COCA

[tmhatting]

I received an email from COCA wondering why I hadn't sent in my dues. I emailed them back stating I had concerns about renewing as I had only signed up in April and gotten 2 issues of the magazine and was being billed in November for another year. I also addressed their concern that they aren't attracting new members and mentioned that they might try being a little more welcoming to new members. I attended the November meeting and didn't have a single individual speak to me unless I initiated the conversation. I didn't receive a reply but I did get a FINAL NOTICE for my dues.

[HSaidman]

I have collected Coin-op for over 20 years. I am quite thankful for the volunteers that take the time to try to start a website like this one, or an orginization like COCA. I missed newsletters like Around the Vending Wheel. Quite frankly with family commitments, careers etc, I have no idea how some of these individuals are able to maintain a free website like this one, or run COCA.

COCA is not the Antique Trader. There are no paid editors, or employees. It is a group of volunteers that I must admit put out a quality magazine 4 times per year, that I proudly save as a reference. Each year I get the bill for COCA I am happy that it means another year they will exist. I have never attended Chicago. Do my dues go to support meetings at Chicago or other functions that I do not partake in? YES. I consider it a donation to a good cause.

I think the cold shoulder you experiences is not COCA, but just the nature of collecting Antiques. I spend hours every weekend, and it takes years to build up contacts with fellow collectors. It is not a Church social, but a mix of hunting and playing Poker at the same time. Collectors are cautious and hold trade secrets. Heck, it took me 7 years to get a friend to tell me the name of a cleaner he used on tins. This is after I spent several thousand dollars with him. Locksmiths, restorers, etc are sometimes closely guarded secrets. Is it fair? NO, but personally, I would not change a thing.

[Dave]

HSaidman:

I have to disagree with you on this one.

I think COCA should be doing more to attract new collectors and when new people join they should be made to feel welcome and part of the crowd.

Whenever I meet a new collector, or any person interested in coin op, I do what I can to help them out. I provide them with contact information of dealers who I feel are trustworthy.

When I was in Chicago last month I met with several relatively new collectors. Contacts that I had made through this forum.

In one case, I chatted with the guy for well over an hour after the COCA meeting ended. I then met up with him on Sunday and walked around the show with him and I showed him various ways to spot reproduction machines.

In another case, I met with a guy and his son at lunch time and we just chatted for about an hour.

In other cases I just met the people on the show floor and we just chatted about stuff in general.

It is all about building relationships.

Now, am I going to discuss with them how I go about finding rare & unusual stuff? Of course not, it has taken me years to come up with a system of doing that.

However, if they need advice about anything I am more than willing to help them out. If they are looking for a particular machine and I don't have it (or it is not for sale) but know someone else does I will let them know and not try to be a middleman. If they need a locksmith to pick a lock and I know of one then I have no heistations about giving that information out. If they are thinking about purchasing a machine that is misrepresented then I will give them my opinion about it.

I am a great believer in karma. If I help them out then it will come back to me. Who knows, if they come across something that they don't want they may think of me and let me know about it before they contact anyone else. This was worked for me in the past and I am sure it will work again in the future.

When I bought my first machine, a couple of collectors/dealers in Denver welcomed me into their universe. I cannot tell you how appreciative I was of this. When I started chasing machines I would call them constantly to get their opinions and advice. Their help let me avoid making some very costly mistakes. In addition, when I did get a machine and just wanted to flip it, guess who I called first? In fact, I still do this. When I was chasing the Caille "Our Baby" machine that I just bought I contacted a couple of collectors/dealers to get their opinion about this machine.

Since I am primarily a collector and not a dealer perhaps my view is slanted. However, how could not getting more collectors into the hobby/business be a bad thing for anyone?

Anyway, that is my opinion on the subject.

Dave

[tmhatting]

Your points are well taken but I still think that if I pay for a years subscription, I should receive a years subscription - even sending subscribers back issues to complete the year would be preferable to simply shorting them.

There are a few people in any organization, esp. a volunteer organization, that do the lion's share of the work and they should be applauded. That doesn't mean that when a deficiency is exposed it should be ignored. As for the cold shoulder experience, I would think that anyone who wanted to make contacts and money or improve their collections would be eager to meet new collectors. The big issue, though, is that the powers that be should be looking for ways to maintain and increase the membership so that we can all enjoy the benefits. Currently, their desires and their actions are diametrically opposed.

[Dave]

Your points are well taken but I still think that if I pay for a years subscription, I should receive a years subscription - even sending subscribers back issues to complete the year would be preferable to simply shorting them.

There are a few people in any organization, esp. a volunteer organization, that do the lion's share of the work and they should be applauded. That doesn't mean that when a deficiency is exposed it should be ignored. As for the cold shoulder experience, I would think that anyone who wanted to make contacts and money or improve their collections would be eager to meet new collectors. The big issue, though, is that the powers that be should be looking for ways to maintain and increase the membership so that we can all enjoy the benefits. Currently, their desires and their actions are diametrically opposed.

It seems to me that a reasonable compromise would be to charge for how many COCA issues one would receive when one joins.

If a person joins at a point in time when they are only going to receive 2/3 of the issues then the dues should be $22.

In any case, I think they should have made it clear when you joined that your subscription will be up on November 1st.

Just imagine if you joined in August, received no magazines, and then in November you were asked to pay another $33.

Dave

[KaChing]

I received an email from COCA wondering why I hadn't sent in my dues. I emailed them back stating I had concerns about renewing as I had only signed up in April and gotten 2 issues of the magazine and was being billed in November for another year. I also addressed their concern that they aren't attracting new members and mentioned that they might try being a little more welcoming to new members. I attended the November meeting and didn't have a single individual speak to me unless I initiated the conversation. I didn't receive a reply but I did get a FINAL NOTICE for my dues.

Oh oh, there's gonna be trouble.

Just be a good COCA member and pay your dues!

Maybe you should address this in the COCA fourm. Oh, that's right, there isn't one! However, I am sure there will be by the first of next month.