# Membership Cards



## jeff (Aug 1, 2018)

This poll is to determine potential interest in IAP membership cards. These would be physical cards customized with some member information - possibly name, member number, join date, chapter affiliation, etc. 

One possible use of such cards would be to show IAP membership and eligibility for discounts at brick & mortar stores, although no such discount programs have been negotiated yet.

If interest seems sufficiently high, the next step will be to explore a design and production options. For "nominal fee" in the poll, assume perhaps $5 to defray production and mailing costs.

This poll is to gauge interest in physical cards only. If you'd prefer a card you could download and print yourself, vote "no".

Thanks for your vote. Comments welcome.


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## jeff (Aug 1, 2018)

Here are a couple previous discussions on membership cards.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/club-126780/
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/iap-membership-cards-155834/


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## Dalecamino (Aug 4, 2018)

How's this going? I got my vote in.


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## Kenny Durrant (Aug 4, 2018)

$5 is cheap enough. Why not spend a few dollars to help the club and you will definitely get your money back on your next purchase. I'm also assuming it would be a per card fee. So if you take care of it and don't loose it, it would be a $5 lifetime fee. if you have to get one every time you need it that's a different story. Ha Ha.


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## jeff (Aug 4, 2018)

Kenny Durrant said:


> $5 is cheap enough. Why not spend a few dollars to help the club and you will definitely get your money back on your next purchase. I'm also assuming it would be a per card fee. So if you take care of it and don't loose it, it would be a $5 lifetime fee. if you have to get one every time you need it that's a different story. Ha Ha.



No discount programs have yet been negotiated, and I can't promise any would be. We'll need a volunteer for that. If the process is as simple as showing the card and getting the discount, that's fine. If it requires that we provide member information to vendors, that's going to require some thought and planning, but I have a couple ideas...


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## jeff (Aug 4, 2018)

Dalecamino said:


> How's this going? I got my vote in.



96 votes so far. I'm going to put a link to it on the front page later.


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## jttheclockman (Aug 4, 2018)

Just curious Jeff, do you have a number in your head that indicates it would be a worthwhile adventure to pursue. I say this because we see this alot with contests there maybe alot of members signed up to this site but a limited number that partake. They represent the entire site then. You may get into a situation that you offer both methods, downloadable version and hard copy version with one standard design that gets voted on.


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## TonyL (Aug 4, 2018)

> No discount programs have yet been negotiated, and I can't promise any would be. We'll need a volunteer for that. If the process is as simple as showing the card and getting the discount, that's fine. If it requires that we provide member information to vendors, that's going to require some thought and planning, but I have a couple ideas...
> __________________



I would be willing to call Hartville Hardware on Thursday (I am swamped professionally until then). The only thing they require is an updated list of members. Jeff, if you have any objection, just let me know before then. thanks.


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## flyitfast (Aug 4, 2018)

jeff said:


> Kenny Durrant said:
> 
> 
> > $5 is cheap enough. Why not spend a few dollars to help the club and you will definitely get your money back on your next purchase. I'm also assuming it would be a per card fee. So if you take care of it and don't loose it, it would be a $5 lifetime fee. if you have to get one every time you need it that's a different story. Ha Ha.
> ...



Just a thought, if the vendor wants  a list of members all they have to do is join IAP and they have access to member names......won't have email addresses, but might be a little clumsy.


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## Curly (Aug 4, 2018)

The email addresses for those that put it on their contact info is in your profile. They would have to dig through to get it and determine who is active etc. If the member cards go through then those that sign up can be on such a list but I would be a bit put out if I start getting emails from companies I didn't sign up for.


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## Kenny Durrant (Aug 5, 2018)

The ones in the Dallas area that I frequent regularly are Woodcraft and Wood World. Wood World has never asked to see a card probably because they know me as a customer and I've attended IAP meetings that were held there. There are a couple of guys that work at both stores so they don't ask a either store but at Woodcraft there are a few that want to see a card. They don't care what club your a member of they just want proof and you get a 10% discount. That's why I said you would get your money back. I guess I assumed most people had and shopped at a Woodcraft. I guess not everyone lives close enough to a big city so they can run pick up something within an hour or so. Now saying that I guess that's a benefit of fighting all the traffic and hassles of "The Big City".


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## greenacres2 (Aug 5, 2018)

Kenny Durrant said:


> The ones in the Dallas area that I frequent regularly are Woodcraft and Wood World. Wood World has never asked to see a card probably because they know me as a customer and I've attended IAP meetings that were held there. There are a couple of guys that work at both stores so they don't ask a either store but at Woodcraft there are a few that want to see a card. They don't care what club your a member of they just want proof and you get a 10% discount. That's why I said you would get your money back. I guess I assumed most people had and shopped at a Woodcraft. I guess not everyone lives close enough to a big city so they can run pick up something within an hour or so. Now saying that I guess that's a benefit of fighting all the traffic and hassles of "The Big City".



