Magazines Shipped

[Viper X]

None of the magazines have arrived in my mailbox. Although they were PROMISED by the current board to be in our hands quite some time ago... 3 months ago? My god..why don't you all just dissolve the vca and join the voa? Really, enough of your excuses

Knuk,

No promises were ever made as to when you or anyone would receive any magazines. We don't print them and we certainly don't mail them. We do have a vendor who does this for us. The vendor does tell us, via email, when they shipped them and we simply pass this info on to you.

Dan

 

[JAY]

Anyone in Canada who has received their Magazines , keep us posted !
Just curious as to if and when ?

Thanks

 

[Gustfront]

Knuk,

No promises were ever made as to when you or anyone would receive any magazines.
Dan

Ummm.
Must have been some other Viperclub HQ that posted this:
The delayed VIPER Magazine will be mailing shortly with the next VIPER Magazine following in a few short weeks.
They will be caught up with issues by the end of the year.

If you have questions please email [email protected] .

Or this:

As discussed and explained earlier in this thread the issues are behind and will catch up to the six issues by the end of the year so rest assured you won't miss out.
Cathy Smiley your local VCA North Central President is pretty good about keeping members informed.
If you have questions email [email protected] anytime. Happy to help."

Oh wait, I found another one.

Cathy Smiley on 1/16/2014:
"Hi all ! Membership ends Dec 31 of each year. We had send an email yesterday to check to see if the magazines ( 2 in one envelope) are going to ship this week. Last I heard they were supposed to go out around Jan 14th...today ! Since they go bulk mail , I have found that it can take a week or more. I will check on the magazines again today. I am anxious to receive mine too !
Thank you ! Cathy Smiley"


So, in short, yes you did promise.
I had high hopes that this club was moving forward and wouldn't pull the same stunts the last administration pulled....oh wait, you were a member of the last administration too. Guess the old habits die hard eh Dan.? Anybody else you can point the finger at?. I mean lets see, um, the last administration. Done. The uh weather? yep done. Post office?. yep blamed. Oh wait....the printer that YOU decided on without letting the board know before hand...yep, you blamed them too. I miss anything?.

 

[Bobpantax]

So now that many of you have received the magazines, what do you think of them? I thought they were well done. I am looking forward to receiving the sixth issue once it is done and reading about the upcoming VOI '14 and other interesting articles and news items. The Viper versus Viper event coming up mentioned by NSane also sounds exciting. Didn't Herb Helbig drive the Viper the last time the VCA had one?

 

[Viper X]

Ummm.
Must have been some other Viperclub HQ that posted this:
The delayed VIPER Magazine will be mailing shortly with the next VIPER Magazine following in a few short weeks.
They will be caught up with issues by the end of the year.

If you have questions please email [email protected] .

Or this:

As discussed and explained earlier in this thread the issues are behind and will catch up to the six issues by the end of the year so rest assured you won't miss out.
Cathy Smiley your local VCA North Central President is pretty good about keeping members informed.
If you have questions email [email protected] anytime. Happy to help."

Oh wait, I found another one.

Cathy Smiley on 1/16/2014:
"Hi all ! Membership ends Dec 31 of each year. We had send an email yesterday to check to see if the magazines ( 2 in one envelope) are going to ship this week. Last I heard they were supposed to go out around Jan 14th...today ! Since they go bulk mail , I have found that it can take a week or more. I will check on the magazines again today. I am anxious to receive mine too !
Thank you ! Cathy Smiley"


So, in short, yes you did promise.
I had high hopes that this club was moving forward and wouldn't pull the same stunts the last administration pulled....oh wait, you were a member of the last administration too. Guess the old habits die hard eh Dan.? Anybody else you can point the finger at?. I mean lets see, um, the last administration. Done. The uh weather? yep done. Post office?. yep blamed. Oh wait....the printer that YOU decided on without letting the board know before hand...yep, you blamed them too. I miss anything?.

Gustfront,

We are moving forward and have not pulled any stunts.

Reading the above and seeing how much time and effort you and your like minded pals take to coordinate personal attacks on volunteers like Cathy, myself and others who are simply relaying what we've been told by a vendor is disappointing at best.....and all of this wasted time and energy on when you receive a magazine from a social club? Really? Can this possibly be that important to you?

