Hiding the ANA Membership Numbers!

Finally got around to perusing the 1/2005 Numismatist, and noted that
the membership report (starting page 95) NO LONGER contains the range
of membership numbers that are presently being issued. This is a long
expected development, in view of the fact that the ANA loses 90%+ of
new members after twelve months and 99.75% of new members after three
years. If you can't lie to the membership, hide the facts. The ANA is
going to die unless the staff and leadership is made up of genuine
dyed-in-the-wool numismatists.

Bob Olson

Bob wrote: The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is
made up of genuine dyed-in-the-wool numismatists. snip What!!! they're
not genuine numismatists? . I don't think the ANA will die any time
soon but they may have to tighten their belts a bit. For every member
the ANA loses another enthusiastic coin collector will fill the void. A
turn over in memberships in any club is a natural event and doesn't mean
the end is near for the club IMO.

Edward McGrath wrote:
Bob wrote: The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is
made up of genuine dyed-in-the-wool numismatists. snip What!!!
they're
not genuine numismatists? . I don't think the ANA will die any time
soon but they may have to tighten their belts a bit. For every member
the ANA loses another enthusiastic coin collector will fill the void.
A
turn over in memberships in any club is a natural event and doesn't
mean
the end is near for the club IMO.

Let's do the HQ staff roster: Non-numismatists -- Cipoletti, Gregory,
Lucas, Baker (although her son is a great numismatist), Bishop,
Brunner. A little bit of a numismatist (she understands coin
collecting)Ms. Reback. Who is this Brunner fellow ??? -- appears no
numismatic credentials there. Mr. Doug Mudd -- yes, a numismatist but
even more of a museum professional type (he frequently refers to coins
as "artifacts" -- which indeed they are, but a traditional coin person
wouldn't especially use that term). Mrs. Green is a very competent
librarian and bibliophile but a numismatist??? Finally, one or two of
the new names on the roster appear to be there strictly for eye-candy
(brought on since we got the new executive director). Only four to six
of the present staff members have more than five years with the
Association.

All of the Board members do have their numismatic credentials, although
two or three are obviously a lot more into coins as profit making
commodities than into the history and collecting and fellowship side of
it.

We need ANA staff members with a passion for numismatics. We don't
have them.

oly

Oly -- I can't speak for the rest, but Dr. Lane Brunner is not only a
collector, but taught several courses in numismatics at the University
of Texas. I'm sure he'll contribute in a significant way to the ANA
as one of their newest staff members.

--Andrew

On 17 Jan 2005 13:54:47 -0800, "oly" wrote:


Edward McGrath wrote:
Bob wrote: The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is
made up of genuine dyed-in-the-wool numismatists. snip What!!!
they're
not genuine numismatists? . I don't think the ANA will die any time
soon but they may have to tighten their belts a bit. For every member
the ANA loses another enthusiastic coin collector will fill the void.
A
turn over in memberships in any club is a natural event and doesn't
mean
the end is near for the club IMO.

Let's do the HQ staff roster: Non-numismatists -- Cipoletti, Gregory,
Lucas, Baker (although her son is a great numismatist), Bishop,
Brunner. A little bit of a numismatist (she understands coin
collecting)Ms. Reback. Who is this Brunner fellow ??? -- appears no
numismatic credentials there. Mr. Doug Mudd -- yes, a numismatist but
even more of a museum professional type (he frequently refers to coins
as "artifacts" -- which indeed they are, but a traditional coin person
wouldn't especially use that term). Mrs. Green is a very competent
librarian and bibliophile but a numismatist??? Finally, one or two of
the new names on the roster appear to be there strictly for eye-candy
(brought on since we got the new executive director). Only four to six
of the present staff members have more than five years with the
Association.

All of the Board members do have their numismatic credentials, although
two or three are obviously a lot more into coins as profit making
commodities than into the history and collecting and fellowship side of
it.

We need ANA staff members with a passion for numismatics. We don't
have them.

oly

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Pardon my ignorance, but how does not reporting the range of numbers
being issued conceal any pertinent information, if the names of new
members are published?

Also, where do you get those 90% and 99.75% numbers? Seems to me that
if they are accurate the total membership would be very, very small by
now.

On 2005-01-17 08:37:14 -0800, "oly" said:

in view of the fact that the ANA loses 90%+ of
new members after twelve months and 99.75% of new members after three
years.

can you point to the data on this?

The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is made up of genuine
dyed-in-the-wool numismatists.

i'm not sure i agree entirely. fact is that the staff are running a
membership business. they're not trading in numismatics in any way,
nor does the office staff have any real reason to be numismatists.
they should be getting stronger direction from the ana governors, in my
estimation.

