Re-Subscribed to the ANA (Mistake or Not)

To each their own. I beleive i have more access to experts at the boards then at ANA. If i had to choose between this forum and the ANA i will choose Coin Talk.

 

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Greetings Ben!
I personally want to thank you for renewing your membership to the ana. we need to take back our hobby. the ana has made some poor decisions, but ALL of us can turn it around. i have written to the hieararchy in regards to promoting education and consumer awareness. there are 15,000 members of cointalk forum alone, and only 32,000 ana members. we can change the course of our hobby together. make your voice known and lets work together to educate and keep members (especially newbies!!).
i think you made the right decision and thank you again.
sincerely...steve

 

Ben:
I just re-joined at last year's ANA, for two years, one for free.
I doubt that I will join again, nothing there for me except for the ads in the monthly mag.

 

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I hear the defense of "they support the hobby" (and not just the ANA either, but any organization for any hobby) I always wonder, why does the hobby need support? If no such organization exists, would the hobby disappear? Any hobby with enough participatants is inherently self-supporting... those who have interest in it will find each other and share information whehter a formal organization exists or not. In the age of the Internet it is easy to find like-minded individuals to share information about whatever hobby you have an interest in. Not knocking the ANA or anything, but if they suddenly ceased to exist tomorrow it wouldn't be the death of coin collecting. The only thing any given hobby can't possibly survive without is interested participants.

 

As some of the vintage members D) may recall I was pretty upset with the reasons given why a ballot was never sent to me and the cavalier attitude exhibited by the staff -- basically, yes we messed up what are you going to do now???
http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=27369

I belong to organizations which I have a say in, help out with, and give my time to: for they provide a tangible service to the public. I'm simply a subscriber to others, unfortunately IMO this is one of the others...

 

I rejoined after a long hiatus.

I have not seen anybody here mention the insurance on your collection available to ANA members at a great rate, and the use of the ANA Library by mail, one of the best numismatic librarys in the world, if not THE best.

Plus, like GDJMSP said, make it better by voting and being a part of it, rather than just complaining how bad it is.

Why must we always ask " what can I get out of it ? " rather than " what can I bring to it? "...........................

 

Yes I will renew---I've been a member since 04.
What I'm trying to decide is if I should renew my CONECA membership.

Speedy

 

You know they have such a rich history and the great ideas are over flowing at times. One idea which would enhance their availability (so-to-speak) to the members and potential members would perhaps be to have an ANA satellite office in each state or region where a member could go and speak to the staff about their coins (authenticity, grade, etc.) at no charge. I'm not talking about getting the things slabbed; just having another (informed) set of eyes take a look at it in hand and provide some feedback and have free and for sale numismatic literature availabile for those who drop by which would spread the word even further.

Yes, it would take some initial investment, and perhaps regional locations would be the first step, but if they truly want to reach out to the collectors then this would be a step in the right direction.

Ben

 

agreed I for one have become the collector i am without the ANA. Would i welcome an organization like the ANA in my formative years- absolutely. Will the hobby die if it doesnt exist -absolutely not. Just my 2 cents

 

I think the moment he came on board things were moving in the right direction of the ANA. I have myself seen several accounts of how Larry was reluctant to take the position, but did step in, with wide approval. The ANA did some unusual stuff, the logo, all the lawsuits etc. that are unbecoming of a 118 year old organisation. It is no understatement that the former Director was not the right man for the job.

And Hobo, I appreciate your writing what you did, and offering a solid opin of the ANA which is positive.

 

Hobo was my " sponsor " when I rejoined at the Phoenix ANA show, and they knew him well.


Said he is a trouble maker.

 

you mean you didnt figure that out by yourself

 

Any other ideas about how to improve the ANA? Chuckle, they can be as radical as you want.

Ben

 

Yeah, but they like me.

The ANA is the voice for coin collectors on matters that affect them (the collectors). This may be a bad example and I man be inaccurate but it's all I can think of in my sleep-deprived state. Suppose a state proposes legislation that states all coin dealers must be licensed in their state and all coin sales are subject to sales tax. This could be a death knell for coin shows in that state if out-of-state dealers have to obtain a business license and collect sales taxes and file reports just for one show. The ANA would work to kill the bill because it hurts the hobby. Who else would do that? I don't think CoinTalk does anything like this. Sure, collectors who "find each other" on the Internet will discuss it and complain and talk about what should and should not be done but in the end the only thing they will do is talk. The ANA DOES things. And not just for themselves but for the HOBBY (which, by the way, includes non-members).