You don't know any of us or the facts or you wouldn't make so many false statements. No old habits to die hard in my case. No promises were made. As above, Cathy, myself and others all simply relayed what we were told by a vendor who didn't perform very well this time.

....and that bit about the printer that I decided on without letting the board know about is yet another false statement. This printer was selected months ago during our prior president's term.

I've been personally contacted by many VCA MEMBERS who are tired of these types of posts on this website and are glad that we are trying to return it to what it should be, a fun place to spend some time and talk about our cars, not make such a big deal about when magazines arrive.

What subject will you and your like minded friends find or create to complain about next?

Would be nice to see you either offer to help or stop behaving like you have been.

Dan

 

[Gustfront]

Gustfront,

We are moving forward and have not pulled any stunts.

Reading the above and seeing how much time and effort you and your like minded pals take to coordinate personal attacks on volunteers like Cathy, myself and others who are simply relaying what we've been told by a vendor is disappointing at best.....and all of this wasted time and energy on when you receive a magazine from a social club? Really? Can this possibly be that important to you?

You don't know any of us or the facts or you wouldn't make so many false statements. No old habits to die hard in my case. No promises were made. As above, Cathy, myself and others all simply relayed what we were told by a vendor who didn't perform very well this time.

....and that bit about the printer that I decided on without letting the board know about is yet another false statement. This printer was selected months ago during our prior president's term.

I've been personally contacted by many VCA MEMBERS who are tired of these types of posts on this website and are glad that we are trying to return it to what it should be, a fun place to spend some time and talk about our cars, not make such a big deal about when magazines arrive.

What subject will you and your like minded friends find or create to complain about next?

Would be nice to see you either offer to help or stop behaving like you have been.

Dan

Ah yes business as usual for Everts. Still ducking the facts. And pointing fingers. Your not paying attention. I have actually been supportive when the club is deserving of it. And call out the foolishness when it's not. You on the other hand, seem to prefer your buddy Chris Marshalls way of doing things. While it took a while, that didn't end well for the club now did it. Too bad, as I had hoped this club would actually be able to grow again.
I anxiously await your next blustery post of non facts.
Wade

 

[Fatboy 18]

Nothing in the uk................yet!

 

[Brian GTS]

So now that many of you have received the magazines, what do you think of them? I thought they were well done. I am looking forward to receiving the sixth issue once it is done and reading about the upcoming VOI '14 and other interesting articles and news items. The Viper versus Viper event coming up mentioned by NSane also sounds exciting. Didn't Herb Helbig drive the Viper the last time the VCA had one?

Received the mags....thank you. Since you asked, I thought they were a little "light" on content compared to the other 2013 mags.....15-20 pages less each. Just look at the TOC....about 50% of what it was...probably could have been one mag. Thanks again.

 

[Sainthitch]

eagerly waiting delivery in Canada...keep you posted.

 

[Viper X]

Ah yes business as usual for Everts. Still ducking the facts. And pointing fingers. Your not paying attention. I have actually been supportive when the club is deserving of it. And call out the foolishness when it's not. You on the other hand, seem to prefer your buddy Chris Marshalls way of doing things. While it took a while, that didn't end well for the club now did it. Too bad, as I had hoped this club would actually be able to grow again.
I anxiously await your next blustery post of non facts.
Wade

Wade,

Not ducking facts, not pointing fingers. The facts are as stated above. You miss the point entirely. Maybe this is business as usual for Russell?

There are larger issues at this time than magazine delivery dates, yet you continue with your comments on this subject.

We must prioritize the things we are working on. Had we walked away, the VCA would be dead.

You don't know me, we've never met......and if you think I'm Marshall's buddy, give him a call. Let's see, during the current ***'s term Coast to Coast has been replaced, VPA has a new GM .....so much for your statement......and Mary is not a VCA member (as you have previously stated) though Chris did receive a lifetime membership for being a national president and is a current member.

.....and we are growing again.

Nothing blustery. We do have an opening for a magazine review chairperson. Interested? We can use help in other areas too. Interested? Or will you just continue to sit on the sidelines and criticize?

.....and no, I'm not afraid to invite someone with your viewpoint(s) into our group, we can use the help and constructive criticism. We still have a bunch of work to do.

