PRA dues & the magazine and your thoughts on them

1) I do believe the PRA hit the ground running with a glossy magazine as it's first "newsletter" I believe so, becasue I got one and was asked to join the PRA. I don't believe Dr B ever had a stapled-in-the-corner, mimeographed newsletter. I have some "Bensen Flying News" newsletters, but they were published after the PRA got a new Pres and moved to Cali.

Tom, thanks for the correction. I may have been confusing Bensen's newsletters with Chuck Vanek's, which were in distribution before PRA existed, but to a much smaller users group.
 
The magazine for life was the reward for making a 15 year committment to the PRA by buying a life membership...

Dean, sadly, "magazine for life" could mean the member's, or PRA's. If pressing this issue results in the collapse of the PRA, only to see it replaced with a new, all-electronic organization, the magazine will be just as gone.
 
It does no good to take medicine for a toothache if you really have a broken toe.

Before prescribing a treatment, we need to know exactly what the problem is -- or if WE specifically even have a problem at all. Have the EAA, AOPA, USUA, ASC experienced similiar declines in membership ovet the last few years? I suspect they have, but it might take a confidential chat with officers of each outfit to get them to admit it.

My own vague impression is that public interest in private aviation in the U.S. peaked in the years after Lindbergh, and has been on a long-term slide ever since. The introduction of jet airliners in the late 50's made prop planes seem quaint and even rickety.

The ultralight phenomenon, beginning in the late 70's, did give our end of aviation a temporary boost. The FAA, in concert with the EAA, however, brilliantly moved to kill off ultralights, without actually revoking Part 103, by eliminating BFIs and AFIs.

Worries about petroleum, and a cultural change away from quests for adventure and toward quests for (perceived) perfect security, have kept folks out of private aviation, especially since 9/11.

These are just personal hunches. If they turn out to be right, though, we are dealing with forces too large for us PRA folk to resist. We would need, instead, to adjust to the reality of a new, smaller, hard-core community. IOW, membership pricing may not be the problem, but the magazine may need to be simplified just to accommodate a smaller-scale organization.
 
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Ron if you cut the membership to $25 from the present $50. You said that would help and we could get more members. Yes I'd hope so. If you cut the rate in 1/2 it will take double the membership for the same amount of money. Makes no sense.
I feel if you really believe in the PRA then give an extra $20 for a donation to the PRA. It will do more good
 
John, your more experienced than me about this, but for any company ( use Coke as a example ) to see value in writing a check to advertise in a magazine that only comes out 6 time per year with a 1300-1450 circulation, seems kinda stupid to me. I can't see this idea working out.

I could see the idea working out online, where the PRA website might have thousands of hits daily when and if the website becomes what it should be
You're correct a circulation of 1300 to 2000 members would be difficult to sell.
That's why we haven't setup a commission sales staff with the small membership we currently have. It would almost surly be domed to fail.
However we have already done a marketing test using PRA-TV as the test page.
It was getting about 1000 hits per-day and we have at least 4 new pages that could increase our circulation just about as much.

I do know that the main reason everyone isn't rich is because most just don't make the effort to try it. Nothing ventured nothing gained but those that try get some increase in revenue.

It will take less than two weeks to discover if we can sell 100 new $50.00 monthly ads or not.

I feel certain we should at least try, before we scrap the hard-copy.
Also don't rule out how much Coke will pay for an exclusive right to advertise and what they feel it's worth to keep both Pepsi and Dr Pepper out of even a small vertical market. Also I can sell the image, of cool and or bad boy image.

If we can make it break even, then I'd like to suggest we take it to the next step.
That's printing 10's of thousands of magazines and drop them of to all the airports for free. Free always increases a magazine circulation as it did with a boating magazine I help create and it's now making millions from the advertising alone the mag is free so just about everyone reads it. Which makes selling ads a no brainier.

Either way, online or hard-copy, I will help sell advertising for anything we got.

But I also know, if you don't at least try. No one will ever know if it could be done or not.
 
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Brent, do the math, out of your 50$, 42$ goes to making a magazine. This leaves 8 dollars to fund the PRA. Even less if you paid with a credit card or Paypal.