The ANA has a Consumer Protection program that tries to protect everyone - not just members - from coin scams and the like. They have the Coins In The Classroom program where they introduce kids to coin collecting in school. I don't think CoinTalk (no offense) or any other coin collecting message board is doing any of this.

Ben, no offense to you but I think your expectations of what the ANA should provide are a bit high. The ANA is a member organization. Their purpose is not to provide authentication or grading services. (They used to do that with their ANACS division but they sold that long ago.) What they DO do is to provide you with access to information where you can gain the knowledge and skills you need to authenticate and grade coins yourself. As a member you can buy books at a discount, you can check out books from their extensive numismatic library for free, you can take correspondence courses, you can attend mini-seminars at ANA coin shows, you can attend the ANA Summer Seminar, and much more.

The ANA has a staff of about 30 (for a membership of around 32,000). If they opened an office in every state how many employees would they need to staff each satellite office? I don't know but they would need at least two and probably more than that. Let's go with 3. So to open 49 satellite offices they would have to hire 147 more empolyees. Now they are up to 177 employees. The rent and overhead on 49 satellite offices would be tremendous. I don't think this is a good idea from a cost-benefit standpoint.

I really need to go to bed now.

 

No offense taken , but, if you were in my shoes (location wise) you might see things differently. To be so geographically separated (500 miles) from an organization which offers so much yet never reaches out to the masses of small time collectors which dot small towns all over America is really depressing at times, LOL... Additionally, the costs of opening five satellite offices scattered over the USA would also be significantly less than opening one in each state as you as you pointed out. Perhaps a start to even greater things.

Many collectors (me included) don't have the time or the money to hop in a plane and jet all over the USA to attend shows and visit numismatic organizations which are always in the same place. And you and I both know that the costs of recreational travel are rising.

If they would ask the members (since it's a member organization) they might find that it would behoove them to add more staff and spread those wings so-to-speak.

Take Care
Ben

 

Granted the ANA is a fine organization. I enjoyed getting the numismatist. But as Ben said I am a small time collector. I additionally am always on the move, being military. I don't have the time or money to get to all the ANA shows and participate in the ANA type things like say the displays at shows, or the lectures or any of the other things that you have to be present in order to participate in, even though I would like to be more involved with the hobby. As for discounted prices on merchandise and and access to the library, thats all fine and dandy, but I buy coins and I buy coin books for research. When I start research I buy the books, I don't borrow them. It just seems to me that until the ANA expands itself to make it more accessible to the small time collector than they will be a small membership club with their primary membership consisting of dealers, researchers, and professional numismatists, and the like, with a scattering of hobbyists. Think about it the ANA, around for practically forever membership 32,000. Coin talk, around for what 10 years maybe, I'm not too sure here, membership 15,000. Which do you think reaches more people?

 

Thanks for the comments BQ, they are SPOT-ON. Can you imagine if even 1/2 of the casual small-time collectors in the country were to join the ANA (LOL,:mouth::mouth::mouth: there'd probably be an inside scandal and someone would make off with the money), but seriously I can assure you, marketing plans and mindsets would change dramatically within the ANA. I could see a smaller (mini magazine w/o the upcoming auction ads and other junk) be produced with the casual collector in mind. Maybe focus on a featured small-town (100,000 or less population) coin shop every month.

Remember, there still is a strata of American Citizens who aren't taken in by bright shiney items offered for sale simply because they are on good paper. These are the collecters who can get along with the old standbys and when they do spread their collections you might be convinced that the focus of the ANA is in the wrong direction.

BTW, yesterday I sent a few e-mails to the ANA with this simple idea and so-far the responses have been rather telling.

NOTHING...

Take Care
Ben

 

I am a member for a couple of reasons. I really don't pay much attention to the happenings in the ANA. the biggest reason is that it comes with the magazine that I always read. the second less important reason is that I always think I will send a few coins to NGC for grading. I have a few coins that grading could well make a big difference in price should I ever decide to sell.

 

The ANA needs to reach out to the nooks and crannies of the Nation. Advertisement is desperately needed on a national television level.

The ANA must realize that a disadvantaged or poor collector is still a collector who yearns for knowledge...

I grew so tired of the "I Can't" reason when I was in the service. Anyone who can say MAYBE I can is head and shoulders above the rest...

Take Care
Ben

 

Oh, and NOTHING from them yet either about my earlier ideas. Not that they would be implemented but a "Thank You" for your input would be appreciated...

Ben