Yep, nearest Woodcraft or Rockler to me is over 2 hours each way--if traffic is good, and in the Chicago suburbs that is not always the case.  On the other hand, my back porch is 2 seconds away, and stuff usually gets to us faster than the time it takes for me to figure out how to burn a half-day or more to go to a store!!  But...our view of the stars and rainbows is worth not being in a city!!
earl


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## leehljp (Aug 5, 2018)

greenacres2 said:


> Kenny Durrant said:
> 
> 
> > The ones in the Dallas area that I frequent regularly are Woodcraft and Wood World. Wood World has never asked to see a card probably because they know me as a customer and I've attended IAP meetings that were held there. There are a couple of guys that work at both stores so they don't ask a either store but at Woodcraft there are a few that want to see a card. They don't care what club your a member of they just want proof and you get a 10% discount. That's why I said you would get your money back. I guess I assumed most people had and shopped at a Woodcraft. I guess not everyone lives close enough to a big city so they can run pick up something within an hour or so. Now saying that I guess that's a benefit of fighting all the traffic and hassles of "The Big City".
> ...



I wonder if the 10% discount would extend to online orders, or in-store purchases only? As many active (even though a moving target at any one time) members as are here, it should seem attractive to them!


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## jeff (Aug 5, 2018)

jttheclockman said:


> Just curious Jeff, do you have a number in your head that indicates it would be a worthwhile adventure to pursue. I say this because we see this alot with contests there maybe alot of members signed up to this site but a limited number that partake. They represent the entire site then. You may get into a situation that you offer both methods, downloadable version and hard copy version with one standard design that gets voted on.



If we had initially a couple hundred interested, it would probably be worth it. Once the poll ends, I'll talk to [profile=mbroberg]Mike Broberg[/profile] about whether he thinks it's a reasonable number to make it worthwhile. I envision this as kind of a bulk buy thing, where we'd take orders on our shopping cart then place an order with a card company maybe every other month. We could also do a print/laminate option (Mike is willing to do that as well), but there's the initial investment there that you don't have if you outsource the cards.


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## jeff (Aug 5, 2018)

I changed the poll to visible. No reason to hide this one. 

You can see the results after you vote.


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## jttheclockman (Aug 5, 2018)

Well Jeff I will give my opinion which means absolutely nothing here these days  from what I have been viewing . 

If we can find a company that we can outsource to and have a continued relationship with and as you say bulk buy is the way to go if they can take and use our design. Now the thing that would have to be stressed to them is that there will probably be an initial bulk buy but will taper off to a trickle when things settle down. Using this method will save people from having to do the work of downloading and then getting it laminated and the cost of that (however small) You then have a professional looking card and we save the initial expense of equipment.  No need to give them any list of members, just the ones who want the card. Having the option for download should be an easy thing to do. Not sure if companies have a numbers limit up or down but sure we can find something. Again not sure if graphics is a concern to them also. 

Then and this is jumping to another level, but have a list of stores or sites that will be willing to give membership a discount and have this list posted and easily added to as years go by. Stores such as hobby stores use to do this but would have to check. Same with on-line stores. Can never hurt to ask when making a purchase. The worse answer is no and we all have been told no as we grew up so no big deal Maybe the option of having an online card also could be used for these online stores if proof is needed. Copy and paste type system. I do not like the idea of allowing companies to access the site even though that is so easy but do not put the thought in their heads. 

Couple hundred is pushing it Maybe if this does take on legs and gets good reviews more people will jump on board. Some people are from the Show Me State of thinking.  Just a few thoughts.


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## GaryMGg (Aug 5, 2018)

North Woods Figured Woods offers verifiable turning clubs a discount.
IIRC, A club’s officer must provide them with the roster.
Lots of companies do this.


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## Big (Aug 5, 2018)

I don't think that the $5 nominal fee would be unreasonable at all, even more if necessary and I think that it is an awesome idea and I would honored to have one.


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## TonyL (Aug 6, 2018)

There is also the cost to replace a lost card - just something to account for.
Maybe email a PDF and leave it up to the member to laminate, frame , etc. 
Again, just ideas to keep labor down. I think there should be some fee for membership, card or not.


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## edicehouse (Aug 7, 2018)

Say 100 sign up to get one the first month or so, then after that it would be just a couple a month.  A couple for the new members and one for those of us that have lost the card.  So I think the option of being able to do it online and get an electronic version would be more flexible.  Probably could set it up with the option of you putting your photo on the card and printing out.


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## Terredax (Aug 7, 2018)

TonyL said:


> There is also the cost to replace a lost card - just something to account for.
> Maybe email a PDF and leave it up to the member to laminate, frame , etc.
> Again, just ideas to keep labor down. I think there should be some fee for membership, card or not.




That didn't work out so well for Angie's List.


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## MDWine (Aug 7, 2018)

There is no poll answer for my position:
I don't really care
I would pitch in the $$ to help defray costs.
I know that's not much help, I get that from my wife all the time.

The PDF is a good idea!


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## acmaclaren (Aug 7, 2018)

I think $5 is very reasonable to get a member card. I vote yes.


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## Tony Salvatore (Aug 7, 2018)

I’m in!  Just having a card with the/my IAP information on it would be great.  I vote yes.


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app


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## RangeRat (Aug 7, 2018)

Being a new guy here, I feel like this is a decision for the more senior members. Personally, I don’t have a strong opinion on card/no card, but I feel like I’ve gleaned more than enough information from the site to justify a small membership fee if that is where this leads.


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## jeff (Aug 7, 2018)

RangeRat said:


> Being a new guy here, I feel like this is a decision for the more senior members. Personally, I don’t have a strong opinion on card/no card, but I feel like I’ve gleaned more than enough information from the site to justify a small membership fee if that is where this leads.



That's not where this might lead. There will never be a membership fee here.


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