I have a couple questions for those here who know more about these subjects than me. I received a letter from the A.N.A. with an application for membership, no idea how they got my info, but it is worth it to join? I'm thinking i will, because of being able to send coins to NGC myself if i do. I have also heard before that you get a free submission to NGC after joining? How does the free submission work?
Yes, free NGC submitter account. I sent an email to NGC with my ANA number, and they did the rest. I like the magazine alot. I like being able to join Hugh Wood for my collection insurance. And a few other benefits. You should sign up for free NGC account now, so you can use their collection manager. When you then get ANA submitter account, this is what you'll see on the NGC "Control Panel": http://www.collectors-society.com/CoinManager/ Account Type: ANA Submitter Account Autorenewal: OFF Beyond that, you just submit coins to NGC like normal paid members.
This page would also be helpful for you, as it lists many of the benefits: https://www.money.org/account/join
I use the ANA discount when renting Hertz cars and more than the printed Numismatist magazine, I love the digital edition, which you can read either online and download as a PDF to read offline, such as when traveling in a plane or away from a wifi signal. There is also the ANA member discounts/registration at ANA coin shows and the ANA's library. Despite so many recent problems with the elected leadership of the ANA in past years, the website has had a massive and much needed overhaul, and you get an account online to use the services and new forums and collection sorting features of the website. So there are lots of reasons to partake if you become a member. About submitting coins, you will have the ability to sign up directly with NGC, NCS and PMG as an ANA associate member. You will not have an actual NGC membership because of this, just the ability to submit coins, so some areas of the NGC and related companies websites will still not be free to you as an associate. The Hugh Wood insurance is another perk, well worth looking into, yet not necessary to be a member to buy a policy.
Chris? How do you use the ANA discount at Hertz? News to me and since I will be renting from them in the near future, inquiring minds want to know.........
Log on to your account and go to the Member Benefits page, scroll down to the Hertz Member Savings Plan, there is a link in that part of the page to print out a Hertz CDP# that you either enter into your online reservation when booking a car OR give the number to a Hertz agent when making a reservation. It will discount the cost of your rental (before taxes) by 10%. I'm not sure of the exact percentage, but seem to recall it's 10%, not less. The link on the ANA page will also provide you with additional discounts for promotions that Hertz may have going on currently. I am a Hertz member so it's always a discount that I have essentially built into my Hertz account and I have used it a lot. It's particularly helpful in decreasing the 11-18% NYC city tax on car rentals!
Just tried the ANA Library member benefit for the first time. I was a bit confused at first since you need to register separately for the library part of the ANA site, which seems dumb. I kept trying to login with my normal ANA username/password, but it would not work. Once registered for the Library, I searched for a few books, added them to my cart, and requested that they be delivered to my home. Easy-peasy. Now, we'll see how fast they ship and all the other details. I'll post back to this thread with my findings. ANA's Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library
It's a great magazine subscription above all else, worth membership for that alone. I have a local coin dealer who sends stuff in to NGC and PCGS often enough that it's easier and cheaper to bring the coins to him. Still have to pay return shipping, but because my coins are in a box with multiple other submissions, it saves quite a lot on the cost of shipping the submission in for grading. You can still specify what return address you want NGC to ship to regardless of whether the dealer sends them in or you do it on your own.
I have not heard back on my ANA Library request yet. I sent the ANA a follow-up email so we'll see. I think they are normally supposed to ship books within 2 business days. Its been a week, but, of course the holiday was in there, so maybe that's the hold up.
I also had a need to send them an email, via the website as a logged in member asking a "support" question about member dues, and the automated response on 12/29 said a reply would come within 72 hours. It did not come. I resent the inquiry this morning 1/5 and have yet to hear from them yet. It may be the holiday interruption.
If the library is taking too long just call them. They can get backed up. They ship by media mail, insured.
I was a member once. I wanted the membership for the magazine and ngc submissions. But I never sent in coins to ngc, so overall it wasn't worth it to me. I think it's around 50 bucks, which is a lot for just a magazine that comes monthly. I don't care for the library, since I like owning and writing in my books. The ANA shows are in other states usually too, so I don't care for show discounts or whatever you get. In my opinion, they gotta discount the membership rate to entice more budget collectors like myself. Numismatic news is cheap, like 15 dollars for the year. And it's weekly I think. There are too many ads though, so maybe the AnA mag can be somewhere in the middle. In the ANA mag, I think they ran too many ads for their AnA events. Also, I think any coin collecting mags (like coin world) should throw out their coverage of paper money. I know some May like it, but it's annoying and takes up space, plus it's probably lacking substance for those who like it.
Per my issue, I had to write directly to Membership department today since not receiving any reply. They handled my issue directly and within a few minutes after I sent my message from my personal email address. They informed me that neither of my previous two support tickets, sent from within the ANA member account pages of the website even reached their membership department. The website is still new and apparently has bugs, such as this one. In assisting me today, they requested I even send them my confirmation IDs for my initial two support inquiries which they are now using to advise their webmaster of the problem.
They do a great magazine, everything else consumes copious amounts of time. I applied for an ANA vanity credit card, I believe it was issued by US Bank, that was supposed to include a $50 rebate after you spent $500 or something like that. You would not BELIEVE what I had to go through before the bank issued me the credit touted in their marketing material. Months and countless calls to both the bank and emails to Walter Ostromecki about it. To his credit, he was very professional, but what a hassle.
They replied to my email after 1 day, and said my books had already shipped. A few things: I never received an email saying books shipped. I never received a tracking number. When I sign into the my account at ANA Library, I don't show ANY book requests, or that I have books checked out? I received the books today, and they paid > $10.00 in postage (that I now Owe them) and I also need to pay return postage. I guess If I knew how much money this would cost, I would have skipped it. Two of these books are very common, and I could have bought them used for less than this postage is going to cost me. The books were well packaged, and individually wrapped in kraft paper. One book has spine damage, and I hope they don't try to pin that on me. What I would recommend: Only use the ANA Library for RARE or very expensive books that you cant find or cant afford. Don't use it casually like your local library. On a happy note, I get to read about Ancients! update: I checked the ANA website again, and now that I have received the order, the site lists the books I have checked out.
The "new" website seems pretty under utilized by members and very buggy. They haven't shaken them all out let along thought through all the navigational and user end experience issues, such as your experience providing zero confirmation of your order, until after the fact. I was surprised I was so openly asked by someone in membership, before my issue was resolved, to provide evidence that their system had failed to alert them to multiple incoming support tickets (requests), because they wanted to alert the webmaster to the issue, while mine hadn't been sorted out. In the end, they provided steps to resolve my issue, which I went through and completed, but not before I went through the trouble of forwarding them emails showing I had requested member support, in order to transact membership renewal purchase! The site looks modern and refreshed, but many of these problems show the quality of the programming to be on par with serious site issues they had in the past, which I also labored through with them to rectify as I encountered problems online with the ANA. Their office staff can and does address and ultimately resolve the issues, but each time they have to devote serious time to these issues.
Yeah, I wouldn't go through the trouble of ever using that library. And I've noticed the buggy website as well. What do they actually do with the membership money?
There are many benefits I have used, discounted show admission, car rental discounts, digital subscription and physical subscription to an excellent member's only publication, having a website (even though problematic)... Ability through membership to have submission rights as an Associate member of NGC, PMG and NCS....and I'm sure other members have benefited in other ways.
