Sno-Eagles Raise annual club dues to....

[Cirrus]

$50, from $35, a 42.8% increase. Talk about a bunch of greedy clowns, they just priced themselves right out of the trail pass business. I called and emailed my displeasure, but of course they don't GAS.
I can go directly to the state and pay $60 to get 2, where it would cost me $70 to deal with the bureaucratic BS of join club, wait for processing, get membership confirmed, then file with DNR. Total idiots.

 

[snobuilder]

$50, from $35, a 42.8% increase. Talk about a bunch of greedy clowns, they just priced themselves right out of the trail pass business. I called and emailed my displeasure, but of course they don't GAS.
I can go directly to the state and pay $60 to get 2, where it would cost me $70 to deal with the bureaucratic BS of join club, wait for processing, get membership confirmed, then file with DNR. Total idiots.

Mathematicaly they are shooting themselves in the foot. Don't they understand that the vast majority of the newbies are there only for the discount?

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Our club is still @ 25

 

[pclark]

Could be that they are just a bunch of volunteers working for nothing doing loads of work every year keeping the trails in great shape for everyone to enjoy and their club needs money. Maybe they foresee a shortfall coming from the state this coming year in funding? Maybe they need to raise money to fix or maintain a groomer. Most if not all the time we use our own equipment, Chainsaws, our own gas, tools, etc.
I guess there are a lot of reasons but $15.00 isn't going to hurt anyone's pocket book in my opinion. Clubs for the most part are run by older guys, I know, I'm one of them but its something that I like to do and we could always use a little more money in the account for things like I mentioned above. This message wasn't meant to start anything, just another point of view.

 

[wirev]

Could be that they are just a bunch of volunteers working for nothing doing loads of work every year keeping the trails in great shape for everyone to enjoy and their club needs money. Maybe they foresee a shortfall coming from the state this coming year in funding? Maybe they need to raise money to fix or maintain a groomer. Most if not all the time we use our own equipment, Chainsaws, our own gas, tools, etc.
I guess there are a lot of reasons but $15.00 isn't going to hurt anyone's pocket book in my opinion. Clubs for the most part are run by older guys, I know, I'm one of them but its something that I like to do and we could always use a little more money in the account for things like I mentioned above. This message wasn't meant to start anything, just another point of view.

Spot on! And thank you.

 

[wfd123]

Really $15 is going to send you to the poor house. Just like my club. All the older people doing all the work.

 

[eagle1]

Wow.....just wow.

 

[xcr440]

$15 extra dollars to go towards club efforts - hmmm - doesn’t sound like much of a price to pay for cleared flat groomed trails to me, but what do I know.

 

[racerx]

I know fund raising last year was very difficult as a number of events were cancelled and fund raising is needed and helps a ton to keep clubs going and maybe they are offsetting that,  although I do not know their specific reason and would think they would share why. I totally get that it downer to see rates go up but what is getting cheaper nowadays. 

 

[dwz]

Those are the kind of increases I don’t mind

 

[snobuilder]

$100 would still be an incredible bargain due to the fact that most clubs still have good volunteers.
But since membership was linked to a trail pass discount, that is what it is being used for by many. When club dues go up those free loaders won't see any benefit to joining any longer and it might result in an actual loss of revenue from that source. The only way that type of member sticks around is if trail pass cost go up at the same time.

Good thing club dues are just a small portion of trail funding overall

 

[wirev]

I'd rather it go to the clubs than to the government. Seems the gov doesn't know how to spend at times, at least the money stays local. And to answer racerx, yes, funding was way down. Sno-Eagles now have 3 new or newer groomers to keep up with the heavy traffic in ER. Remember, any donation is tax deductible,; just another way to help clubs out.

 

[katden4]

Snowmobiling is not a cheap sport by any means. If $15 is a problem, especially knowing that 100% of it goes to the club, it might be time to sell your equipment. I am not trying to be mean, just being honest and maybe this sport is not for you. It takes so many people volunteering their time, tractors, saws, gas, time away from their family's to do what all needs to be done. $15 bucks is a drop in the bucket as to what it takes to make it all happen. I hope you reconsider, but if not, the club will go on. For anyone else who feels this way, you really need to get more involved with the club, and get a better understanding of what it takes to make it all happen. I am not trying to lecture anyone, but just get involved even for a day of brushing, you may feel better about the $50 bucks it cost.

 

[whitedust]

$50, from $35, a 42.8% increase. Talk about a bunch of greedy clowns, they just priced themselves right out of the trail pass business. I called and emailed my displeasure, but of course they don't GAS.
I can go directly to the state and pay $60 to get 2, where it would cost me $70 to deal with the bureaucratic BS of join club, wait for processing, get membership confirmed, then file with DNR. Total idiots.