Think about it.

Dan

 

[Bobpantax]

Funny. I thought they had about the same amount of content regarding Viper related stories and useful data. I enjoyed viewing and reading the sound insulation piece.

Received the mags....thank you. Since you asked, I thought they were a little "light" on content compared to the other 2013 mags.....15-20 pages less each. Just look at the TOC....about 50% of what it was...probably could have been one mag. Thanks again.

 

[Paul Hawker]

From my standpoint they were two pretty great magazines. Lots of Viper centric information that would be useful for any Viper owner. Good advertising exposure for the vendors, some SRT information, indepth coverage of unique and inspirational Regional events. Coverage of members cars, and their Viper lifestyles

Have not seen any Viper publications that better the ones put out by VCA.

I guess the push back from some members, or member wanna be's is being looked at as coming more from Trolls than from constructive criticism. Some of the posts have gotten so repititive that many readers are doubting their desire to make the club better, and are viewed more as unwelcome political attacks, camouflaged as serious forum posts.

Constant complaints, by the same people, are looking more like someone with a grudge, rather than some one that wants improvements.

I was never promised 6 magazines. Traditionally the VCA Viper Quarterly was just that. A magazine that was scheduled to be published 4 times a year to provide information to the membership and exposure for vendors. It was decided at a VCA Presidents meeting to attempt to ramp the schedule to every 3 months instead of 4. This was due to the desire to give vendors additional opportunities to reach their customers. This was a schedule, not a promise. It was an intent, not a never to be deviatied from legal obligation.

Detractors have pretty much invented to emotional word "promise" to extract pain from the publisher and to create a false issue to cause descent.

Many members have become tired of their tirades, but I imagine that it is something that will just have to be endured.

Why they are doing the obnoxious behavior has become pretty obvious. Bringing up an opportunity for improvement is always welcome, however the constant nagging has got to stop.

 

[Bobpantax]

Paul said: "Have not seen any Viper publications that better the ones put out by VCA."

Are there any yet Paul? Please advise since I have not seen any. I know there may be one in the works but, to my knowledge, it has not yet been published.

Considering all that has been fixed or repaired in the VCA, it seems to me that those who had issues with the VCA should now in all fairness renew or join. It always was a great institution and it is now better than it has been in a long time.

 

[GreenVenom]

Got em about a week ago. In my opinion, Very Nice!! Thank you.

 

[GRANGER73]

I was never promised 6 magazines. Traditionally the VCA Viper Quarterly was just that. A magazine that was scheduled to be published 4 times a year to provide information to the membership and exposure for vendors. It was decided at a VCA Presidents meeting to attempt to ramp the schedule to every 3 months instead of 4. This was due to the desire to give vendors additional opportunities to reach their customers. This was a schedule, not a promise. It was an intent, not a never to be deviatied from legal obligation.

It is really disingenuous of you to try and distance the present board from the commitment made, and executed, to provide 6 magazines yearly instead of 4. I see lots of posts referring to the 6 issue commitment but no discussion whatsoever of ever pulling back to 4 issues. It is this type of "dancing" around the issues that is becoming tiresome.
So Let me get this straight....the VCA according to the board, has no obligation to provide the members with 6 issues annually that have been promised, and delivered in the past. If the board should decide to cut the publications to 3/year that would just be tough s--- for the members. That makes me happy that I renewed my membership.

 

[Bobpantax]

Hi. NSane posted either above or in another thread a while back that this year there will be four magazines. There is no question that it was intended that there be six for 2013 and, although late, that intention will be fulfilled.

When they went to six, I thought at the time it was too much for a club like ours so I am glad they have come back to the quarterly format.

On the other hand, if they could get the member involvement to put out a small Site based, Members Only newsletter that was only on the site, that might be an interesting thing to do. Some magazines do not even have printed editions anymore. My National Dragster magazine comes by email and in print. So maybe it is time for the members to reconsider whether the magazine itself should continue in print as opposed to being emailed out as a locked PDF file to members only. It would save quite a bit of money. Those who like print, could easily print it out for themselves but I suspect that more and more people just read mags on their tablets, phones or similar devices.

