Assuming WE can pull it off....

[Mikey P]

Would you join a Online Association?
It benefits would hopefully include the following

A voice in the IICRC, if not, possibly create it's own form of schooling and accreditation.
Volume purchasing power.
Group Insurance benefits
Bi-yearly "Fests"
A voice with the Mills.
A secret decoder ring.


If we can attract enough cleaners all of the above can happen.

 

[Desk Jockey]

How many need to sign up for the decoder ring?

 

[vincent]

yep

 

[Jeremy]

Assuming I agreed wit the mission of the organization & had the time to actively participate I'd be in.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Although Terry has a point. :shock:

 

[cmaster]

Keep dreaming, you'll never pull it off.
7% [ 1 ]

Was Bishop voting? :roll:

 

[Desk Jockey]

Had to be T! :roll:

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

I don't want to be negative, but...

The wording of the poll is a little vague. It is a bit like a presidential candidate asking people "would you be in favor of a better country?".

Everyone likes benefits. The question becomes much more meaningful when you include the cost/benefit analysis, even a basic one.

A decent association will require more than membership. It has to strike a balance between volunteer time from those members and direct member finance. Granted, an online association has massive potential to be many times more efficient than anything we've seen.

It's way to early to assemble anything resembling a pro forma budget, but a poll on this matter should indicate some semblance of the outlay expected of members, be it time or money.


Just thinking out loud.

BTW, I voted YES, without a doubt.

 

[harryhides]

I would also add that another benefit that is available through an affinity relationship with the WFCA which allows members to utilize their $500 education scholarship fund.
If this Association became part of the Connections Association we would also have the same discounts that other member Associations now have for attending the Connections sessions.

Also, once we have enough members to pay for it, independant testing of equip or chems would then become feasable.

 

[FB7777]

I would leave off the group insurance as a benefit to membership, seeing how this will not be a regional association you will have multi-state insurance regulations.

This is assuming you are referring to health insurance.

Cheap insurance premiums also don't translate to good coverage. Give me my $1300/ month BlueCross plan and I'm happy.
No claims forms, referrals, re-imbursements or hassles.

I know its premature, but I think some will wait to see what type of mission statement and board is established before jumping onboard and sending in a payment and application.

 

[Derek]

i think most are like me & have no clue what an "association" does, or can do to benefit my biz.

#1 question after knowing the above : is it free to join? if not, how much $ ballpark?

thanx --- Derek.

 

[Brad_Smith]

I will need to know how much before I can say yes #1 instead of yes #2. Also the level of commitment is important.

I don't want to join a "drink case of beer and hey lets make an association".

You need to put the binoculars down and come up a real mission statement, backed by the industry leaders already on this board.

Then we can all give a sober response to this poll.

Brad

 

[Desk Jockey]

We are members of both RIA (formerly ASCR) & SCRT.

Aside from the patches, certificates of membership and use of logo's, I think the biggest value for us is in the exchange information.

RIA has Cleaning & Restoration magazine, SCRT has the Propack. Discounts on the convention & seminars make membership cost effective.

I would think an internet association would have tremendous value over the traditional regional associations.

Not only can you exchange information but it's in real time, material can be discussed and debated today, not weeks or months later.

There would also no printing & mailing costs for an e-magazine or newsletter.

There are several here that have had past experience in working with an association or two. They should be able to lead us around the pitfalls should the association be formed.

 

[John G]

What a slanted list of answers to choose from..

Try posting more legitimate answers, first off, tell us WHY setting up different people would be beneficial as opposed to many of the yoyos in charge of "their" group now.

Why would this group not be soon corrupted?

Remember they started in similar fashion, only to be driven by things OTHER than what is best for the cleaners.

First run around trashing bbs's, then start a bbs, then start charging, then start your own ass. then what? I fail to see anything NEW or exciting.

That is NOT to say I wouldn't join if the reasons were good ones.

 

[Mikey P]

It would not be "My" Association by any means John...


I would gladly let MY board be used as it's online office.
I would gladly sit on the BOD for a year.
I would gladly do every thing reasonable to promote it.


But I will not be the only one building this thing.
It will take the work or 10 to 20 dedicated souls to pull this off.

