put hours of their time into this website, the bulletin, and hosting regional and national meetings. Simply, I just feel there should be a way of accessing the roster without paying close to a hundred dollars.
Thanks for your time, and your thoughts and replies.

Happy Plymouth motoring!