--
# henry mensch / san francisco california
# http://www.henare.tk/

The "data" that keeps us informed about the retention of members IS THE
PUBLISHED ANA MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS which they are now hiding from us!

When the numbers were last published, they were running about 210,000
(maybe as much as 3,000 higher). There are less the 29,000 members.
The ANA has been around since 1891. The ANA has an interesting "skew"
in it's membership in terms of longevity -- if they can keep you five
to seven years (or get you to attend a summer seminar) then they've got
you forever, but the rate of attrition for the first three years
approaches 100%. I have long attributed this to the "dicey" quality of
The Numismatist.

There are 175,000 living former members of the ANA. Most of these
probably still collect coins. If the ANA staff had a PASSION for
NUMISMATICS, and could convey this feeling, this number wouldn't be so
high.

Andy, thank you for the heads up on Mr. Brunner. Perhaps he could take
his former lectures and convert them into valuable published articles.
Mr. Mensch, perhaps you are happy that the staff could just as easily
be cloakroom attendants but I am not. If the ANA staff were cloakroom
attendants, they would want the coats they were checking far more than
they want historic coins.

Bob Olson


Henry Mensch wrote:
On 2005-01-17 08:37:14 -0800, "oly" said:

in view of the fact that the ANA loses 90%+ of
new members after twelve months and 99.75% of new members after
three
years.

can you point to the data on this?

The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is made up
of genuine
dyed-in-the-wool numismatists.

i'm not sure i agree entirely. fact is that the staff are running a
membership business. they're not trading in numismatics in any way,
nor does the office staff have any real reason to be numismatists.
they should be getting stronger direction from the ana governors, in
my
estimation.

--
# henry mensch / san francisco california
# http://www.henare.tk/

On 18 Jan 2005 03:20:34 -0800, "oly" wrote:

There are 175,000 living former members of the ANA. Most of these
probably still collect coins. If the ANA staff had a PASSION for
NUMISMATICS, and could convey this feeling, this number wouldn't be so
high.

True. Too much of both the Board and Staff are politicians, dealers,
or bureaucrats. The main benefit of ANA Membership is the library
privileges, IMHO.

Chuck
ex longterm ANA member

They seem to have changed the membership numbering scheme, unless I'm
mistaken. As an example, I converted from a regular membership to a
LM. All they did was add a 1 to the beginning of my old membership
number. Hummm....they just increased the membership rolls by a a
hundred thousand members.

--Andrew



On 18 Jan 2005 03:20:34 -0800, "oly" wrote:

The "data" that keeps us informed about the retention of members IS THE
PUBLISHED ANA MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS which they are now hiding from us!

When the numbers were last published, they were running about 210,000
(maybe as much as 3,000 higher). There are less the 29,000 members.
The ANA has been around since 1891. The ANA has an interesting "skew"
in it's membership in terms of longevity -- if they can keep you five
to seven years (or get you to attend a summer seminar) then they've got
you forever, but the rate of attrition for the first three years
approaches 100%. I have long attributed this to the "dicey" quality of
The Numismatist.

There are 175,000 living former members of the ANA. Most of these
probably still collect coins. If the ANA staff had a PASSION for
NUMISMATICS, and could convey this feeling, this number wouldn't be so
high.

Andy, thank you for the heads up on Mr. Brunner. Perhaps he could take
his former lectures and convert them into valuable published articles.
Mr. Mensch, perhaps you are happy that the staff could just as easily
be cloakroom attendants but I am not. If the ANA staff were cloakroom
attendants, they would want the coats they were checking far more than
they want historic coins.

Bob Olson


Henry Mensch wrote:
On 2005-01-17 08:37:14 -0800, "oly" said:

in view of the fact that the ANA loses 90%+ of
new members after twelve months and 99.75% of new members after
three
years.

can you point to the data on this?

The ANA is going to die unless the staff and leadership is made up
of genuine
dyed-in-the-wool numismatists.

i'm not sure i agree entirely. fact is that the staff are running a
membership business. they're not trading in numismatics in any way,
nor does the office staff have any real reason to be numismatists.
they should be getting stronger direction from the ana governors, in
my
estimation.

--
# henry mensch / san francisco california
# http://www.henare.tk/

Shop With Us Online and Save:
Brent-Krueger Coin and Currency
www.brent-krueger.com/?source=rcc
Your Coin and Currency Supply Super Store!

Visit Our Dealer Showroom and Retail Outlet
186 Scotch Rd., Ewing NJ

From:

Pardon my ignorance, but how does not reporting the range of numbers
being issued conceal any pertinent information, if the names of new
members are published?

Complaints against members are not accepted without the membership number.

--
mark