CLC membership options and costs?

[TJ Hopland]

I just spent about 10 minutes clicking around the main CLC website trying to find out the various memberships options and costs are.  I will admit I'm not computer expert and could be missing something obvious but I could not find that information anywhere. 

I see several places to sign up and a few places where there is a list of benefits but even those don't appear to give any options or costs.  When I click on the sign up areas there doesn't appear to be the information I am looking for there either.   

[Art Director]

Go to cadillaclasalleclub.org. Go to MEMBERSHIP > JOIN > DOWNLOAD APPLICATION. A PDF with all the membership rates will download to your computer. Open it up with Adobe Reader and you'll get all the information you need. Tim

[Carfreak]

Yeah, what Tim said.   

Also Benefits of Membership:  https://cadillaclasalleclub.org/member-benefits/

[Bryan J Moran]

I printed off the form and sent it in with a good old fashioned check. That caused a huge delay. I suppose you better pay through the site. 

[TJ Hopland]

So that information does not appear anywhere on the website? Only on the downloaded form? 

I'm sensing that I am about to become more frustrated and I may be starting to remember why I let my membership lapse in the first place.   

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Maintaining existing membership should be no more of a hassle than paying a utility bill. When the form arrives in the mail, I send a check out along with indicating changes to owned vehicles. Been doing this for 33 years and never had a problem.

[Carfreak]

I printed off the form and sent it in with a good old fashioned check. That caused a huge delay. I suppose you better pay through the site. 

If I recall correctly, you indicated mailing your check mid-December or sometime around the holiday season.  Unfortunately THE POST OFFICE PROVIDES TERRIBLE SERVICE. Its possible the CLC Office Manager may have closed a few days for the holidays also.

YES, paying online should be much quicker to be processed than waiting an extended period for the Post Office to decide to move your envelope along to its destination.  Think I posted here the other day, I waited 10 CALENDAR DAYS for a USPS Priority Mail package to be delivered to my PO Box less than 50 miles from the shipper.  Was it the shipper's fault?  NOPE. 

[Carfreak]

So that information does not appear anywhere on the website? Only on the downloaded form? 

You probably won't like my answer but the membership options are also available when you click on Membership > Join > Join On-line after you provide your name and address. As for a separate page with only membership options listed, guess that's not how the CLC website is set up.

In early 2023 I surveyed three dozen different vintage car clubs prior the Winter Board Meeting when Membership Rates were being considered for increase. I can tell you that some clubs have rates listed without downloading a pdf and but most don't.

I chased through these clubs' websites to gather information as to what types of memberships are offered, how frequent is their publication, how many pages, black/white or color, are there different mailing options (periodical / first class) etc etc.  The CLC provides a fantastic full-color glossy monthly (except Nov/Dec issue) magazine and compared to other clubs our rates are very reasonable. I was surprised one national club doesn't even provide a printed newsletter but electronic only. 

I believe its been mentioned, if a CLC member has a suggestion they can always reach out to someone on the CLC Board whether it be their Region Rep, Regional Vice President for the area where they live, the CLC President, Chief Judge, etc. If you don't know who to contact, you can contact the CLC Office Manager (Cornerstone Registration) and they should be able to advise you.

https://cadillaclasalleclub.org/contacts_staff/

[Bryan J Moran]

If I recall correctly, you indicated mailing your check mid-December or sometime around the holiday season.  Unfortunately THE POST OFFICE PROVIDES TERRIBLE SERVICE. Its possible the CLC Office Manager may have closed a few days for the holidays also.

YES, paying online should be much quicker to be processed than waiting an extended period for the Post Office to decide to move your envelope along to its destination.  Think I posted here the other day, I waited 10 CALENDAR DAYS for a USPS Priority Mail package to be delivered to my PO Box less than 50 miles from the shipper.  Was it the shipper's fault?  NOPE. 

I paid by mail on Black Friday. Cornerstone said they received it December 14, and I looked frequently, as I look at my bank accounts almost daily and it was not cashed until around Christmas. 3-4 weeks in.  I was not necessarily in a hurry.

We all have our preferences for delivery services. Mine is decidedly USPS, then FedEx then UPS. I think it's all BS, as Cornerstone is literally 185 miles away from me in Minnesota.  They are overwhelmed, because they have kind of cornered the market on providing these services to clubs, same as the Books did with 2-3 different clubs. 

My expectations mirrored our current go-fast world. I thought I might receive the January SS. I thought I would receive some acknowledgement of my efforts, and in my thinking, something ON PAPER beats something sent e-method, which can get deleted, misplaced or forgotten.  In my case it was the opposite.  And it's OK. 

