Jesus christ, the dues!!!

[McCordRM]

Perhaps I'm missing something... but the minimum monthly dues is $100 PER MONTH??? For a not-for-profit organization seeking funding to fight a cause, they certainly haven't opened the doors to many E-Cig consumers. I'm in the military and $100 a month is a pretty good percentage of my paycheck. I give to the Scottish Rite Hospital every month to help out the kids... and even then I don't donate $100 per month. So to help protect my habit and get the word out... wow. I'd love to help out, but ... wow.

 

[angjen0816]

i sure hope thats a typo...maybe its suppose to be a dollar a month? or even 10?

 

[McCordRM]

I pulled it straight from their site. You pay (minimum) $200 to register, then $100 per
month. It's hard enough getting Joe Blow American to financially back anything... but
putting it out of their reach even if they want to help? I just don't get it.

 

[Piedlourde]

They are primarily a supplier/manufacturer organization, so membership levels look like they are set up for businesses.

There's a donate button at the bottom right of that page where you can make a one time smaller donation.

 

[eric]

This has been a long debated issue with little to no reassurance by the ECA of lowering their membership fees even marginally. I believe I've seen Lacey mention it a couple of times, but nothing ever came of it.

I do, however, wish ECA the best and I really do believe allowing consumer membership and lowering the monthly membership fee to something more reasonable would really help our cause.

 

[yvilla]

McCordRM, yes, as Piedlourde said, those dues are tailored for manufactutor/supplier members, as ECA is actually a trade organization.

Please do consider becoming a member of CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association). There are no fees to join, but donations will be welcome soon. Our website is still being finalized (CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association), but should be fully available soon, and with a registration for membership form. We intend to work cooperatively with ECA, as well as with other groups.

In the meantime, we have a subforum here on ECF. CASAA - e-cigarette-forum.com • The place for electronic cigarette reviews, news and chat

 

[MHR7331]

They are primarily a supplier/manufacturer organization, so membership levels look like they are set up for businesses.

There's a donate button at the bottom right of that page where you can make a one time smaller donation.

Love your avatar

I'm crushing your head!

 

[BigJimW]

I'd suggest listening to Matt Salmons interview on VapersPlace for insite why the dues are so high.

Fighting the establishment for e-cigs is not cheap and I don't expect Salmon to foot the bill himself. If you want a heavy hitter in the dugout, you need to pay the premium price.

 

[eric]

BigJim, I totally agree with you on a lot of your points, but this one just isn't sound enough for me.

Implementing a "Consumer" tier to their membership system isn't difficult. I agree the interview was promising, but it still doesn't justify the lack of consumer membership.

10 founding members.
1 associate member.

11 members total. Come on now.

They're basically shooing the money out the door as I see it. I don't think they're a bad organization or that they deserve less than they are asking for, I just think they're passing up their own interests.

 

[Andtyler2]

I'll check out the CASAA forum. I'll donate some small sum to ECA. But I also strongly agree with the comments of some previous posters. Tiered memberships are nothing new--particularly for non profits. If you want to build a movement, you can ill afford to discourage the assistance of those of us who want to help but don't have quite the same economic interests that suppliers do in keeping PV's legal and freely available.

ECA needs to consider the advantages of broadening their base of support in a more formalized manner by incorporating a consumer level membership. Asking the average vaper to cough up over a thousand bucks in a year is nuts. (That seems pretty steep for the trade folks, too, but they can speak for themselves) We're all on the same side of this issue. As a consumer member of ECA I could more easily stay on top of legal developments and share that information via a permanent link to the ECA site from FB, personal blogs, my email signatures, etc.

 

[eplanet]

Hi all,

I have very quickly read this thread, the member dues are expensive, however as consumers you can donate whatever amount you choose eg. $1, $5...whatever.
The ECA members are all suppliers and we pay the dues to help fight our cause, which is to keep electronic cigarettes available to the public and to put our industry in a positive light in the media...

 

[Mac]

Just an FYI but $100 is a reduced price. Originally the minimum was $300.

 

[TheIllustratedMan]

Just to poke the bear a little here:

What would you like out of a "consumer membership"? What would be the benefit? Would you get a newsletter? Maybe a nice hat? Bragging rights to say "I'm a member of the ECA"?

If the only thing that you're looking to get out of membership is the ability to pay your dues and say "I'm helping fight for what I believe in," I suggest that you just start making monthly donations of 5 dollars each. Or 10. Or 1. Whatever you can afford. Then put in your signature here that you are a "Regular contributor to the ECA: x dollars a month". The more people see that, the more who might just go ahead and do the same, the more money the ECA has, the more they can do.

 

[BigJimW]

BigJim, I totally agree with you on a lot of your points, but this one just isn't sound enough for me.

Implementing a "Consumer" tier to their membership system isn't difficult. I agree the interview was promising, but it still doesn't justify the lack of consumer membership.

10 founding members.
1 associate member.

11 members total. Come on now.