I propose we eliminate a paper magazine and make Rotorcraft magazine a online only publication. By doing this I would guess it would cut the costs to make the magazine from 42$ per member to 10-20$ per member.

Even with lower dues, the PRA would still have 8 or so dollars per member to work with. But I would guess it would be even more than 8 bucks.

So it would not take double the membership to raise the same amount of money the PRA nets.

But by lowering the dues, joining the PRA or renewing membership becomes more affordable and easier to justify, and therefore I believe there would be double or even triple the membership in short order.

Do the math Brent and I think you will see it does in fact make perfect sence
 
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And all you guys who think 50$ is chump change, feel free to send me 50$. 50$ to me is still alot of money.

I eat extra value meals at fast food joints, I rarely go to sit down eaterys.... I smoke generic cigarettes..... I buy my clothes and shoes from Walmart.... I shave my head because I am too cheap to pay a barber for a haircut....
 
And all you guys who think 50$ is chump change, feel free to send me 50$. 50$ to me is still alot of money.

I eat extra value meals at fast food joints, I rarely go to sit down eaterys.... I smoke generic cigarettes..... I buy my clothes and shoes from Walmart.... I shave my head because I am too cheap to pay a barber for a haircut....
Concentrate on making more money personally too?:lol:

But really you are correct. Reduce the price and you sell more units. When we can't sell a product, we give it away for free and charge $15.00 shipping and handling. It appears free?
I'd like to try and reduce the dues by generating more revenue with the assets we already have before we get rid of them that's all.

Lets see where we are by Benson Days...
 
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Tom, out of my 50$, how much is spent fighting Washington?

I know Greg G is the main PRA person with the Washington contacts and making things happen. How much money has he recieved from the PRA to help fund the progress he has made? I will go out on a limb and make a guess that Greg has recieved ZERO funds from the PRA to help out with his efforts. Greg happens to be a very nice guy who does alot for the sport and for the PRA, but I do not believe my dues are of any help to him for what he does.

That's what I was wondering too...
 
Just to get my 2 cents in; I can live without a paper magazine.
I'd be happy with an online magazine.

$50 seems like a lot, but I'll keep paying it if that's what the PRA needs to stay alive, with or without a paper magazine.

Even if there's no real hard core benefilts I can point to that I get from the PRA, I think it helps to have a national organization.
 
That's what I was wondering too...
The PRA helps Greg come in as the head and voice of a world wide organization. Much better position than a sole individual.

But ask Greg how we could pay him back. I'll bet he'll tell you join and support the PRA, help make it stronger so we can better promote and serve the rotorcraft community. That's what he wants you to do in exchange for his free labor.

Greg as put his heart and soul into promoting and saving the PRA. How would you feel when you discover your free labor and efforts fighting the FAA aren't worth 50 buck a year?:eek:
 
choppergabor

Yes there are things such as a wavier, but here is the kicker about a wavier, ( and this comes from an attorney) the winner signs the waiver but his wife, his mother his father his kids ect ect do not and they can sue. they may lose but the expense of the suite is still there and as stated the BIg difference here is homebuilt vs factory built. I wonder how many present manufactures or kit manufactures of gyro's would donate or sell a gyro to PRA for a raffle ????

Tony
 
The PRA helps Greg come in as the head and voice of a world wide organization. Much better position than a sole individual.
:

Correct.

Greg has stated many times that the FAA listens to the PRA, has it has long established itself as one of the "letter groups". Greg does his work on behalf and as the PRA.

Also, The PRA is now part of the AAAA. We are now working with the AAAA to keep all fractions of the aviation world updated and mobilised in regards to regulatory issues.

http://aviationacrossamerica.com/

.
 
choppergabor

Yes there are things such as a wavier, but here is the kicker about a wavier, ( and this comes from an attorney) the winner signs the waiver but his wife, his mother his father his kids ect ect do not and they can sue. they may lose but the expense of the suite is still there and as stated the BIg difference here is homebuilt vs factory built. I wonder how many present manufactures or kit manufactures of gyro's would donate or sell a gyro to PRA for a raffle ????