 

[GRANGER73]

I agree Bob. I do not believe there is a large enough market for two magazines yet alone two clubs. There are better options available to involve the members. The bigger issue is that both clubs are going after the same member demographic. One or the other will have to reinvent themselves for both to remain viable. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The clubs are serving less than 10% of Viper owners. Clearly a large enough segment to support a club.

 

[Paul Hawker]

Granger

Not disingenous at all. I was at the Regional Presidents meeting where this was discussed for over an hour. There were many meetings discussing the magazine over the years. It used to be the Viper Quarterly for obvious reasons. It was decided to go to 6 issues per year to gain additional advertising revenue. Many of the exhibitors stated they wanted more distribution and exposure. It was also agreed that this decision would be revisited, as many felt the schedule was too aggressive for the club to attain.

The decision was made to expand the magazine to general distribution at selected retail outlets. Many non-members wanted to be able to pick up a copy at the newsstand. We did this for a while, but it was difficult to determine how many magazines to stock at each newsstand. The deal in publishing is that any unsold magazines can be returned to the publisher and a full refund granted. This is one reason VCA has so many archived copies of past issues available to their members today. They are ones that were returned, and the economics did not allow this newsstand delivery to continue. Some may say that newstand availablility was "promised" to the non-members, but it is something that was tried, and did not work out.

Kinda the same with the 6 issues. They were not promised, but scheduled. It is not unusual for magazines to not make their deadlines. When this happens subscribers and advertisers are disappointed, and while it is a shortcoming from the editor or publisher, it is not something totally within their control.

When I was Zone Director, one of my jobs was to motivate regional presidents to get their club events articles in on time. It was often like pulling teeth to get these people to finalize their reports and send them in. Not unusual for us to hold up publication, waiting for the stragglers to send them in. Likewise it was often a goal to publish regional club officers so members would know who to contact locally for club information. These people were always in flux, so it was a challenge to keep everybody up to date on the latest regional information.

Since the club relies on volunteers, it was not proper to grind on them, however keeping everyone up to date took significant effort.

Now, from what I understand, the delay of the magazines was caused by many internal and external issues. There was an audit of the club's finances, brought upon by allegations of mismanagement. The investigation was headed up by the SoCal club president. This gentleman has impecable credentials, and was trusted by all to dig deep and determine the financial conduct of the club. While the club turned up clean, and most every penny was accounted for. It was determined that no National Board member took any funds personally no acted in inproper personal financial ways. One glaring conflict of interest did show up. It was determined that the club should be using a bidding proceedure more diligently with those contracts awarded for club support. An example was that the club was contracting with a close personal friend of one of the Board Members. Competitive bidding showed that they were being charged significantly more than market to put out the club Magazine.

The publisher was offered to rebid and maintain the contract if they could be competitive. When all bids were rec'd a new printer was selected and awarded a contract. This, of course threw the printing schedule way behind, and they have been scrambling ever since to catch up. The new printer took a while to come up to speed, and their quality was not as expected. This caused further delays for reprinting and closer quality checks. Quite a mess. Then the board member that recommended the original printer quit the Board, and started up another club, and is having the original printer do their printing for a competing magazine. With the original printer having no interest in helping out the VCA, it became even more delayed, and the orginal 6 issue publication schedule became impossible.
Now, I was only a Zone Director while this was happening, so I do not have first hand knowledge of this, but I believe I am pretty close to what happened.

Nobody intentially delayed the publications. It just fell apart in the chaos. Most members were understanding, and know the club will need some time and hard work to recover, however constant commenting on this forum will help in no way. It only causes more pain and discomfort for those trying the hardest to retain the heritage that is VCA.

If people want to keep these post going, I guess it is their prerogative, but I fail to see how beating a dead horse is going to have any positive results.

 

[GRANGER73]

Not meeting a deadline, and the elimination of a scheduled publication are hardly the same thing. I don't for a minte believe that anyone intentionally delayed the publication of any issue. And I understand the reluctance to come down ******* volunteers. The board has made the magazine a major benefit of membership, and I take exception to your cavalier dismissal of the 6 issue issue by stating that they were never promised.

 

[Paul Hawker]

Then we disagree on this. No biggie for me.

Viper Brothers are Viper Brothers. We can have different opinions, but still ride together.

 

[GRANGER73]

Fair enough.

