Nemmers
Dec 01 2014, 11:17 PM
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Would you join the PDGA if the price was lower? If so, could/should they lower their membership fee by making discgolfer magazine a digital quarterly?
Thoughts?
(Those of you who don�t care about the reason I ask this question are free to stop here.)
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I just renewed my PDGA membership last week. Some people don�t buy in to that because they don�t play in enough (or any) PDGA events to justify the $50/year fee. I get that. It can be viewed as pricey. However, I do it because I really appreciate the services they offer (http://www.pdga.com/members/benefits): a national rating, stats, the discount you get at most (if not all) PDGA events, the national magazine, and a few other minor perks they mention that I�ve yet to avail myself. Nevertheless, it�s the magazine I�d like to talk about here.
The Winter 2015 issue arrived in my mailbox today. It�s 64 pages total. A lot of good stuff in there. However, I�ve noticed that for all the work they put into this, I would never, EVER pay $5.00 for this if they didn�t send it to me every quarter with my membership.
Why? Well, of the 64 pages in it:
- 6 pages are pictures of the pros. Yep. That�s pretty much it. Pictures of pros throwing discs in PDGA tournaments punctuated by sponsor shills and breathless adorations of other, not-pictured pros who�ve recently won and placed in various tournaments.
- 4 pages are of upcoming tournaments around the country.
- 7 pages are coverage of tournaments that have already happened.
- 8 pages provide original content articles such as �First Tee� by Randy Michael Signor, �The Hole Truth� by John Houck, �19th Hole� by Paul Wright, and some very interesting gouge on #17 at Winthrop that has apparently taken the lunch money of various professionals who have not given it proper respect. This is the best content, IMO.
- 14 pages dedicated to advertisements of the next great mold, bag, plastic, and/or disc.
- 22 pages are devoted to �getting to know� the pros. This issue is Elaine King, Ken Climo, and (as usual) Paul McBeth.
- The rest is various filler such PDGA contacts, who�s given the PDGA the most money, etc.
(For those who are itching to tell me I have too much time on my hands by counting said pages, please save your typing finger. I learned how to count a long time ago�.it didn�t take that long.)
I�d like to know how much it costs to make, print, and send the magazine to the membership and how much the PDGA could save by making discgolfer a digital magazine? In essence, if they did that, how much would it reduce annual fees? And more importantly, do you think those who aren�t currently PDGA members, if this option was available and PDGA membership was (say) $30 instead of $50, would they be more apt to join?
Seems to me that if the PDGA could lower membership dues by making discgolfer online instead of print, they could use the money they save into calculating ratings -- which is something almost every player looks forward to -- on a more regular basis than what they currently do.
Just curious.
Thoughts?
(Those of you who don�t care about the reason I ask this question are free to stop here.)
********************************
I just renewed my PDGA membership last week. Some people don�t buy in to that because they don�t play in enough (or any) PDGA events to justify the $50/year fee. I get that. It can be viewed as pricey. However, I do it because I really appreciate the services they offer (http://www.pdga.com/members/benefits): a national rating, stats, the discount you get at most (if not all) PDGA events, the national magazine, and a few other minor perks they mention that I�ve yet to avail myself. Nevertheless, it�s the magazine I�d like to talk about here.
The Winter 2015 issue arrived in my mailbox today. It�s 64 pages total. A lot of good stuff in there. However, I�ve noticed that for all the work they put into this, I would never, EVER pay $5.00 for this if they didn�t send it to me every quarter with my membership.
Why? Well, of the 64 pages in it:
- 6 pages are pictures of the pros. Yep. That�s pretty much it. Pictures of pros throwing discs in PDGA tournaments punctuated by sponsor shills and breathless adorations of other, not-pictured pros who�ve recently won and placed in various tournaments.
- 4 pages are of upcoming tournaments around the country.
- 7 pages are coverage of tournaments that have already happened.
- 8 pages provide original content articles such as �First Tee� by Randy Michael Signor, �The Hole Truth� by John Houck, �19th Hole� by Paul Wright, and some very interesting gouge on #17 at Winthrop that has apparently taken the lunch money of various professionals who have not given it proper respect. This is the best content, IMO.
- 14 pages dedicated to advertisements of the next great mold, bag, plastic, and/or disc.
- 22 pages are devoted to �getting to know� the pros. This issue is Elaine King, Ken Climo, and (as usual) Paul McBeth.
- The rest is various filler such PDGA contacts, who�s given the PDGA the most money, etc.
(For those who are itching to tell me I have too much time on my hands by counting said pages, please save your typing finger. I learned how to count a long time ago�.it didn�t take that long.)
I�d like to know how much it costs to make, print, and send the magazine to the membership and how much the PDGA could save by making discgolfer a digital magazine? In essence, if they did that, how much would it reduce annual fees? And more importantly, do you think those who aren�t currently PDGA members, if this option was available and PDGA membership was (say) $30 instead of $50, would they be more apt to join?
Seems to me that if the PDGA could lower membership dues by making discgolfer online instead of print, they could use the money they save into calculating ratings -- which is something almost every player looks forward to -- on a more regular basis than what they currently do.
Just curious.