Tony
Or members who have a kit sitting in a box for years may be another possibility.

We won't know until we ask?

These are great ideas that produce large amounts of extra revenue.
One of our un-staffed projects is to have members call folks like Icom, Graman, and other manufactures of products we covet and ask them to donate them for us to raffle off once or twice a year.
We could use more volunteers, maybe we should staff this now?
 
Have the EAA, AOPA, USUA, ASC experienced similiar declines in membership ovet the last few years? I suspect they have, but it might take a confidential chat with officers of each outfit to get them to admit it...

Doug, I'd bet the ultralight groups are down, but AOPA and EAA have held pretty strong. AOPA has remained between 414,000 and 417,000 the last couple years, an extraordinary percentage of the overall pilot population.

EAA's numbers aren't as clear, not even listed in the latest available annual report, but the general aviation fleet in the US is now about 25% experimentals, and the single-engine piston fleet about half experimentals, according to industry sources. AirVenture attendance was up this year despite a down economy, with tickets priced at $36/day for non-members, and $24/day or $107/week for members.
 
So we only have to sell one major corporation a year a $4,166.66 monthly ad or 100 clients a 41.66 monthly ad.
..

Coca Cola, the official soft drink of the PRA ? Served exclusively at PRA events.

Pepsi has Navy Pier in Chicago sewn up, I'll bet they pay a lot more.

I think a PRA exclusivity and mag ad contract could even work at a soft drink distributor level. Then there are the hot dogs, lawn mowers, etc.

Picture a lawn mower mfg. Pays for the PRA grass cutting and runs a ad yearly. During the convention, they have a dealer and display present.

We probably do not have the member numbers to attact Coke or Pepsi or Dixie Chopper at a national level, but it might work at a local dealer level.

The big question is; how much does it cost to ad a page in the magazine and how hard would it be to fill it?
 
1) The idea that this forum has hurt the PRA is an odd perspective.

2) There wasn't one person updating this forum on events from Mentone who was willing to do it on behalf of PRA instead? I doubt that. There was even wi-fi on the airport. It's not a lack of the means, it's a mindset.

Paul, Thank you for the reply.

1) Not odd at all, you actually agreed with me. The forum did not intentionally hurt the PRA, just as Henry Ford's goal wasn't to put the buggy whip mfgs out of business. It's progress and the PRA was behind the 8 ball.
Most PRA BOD meetings are about putting out fires, not fire prevention. I hope that changes soon. (I'll do my part).

2) I don't know who has access to the web site. It should be updated daily. I believe certain people will have access to certain areas as the site improves. I belong to another forum (boatnerd.com) I have access to a small part of their site and update it almost daily....it only takes seconds (look under: vessel passage, click Calumet River )
 
Tom, thanks for the correction. I may have been confusing Bensen's newsletters with Chuck Vanek's, which were in distribution before PRA existed, but to a much smaller users group.

During Bensen's reign over the PRA, there was a small splinter group that didn't like the Bensen brand bias. The Pennsylvania chapter published the "Wings of Tomorrow" newsletter. It was published by Lou & Helen Darvassy very popular and offered a non-Bensen look at gyros. Helen was on the PRA Board.
 
So it would not take double the membership to raise the same amount of money the PRA nets.

Ron,
It will also lower the cost per issue of the magazine and produce a bigger financial gain as well as the potential for more magazine articles.

Incresased membership is a win win proposition.
 
Dean, sadly, "magazine for life" could mean the member's, or PRA's. If pressing this issue results in the collapse of the PRA, only to see it replaced with a new, all-electronic organization, the magazine will be just as gone.

Dean & Paul,

Roughly 10% of the PRA members are life members, if all the lifers started paying dues it would amount to around $6,500 income per year, with no increased cost to the PRA.
I doubt if any lifers would demand their print magazine if they knew it would drag the PRA under.

Since life membership is no longer an option, I propose we offer us lifers a Gold Supporter membership in trade. A Gold Supporter membership could have some perks and be available to anyone who wants to donate $50 a year over the dues. They can earmark their donation (already in place) What's say you?
 
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