 

[Steve M]

Received the mags....thank you. Since you asked, I thought they were a little "light" on content compared to the other 2013 mags.....15-20 pages less each. Just look at the TOC....about 50% of what it was...probably could have been one mag. Thanks again.

I have to agree with this 100% compared to the past Viper mag issues.

 

[WDW MKR]

Received the mags....thank you. Since you asked, I thought they were a little "light" on content compared to the other 2013 mags.....15-20 pages less each. Just look at the TOC....about 50% of what it was...probably could have been one mag. Thanks again.

Same here. Still enjoyed them and hope to finally get the last issue.

 

[Nsane1]

We have a preliminary draft of the "6th" magazine. Given the issues with the last delivery, we aren't going to wait for things like VOI, Viper vs Viper, etc, so we are going to move this one along as quick as we can. We hear you on the "light" message, hopefully with 4 issues (in lieu of 6) the 4 will be "heavier" in content.

In light of the the "light" comments, we are adding more content to what was originally in the plan in this 6th mag (that everyone will get) (I even submitted an article, second one I have ever done). A request from you (especially those that don't like the lack of content): Anyone can submit content to the magazine, if you have a story, an event, pictures, etc, you can submit to ***@viperclub.org, or [email protected] and we will get it in there. No one is getting paid to do the mag (outside of the graphic designer, the printer, USPS), so every little bit helps from you all... Also, if you know of an advertiser, you can forward our way (all ad fees go to the VCA, and towards the production/shipping of the magazine)

Lastly, while we have heard from many the mag is not all that important, we feel it is important, and a priority, as a validation of that fact, since the mags have started to arrive, new memberships/renewals have taken off (as we kind of thought they would), so know we hear that they are important as a member...

Greg

 

[I Bin Therbefor]

Have not gotten mags as of 2/19/14

 

[Nsane1]

At this point, anyone not receiving their mags needs to call/email Angela at support and she will work with the printer to track them down. As bulk mail there isn't tracking obviously, but she will either work to find if there was a delay in shipping, you weren't included, or send replacements.

 

[TowDawg]

OK, I'm going to go off on a little tangent here and get called names and accused of starting problems by Paul, but his attitude has pulled me out of staying off these subjects.
1. Never promised 6 magazines?
There are a TON of posts (if they haven't been deleted) where this was stated.
2. Wannabe members?
WTH does that mean? If we currently wanted to be members, we would send a check and become members.
3. Personal attacks?
How is quoting someone considered a personal attack?
4. Blame the printer issues on the past administration?
You changed to the current printer unilaterally without even notifying anyone.
5. Elections?
Weren't these supposed to be held right at the beginning of the year because the *** wanted to wait to make sure only members voted? How were the elections?
6. Raffle?
Still haven't answered legitimate questions on this. Who did it? Where was it held? Who witnessed it?
7. Membership?
Why won't the *** let anyone how many current, paying members there are right now in the VCA?
This should be very important information to people looking to join or rejoin.
Obviously the poor guy asking a question in the AL/TN forum isn't going to get much of an answer because there's nobody left who can post an answer in there.
I also noticed that the contact listed for AL/TN is from FL. Why is that?

 

[Nsane1]

Dawg-

We should delete this post, because it's the same, asked and answered questions loaded with an agenda, but hey, let's be transparent:
1) Who cares, you're getting 6, let it go
2) No comment
3) No comment
4) Only 1 of us was on the board when the printer decision was made. Dan states the decision was made by the board, with a vetting process. Asked and answered, multiple times, please let it go. Are you recommending another printer (please someone who is not in a close personal relationship with a board member)? We'd love it if you have suggestions here, we'd like to have flawless, cheap delivery of magazines, these 3 have been painful at best.
5) Many posts on this. We are having a special election, only 1 single person has put forward their name as interest in running, this is a priority, but it is not the highest priority. We are open to more people stepping up and running, but having an election with the current board running seems silly, but even with that, we will do it. It must be a special election given the timing. Are you volunteering, we'd love to have you.
6) Why do you care really? We have discussed this multiple times. The members won their prizes, and are enjoying them. I don't see why it matters. I wasn't there, can't answer, it was video taped (I saw excerpts) and there were hotel-employed (third party) witnesses. Mistakes were made related to raffle registration (by someone who no longer "works" here) we have learned from them, and they will not be repeated. We are working through the next raffle, and if it's not completely beyond reproach, we won't do it.
7) Approx 1k, not including the huge batch that has come in post magazine deliveries, including most of Europe, every province, and state is represented (and some new countries in the Mid East, and Pacific Basin). As to TN, are you volunteering? We realize the regional presence is an issue, and are working on it, we just brought in new Presidents in TX and FL, we'll get there, but come on, we need some time to fix everything

Sorry this is terse, and I'm sure your response will be equally terse, but answering the same questions repeatedly gets old. Hopefully, having this in one place will reduce this is the future.