[Bryan J Moran]

Also, why didn't the CLC raise membership rates?  I can not believe that membership dues costs will make any difference to membership counts.  I was a member of the Buick Club when they went to $50 due to declining membership.  There was a big fuss about that increase.  The same old arguments prevail each time - if you can afford a (fill in the blank) then you can afford $ for an annual membership. 

I think the $25 e membership is very strange.  Do we know how this experiment is working out?  It has been in place for ? 2 years.  What is the current membership and where was it in 2020, 2021, 2022? 

I spent the $89 to get 2 years of paper SS.  I was a subscriber to "Vintage Trucks".  For 6 annual issues it's $48.  A year.  Mailing and production costs for the SS will NEVER go down. That includes producing an e version, as we have seen that the club is booting freeloaders off the forum, which likely costs as much as producing paper SS's.   

I vote for no $25 memberships for e subscribers. They should pay $35-$40 per year.  I don't think membership will go down.  I don't think saving $15 makes true new club members, just the same old lookie loos. 

It's time for all club's to compare notes, provide best practices and hunker down for the continued decreased membership caused by old age and cost of the hobby. 

[TJ Hopland]

Checks?  What year is this?  I don't remember the last time I wrote a check for anything.

And since other car clubs were brought up for comparison I went to the first one that I sort of kinda thought I knew the name of, Pontiac Oakland.  Top of their main page in the header there is a membership tab.  Click on that and what immediately pops up?  Options, prices, & payment options.  I click the join button guess what?  I am again presented with the options, prices, and payment options.

https://www.poci.org/

In less than 30 seconds from typing Pontiac Oakland Club into google I found out everything I wanted to know without downloading or really having to search or dig. I feel like if I gave it another minute I could be a member.  On the CLC site other than downloading the form for mailing a check you apparently have to enter all your personal information to find out the options and prices and payment options?  How many other things do you buy that work like that?  Everything else I can think of you know the options and price and usually it only takes a few seconds to figure out payment options, more often then not those are listed as soon as you are even remotely in the part of the site where you may be buying something.   

I'm not necessarily bringing this up for me.  I'm just thinking I can't be the only one that isn't a member because it seems like an outdated hassle.  I'm of the era where I was young enough when the high tech stuff started coming in that for the most part I am able to learn it so I do know both the old and new ways and I am not yet a member.  What hope is there to get more recent generations to join?  People where if they can't do it with an app on their phone they ain't gonna do it?  The deck is already stacked against those people being interested in a club like this.....                     

[Jason Edge]

In the past we have relied on the application to advertise our rate structure.  It gets less clear how to get to and see these rates now that we have incorporated an online sign-up option in the mix.

It is still just 3 clicks away to see the rates if you go to our website and click Membership, Join, Downloadable Application which takes you to the online form at https://clc.cornerstonereg.com/Content/Documents/CLC_Membership_Application.pdf

I have asked our webmaster and others to consider a more user friendly way to get to and see the membership rates. It might be we just need to add a separate page, or retitle Downloadable Application to something like Application with Membership Rate... or something along these lines.

We all want to make things easy, and often things just end up being a bit convoluted when we add new features.

[TJ Hopland]

What is that Cornerstone company?   They appear to be some sort of 3rd party company that provides some sort of event services?

[Bryan J Moran]

What is that Cornerstone company?   They appear to be some sort of 3rd party company that provides some sort of event services?

I am not sure how they started but they are a for profit company (and so were the Books) that handles the administration side of clubs, and I assume that can be any club not just car clubs.

The Books were replaced as the administrator of club resources for the Buick Club of America by Cornerstone.  I don't know, but I suppose when the Books informed the CLC that they were retiring, they likely recommended Cornerstone. 

[Bryan J Moran]

Checks?  What year is this?  I don't remember the last time I wrote a check for anything.
             

You are correct, no one use checks much anymore.  I pay my car registration fees on line, even. But in certain circumstances a check, cashed and appearing on my on line banking site, is better than an e solution.  In this case, I was in no hurry to become a member. In fact there was some consideration to waiting a bit for cashing. 

[TJ Hopland]

So Cornerstone is the one collecting the money?

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

If not by check, doesn't the renewal form contain an area for payment by credit card? I can't recall. All personal information is already pre-printed on the form which makes it all the more convenient.

In my business, a checkbook is a necessity for an array of reasons.

[Jason Edge]

TJ and others. Our webmaster has changed the text of the drop down box under Membership, Join to now indicate "Rates & Application for Printing" which should make it much more clear you can see the rates at this link.  See attachment.

[Stefan Bartelski (CLC Webmaster)]

TJ and others. Our webmaster has changed the text of the drop down box under Membership, Join to now indicate "Rates & Application for Printing" which should make it much more clear you can see the rates at this link.  See attachment.

Thanks Jason, I was about to post the same message

Stefan