I'm sure a guy like you can see it's value.


Look at the core group here on MY board.

Tell me you wouldn't want these folks helping form the future of OUR industry.


This may take a year or two to pull off and sure it will be a ton of hard work but what is our alternative?

 

[Desk Jockey]

First run around trashing bbs's, then start a bbs, then start charging, then start your own ass. then what?

Come on big J, you can't say it hasn't been entertaining to watch!

 

[John G]

It has been Richard, LOL

I just want to know WHY this bunch thinks they would be better than the previous bunch who started one or why it wouldn't end up the same way..


I think the question is fair, don't you?

 

[Mikey P]

That last bunch did'nt have to eyes of the online world watching over them.


They didn't have daily interaction with one another.
They didn't draw from all over the globe either.


We can be far cheaper and offer so much more.


Seeing how the IICRC has treated you over the years I would think you would want a decoder ring asap.

 

[Desk Jockey]

John all good questions to ask.

I don't know that we are any better, I wouldn't feel comfortable in saying that I am any way.

It would actually be best to look at what are the issues that have come up and build safe guards to prevent those same issues from being a problem. If that is possible?

 

[John G]

Please don't misunderstand me Mikey, I AM INTERESTED, but I want to know several things first.

The current IICRC and CRI are laughable in my book as you can only imagine why....LOL

However, if we are to really make a difference then there HAS to be provisions in place that this ass. is TRULY for the cleaners.

If that can be proven, heck yes I am in and I would like to be a part of it and will do what I can to make it what it should be.

 

[Dolly Llama]

as has been eluded too,
an on-line assc with instant feed back and masses with pitch forks aimed at the leadership could help keep an org on track and focused.

Personally, I think that would be very strong deterrent to power politics, personal agendas (or favoring a few) over the rank and file's interests


..L.T.A.

 

[truckmount girl]

I see the most difficult obstacle we will have to overcome being finding REAL cleaners with enough time to devote to a project like this.

Which leaves you with a pool of "labor" compromising mainly retirees, managers, part-timers, struggling companies and those "off the truck". I would really like to see this project led by those who are successful owner/ops, franchisees and multi-truck outfits.

Picking and choosing those in power will be the hardest part. It is my experience that those who aspire to positions of power are the least honorable leaders.

Accountability and transparency will go far to keeping that power in check.

Keeping those who stand to profit or have agendas from anything more than an associate membership would be very wise.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[harryhides]

The ability to poll the membership on ANY matter that can also to be debated
should make a huge difference.

 

[GRHeacock]

There are a number of excellent associations in regional areas, and a couple of excellent national associations, and a couple of crappy ones.

They are all started with the best of intentions, then a few come along with agendas that screw it all up for everybody.

Not to name names, but how would it be policed so it did not turn out like IICRC, not to mention names.

Gary

 

[Mikey P]

With a quality group like this I see no reason why it cant be ran by enough to spread out the work load.

Like Harry said, we have the ability to Poll our group at any time.


"For the People, by the people".....


And plenty of them!

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Gary brings a a very good point.

I think the key to that issue is the Bylaws. Just about every abuse that I have seen taken to the point pf perceived or real corruption is due to an omission, vagueness taken advantage of, or an outright breach of the Bylaws, Charter, or Articles of Incorporation.

If these issues are shored up AT THE BEGINNING, the process has an excellent chance of success.

-Shawn-

 

[Greenie]

You need to get the real life everyday cleaners involved, that will be the challenge cause they are actually busy.

It will start off a little Mfg./Dist. heavy, which is ok as long as the cleaners pick up the ball after the first year and run with it.

It is what you make it.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Strict adherence to By Laws makes a huge difference.

In the UCCI we had an executive officer (no one on this board) who constantly pushed things "just a bit" over the line. We (the BOD) would overlook the minor infractions, always saying "Well, he CAN'T do anything worse, right?"

But he always did.

After we finally "handled" him, we very VERY strictly conformed to every rule and regulation from then on. It was a "pain", but it was a lot less of a pain than dealing with "bad behavior" that should never been allowed to occur in the first place.

 

[Ron Lippold]

K.I.S.S. By carpet cleaners for carpet cleaners.

 

[steve r]

im a definate maybe