Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
I agree that membership is down, revenue is down. Yes there could be some adjustments made. I do not agree on your reasons as to why membership is down. There have always been guys that do not care for the club atmosphere. That hasn't changed. What has changed is the popularity of the hobby. What can the AMA possibly do to make the hobby more popular? I don't see that aspect of our situation landing on the AMA.
It's hard for AMA to "promote" the hobby when they're spending money on staff at Taj-Muncie. That's money that's not available to be spent at the front lines, where the real "promoting" of the hobby takes place. So yes, I do blame AMA ... for foolishly spending resources that could be better used where the potential members are living and working (i.e. everywhere but "Taj-Muncie").
Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
Blame Tower Hobbies, Horizon Hobbies for that one. They established monopolies that drove the local hobby shops out of business. Without hobby shops to promote the hobby what do we have?
Blame all of us for shopping at Tower and Horizon. All they did was respond to customer demand. And blame some LHS as well. For example, I walked into my LHS ready to buy at Blade 500. It had already cost me about $5 to drive there. So I tell the clerk that I'll buy the heli if they'll match another LHS with bit online presence. The guy says he can't make that decision, but if I come back the next day, the owner will be there. So another $10, $5 to drive home and $5 to drive back the next day. So I make the case to the owner that I can have it delivered to my house for a price, and if he'll match it then I'm happy to spend the money with him. Owner says no. So I drive home (another $5). The next day he calls and says that if I come back, he'll sell it to me for $7 over the online retailer. So I'm into it for $15 in gas already, and his way of "earning" my business is to ask me to spend another $5 in gas AND pay $7 more? Yeah right. So I bought from the online place. Had it in two days.
Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
Now keep in mind that you would like me to value your experience and I would ask the same of you. I have been in this hobby chest deep for 41 years, 15 of those years were in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing side of the hobby. I have seen dips in participation before. If you really want the hobby to flourish you need to promote. You need to mentor. Have you done either of those lately?
I'm sorry, where does it say that "I" have to do anything? The beauty of this country is that I get to do as much or as little as I like. I also get to choose how I participate in the hobby .. or not. What I will say is that if any kid in the neighborhood comes up while I'm flying, I take the time to talk to them, show them, and depending on what I'm flying, let them try. But they're more interested in my photo drone than helis and planes.