I was sad to see Ralph,
W2CVF in Silent Keys recently, but I don't think he regretted for a moment
having signed up for Life Membership just last year -- at age
101.
ARRL doesn't lose money, on
average, on new Life Members in the Life Membership program. The original
Life Members got a very good deal, mainly because the rate at the time was 20
times the annual dues rate (it is now 25 times) and because the inflation of
the late 1970s and early 1980s raised our costs and forced increases in the
term dues. However, since then we have been able to cover the equivalent
dues of new LMs from the return on investment of their LM
payments.
The principal risk to the ARRL in
offering Life Membership is that inflation will return without being offset by
improved return on investment sufficient to keep pace with rising
costs.
If you run into an early LM who feels
guilty, Mary Hobart has the cure.
Dave K1ZZ in
Friedrichshafen
This is WAY outside anything I ought to be commenting on, but my mentor,
Bob Booth, W3PS, always told me that ARRL life membership was not an
investment, it was a way of showing support for the organization, and that
explained why, quite frequently, very old people become life members
for the first time. So perhaps it is best to look at this as Greg
does.
73, Chris W3KD
Christopher D. Imlay
BOOTH, FRERET, IMLAY &
TEPPER, P.C.
14356 Cape May Road
Silver Spring, Maryland
20904-6011
(301) 384-5525 telephone
(301) 384-6384
facsimile
W3KD@ARRL.ORG
-----Original Message-----
From:
G.P. Widin <gpwidin@comcast.net>
To: arrl-odv
<arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Cc: arrl-odv
<arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 8:28
pm
Subject: [arrl-odv:16869] Re: Life Memberships
dick@pobox.com wrote:
> I cannot,
with a clear conscience, sell our current (25 x annual) life > membership
to a person who is over 50-55 years old. It's great > revenue
for
> the ARRL, but it's not a good investment for these
people.
I got my life membership when I was in my late 40s--who knows
if I've got 25 years left? But my rationale is, there's no other organization
I'd rather "over-pay" to than ARRL. So, if the League benefits by my not
achieving the full 25 I "paid for", at least I know it's in a cause I believe
in.
I don't know if you'd have trouble selling that, but
that's the way I sold myself. ;-)
-- 73,
Greg, KØGW