The original idea was purchase your trail pass by joining a club getting a trail pass discount and be active in a club give the old guys some help. Maybe that worked for some clubs but the others are still old timers doing all the work few show up for meetings or have any interest in doing trail work. Imo most want to attain a trail pass painlessly push the minimum amount of buttons and have the trail pass show up in their mailbox. It will be interesting to see if other clubs follow suit or this is a SnoEagles shortfall. Seems to me an increase that steep needs explanation. What is the logic?

 

[bogiewheel]

Really guys? Clubs never existed to give you a deal on a trail pass. The whole idea was to get people involved to do the real work in the sport. Guessing if you are complaining here, you don't understand it.

 

[kevinj]

I bet if oil went up 42.8% people would still buy it. You might complain about it a little, but I bet you would still buy it. Same with gas which is already going up. I bet regardless of gas prices it will still be affordable.

 

[ddhanna]

I'd rather it go to the clubs than to the government. Seems the gov doesn't know how to spend at times, at least the money stays local. And to answer racerx, yes, funding was way down. Sno-Eagles now have 3 new or newer groomers to keep up with the heavy traffic in ER. Remember, any donation is tax deductible,; just another way to help clubs out.

Clubs are 501 (c)(4) therefore not charitable and not tax deductible as such. See AWSC site for info:

https://www.awsc.org/Clubs/Tax-Information

 

[pclark]

Really guys? Clubs never existed to give you a deal on a trail pass. The whole idea was to get people involved to do the real work in the sport. Guessing if you are complaining here, you don't understand it.

If you think clubs want to be the administrators of getting trail passes to people that join just for a deal you are wrong. It is not worth the few dollars that we make. Again, keep in mind that everything in a club is volunteer, no paid positions. I would rather not even deal with it but our hope is that we get maybe one good guy that wants to help us out with trail work. 64 year old and up guys wear out eventually and can't pound stakes like we used to. There is a lot more to this tan trail passes.

 

[wisco-mb]

What was the reasoning of the increase? Did they give specific info? As others mentioned, fundraising was almost non-existent last year. We cancelled our events last year. Maybe a need for new groomer(s)? Maybe volunteering is non-existent and now they have to pay people for certain tasks(grooming, brushing, etc).
The AWSC membership did increase by $2 last year($10 to $12). Pretty minimal, but if your club did not increase dues, that's some money they have to eat. Clubs with 25 people, no biggie. But some of the larger clubs, have 250+ members. Our club is $25 per family, plus an extra $5 per sled. Most of our county clubs are standard $25 for membership($12 goes to AWSC, and the other goes into the club checking). We are in central WI, and most only have 1 groomer, so not a lot maintenance and bills compared to up north.

 

[Cirrus]

If you think clubs want to be the administrators of getting trail passes to people that join just for a deal you are wrong. It is not worth the few dollars that we make. Again, keep in mind that everything in a club is volunteer, no paid positions. I would rather not even deal with it but our hope is that we get maybe one good guy that wants to help us out with trail work. 64 year old and up guys wear out eventually and can't pound stakes like we used to. There is a lot more to this tan trail passes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah....then why did they fight so hard with the AWSC to get the trail pass system in place, and the revenue associated with it? The process as at stands now is a joke. With or without the cost difference, I'm done screwing with the bureaucracy, I'll just get my passes from the state with one stop shopping. What they did with the club dues was totally predictable - club management getting greedy because they see their membership increasing, not realizing it's primarily due to discounted trail passes, not due to people clamoring to be in a club.

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Snowmobiling is not a cheap sport by any means. If $15 is a problem, especially knowing that 100% of it goes to the club, it might be time to sell your equipment. I am not trying to be mean, just being honest and maybe this sport is not for you. It takes so many people volunteering their time, tractors, saws, gas, time away from their family's to do what all needs to be done. $15 bucks is a drop in the bucket as to what it takes to make it all happen. I hope you reconsider, but if not, the club will go on. For anyone else who feels this way, you really need to get more involved with the club, and get a better understanding of what it takes to make it all happen. I am not trying to lecture anyone, but just get involved even for a day of brushing, you may feel better about the $50 bucks it cost.

Nice try. They nickel and dime a guy to death. It's about the time spent going two places to get a trail sticker. Totally annoying. Not joining clubs anymore - one stop shopping for this guy, regardless of cost. All they did was make the decision easier.


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$100 would still be an incredible bargain due to the fact that most clubs still have good volunteers.
But since membership was linked to a trail pass discount, that is what it is being used for by many. When club dues go up those free loaders won't see any benefit to joining any longer and it might result in an actual loss of revenue from that source. The only way that type of member sticks around is if trail pass cost go up at the same time.

Good thing club dues are just a small portion of trail funding overall

Yeah, you'll be 58 and broke too. Good luck in retirement with no net worth. LOL

 

[hybrid]

all i can say is wow
and lol
15 bucks is a small tip