Look, we all want to have fun, we are volunteers who are human and get tired of getting spit on for doing what we think is the right thing by people who have an obvious agenda. We are far from perfect, and are open to constructive suggestions for improvement, and are VERY open to more help. Why wait for an election, heck shoot us an email and we can find a spot for you...

 

[CWhiteRun]

Dawg-

We should delete this post, because it's the same, asked and answered questions loaded with an agenda, but hey, let's be transparent: There's a good
1) Who cares, you're getting 6, let it go
2) No comment
3) No comment
4) Only 1 of us was on the board when the printer decision was made. Dan states the decision was made by the board, with a vetting process. Asked and answered, multiple times, please let it go. Are you recommending another printer (please someone who is not in a close personal relationship with a board member)? We'd love it if you have suggestions here, we'd like to have flawless, cheap delivery of magazines, these 3 have been painful at best.
5) Many posts on this. We are having a special election, only 1 single person has put forward their name as interest in running, this is a priority, but it is not the highest priority. We are open to more people stepping up and running, but having an election with the current board running seems silly, but even with that, we will do it. It must be a special election given the timing. Are you volunteering, we'd love to have you.
6) Why do you care really? We have discussed this multiple times. The members won their prizes, and are enjoying them. I don't see why it matters. I wasn't there, can't answer, it was video taped (I saw excerpts) and there were hotel-employed (third party) witnesses. Mistakes were made related to raffle registration (by someone who no longer "works" here) we have learned from them, and they will not be repeated. We are working through the next raffle, and if it's not completely beyond reproach, we won't do it.
7) Approx 1k, not including the huge batch that has come in post magazine deliveries, including most of Europe, every province, and state is represented (and some new countries in the Mid East, and Pacific Basin). As to TN, are you volunteering? We realize the regional presence is an issue, and are working on it, we just brought in new Presidents in TX and FL, we'll get there, but come on, we need some time to fix everything

Sorry this is terse, and I'm sure your response will be equally terse, but answering the same questions repeatedly gets old. Hopefully, having this in one place will reduce this is the future.

Look, we all want to have fun, we are volunteers who are human and get tired of getting spit on for doing what we think is the right thing by people who have an obvious agenda. We are far from perfect, and are open to constructive suggestions for improvement, and are VERY open to more help. Why wait for an election, heck shoot us an email and we can find a spot for you...

I would post, but it would only get deleted.........................

 

[Gustfront]

Dawg-

We should delete this post, because it's the same, asked and answered questions loaded with an agenda, but hey, let's be transparent:


Sorry this is terse, and I'm sure your response will be equally terse, but answering the same questions repeatedly gets old. Hopefully, having this in one place will reduce this is the future.

Look, we all want to have fun, we are volunteers who are human and get tired of getting spit on for doing what we think is the right thing by people who have an obvious agenda....

Nsane,
I find myself having to ask the same questions again and again because each time the President (Dan Everts) answers the questions, he tells a different story. And each time he finds someone else to blame. After PM'ing with you, I thought that things were starting to look up. You seemed to be giving me straight answers and some positive results. IE Mary's account closed. Then Everts starts dancing around whatever topic (Printers, magazines, etc) that he was responsible for but doesn't want to admit...it gets old. And it seems (again) that the more people pull the string, they more the sweater unravels. Disheartening to say the least.
Then of course you have Hawkers incredibly incorrect and inept version of what "really happened". FYI, his credibility among long time former members is right there alongside Bob P. In the dumps.

So, give real, truthful answers to the questions...and I'll bet they will stop. Might not bring all of the former members back, but it will at least show to everyone the club REALLY is on the right track.
Thank you,
Wade