They're basically shooing the money out the door as I see it. I don't think they're a bad organization or that they deserve less than they are asking for, I just think they're passing up their own interests.

And I agree 100%. If they had something like $10 a month which wouldn't break the bank, then I'd be more than happy to contribute. However the problem would be with participation. It seems that a lot of folks sit back and let others do the work. Imagine if all the members here on ECF joined up, even at $10.00 a month? With the number of users here, that would be a pretty good sized funding so that ECA can really move.

We really need to get ECA and CAASA on the same level playing field as ASH and the FDA are on. Right now, we're nothing more than the visiting team playing on the home teams turf, and getting our butts kicked.

 

[BuzzKill]

It appears ( FROM THE NAME MIND YOU !! )

That the ECA ( Electronic cig assoc. ) is for BUSINESS

the CASAA ( Consum. blah blah ) is for USERS

man be smart people , do a minimum of research before you start ragging off , no wonder they want to regulate

Later
Marlbuzz

 

[eric]

Just to poke the bear a little here:

What would you like out of a "consumer membership"? What would be the benefit? Would you get a newsletter? Maybe a nice hat? Bragging rights to say "I'm a member of the ECA"?

If the only thing that you're looking to get out of membership is the ability to pay your dues and say "I'm helping fight for what I believe in," I suggest that you just start making monthly donations of 5 dollars each. Or 10. Or 1. Whatever you can afford. Then put in your signature here that you are a "Regular contributor to the ECA: x dollars a month". The more people see that, the more who might just go ahead and do the same, the more money the ECA has, the more they can do.

The consumers are asking for it, that's why. The consumers drive the success of this industry and the ECA would have no standing without them. You aren't considering the alternative questions, mate. Why doesn't the ECA allow consumer membership? Why should they ever expect donations from consumers if consumers can't be members?

Membership is a formality. I'd go so far as to say most people would be much more comfortable donating money to an organization if they were granted formal membership status. Personally, I'd just feel like an unrecognized tool who had no idea what my money was going toward but that they were an organization bearing a name prefixed "Electronic Cigarette". I'll refrain from any nonsense speculation, but I'm sure you understand.

I get your point, but I don't get theirs. I appreciate the existence of an ECA for the fact we have someone to rebut the bogus claims of electronic cigarette hazard by a lot of the anti's, but aside from that, they just seem like an organization within an organization. The latter being njoy.

 

[eric]

It appears ( FROM THE NAME MIND YOU !! )

That the ECA ( Electronic cig assoc. ) is for BUSINESS

the CASAA ( Consum. blah blah ) is for USERS

man be smart people , do a minimum of research before you start ragging off , no wonder they want to regulate

Later
Marlbuzz

Believe me, I'm well aware of this, mate. I'm the one who first got the ball rolling with the consumer driven electronic cigarette organization we're now calling CASAA.

My argument is what it is.

 

[eric]

And I agree 100%. If they had something like $10 a month which wouldn't break the bank, then I'd be more than happy to contribute. However the problem would be with participation. It seems that a lot of folks sit back and let others do the work. Imagine if all the members here on ECF joined up, even at $10.00 a month? With the number of users here, that would be a pretty good sized funding so that ECA can really move.

We really need to get ECA and CAASA on the same level playing field as ASH and the FDA are on. Right now, we're nothing more than the visiting team playing on the home teams turf, and getting our butts kicked.

Amen, brother.

I want the ECA to succeed. I'd also love to see them offer a consumer membership tier. I'm all for two electronic cigarette advocacy groups, but CASAA is hardly different from ECA. They both have suppliers on their boards, both advocate regulations on suppliers, both advocate regulations on quality, and they both just really seem to have the same overall agenda. The only difference I see in the two is CASAA is a bit more in touch with ECF members, is making an effort at bringing the benefits of the electronic cigarette into the public eye with methods beyond the media, and apparently also advocate other alternatives to the electronic cigarette.

However, I really feel the original idea of what CASAA was to be is going to be a struggle to maintain. The feeling first arose when Webby announced suppliers would be allowed on the Board - was really a slap in the face, to be fair, as it really destroyed my initial hopes of handing everything over to the most qualified consumers once we were established without running the risk of supplier interests contaminating the organizations direction in any way, shape or form. It would also have provided a lot more credibility versus opponents to electronic cigarettes.

I'll say this much, though: CASAA seems to me the most likely to stick around on the long-term.

 

[Webby]

However, I really feel the original idea of what CASAA was to be is going to be a struggle to maintain. The feeling first arose when Webby announced suppliers would be allowed on the Board - was really a slap in the face, to be fair, as it really destroyed my initial hopes of handing everything over to the most qualified consumers once we were established without running the risk of supplier interests contaminating the organizations direction in any way, shape or form. It would also have provided a lot more credibility versus opponents to electronic cigarettes.

I'll say this much, though: CASAA seems to me the most likely to stick around on the long-term.

Eric,

I know you felt a little betrayed by the inclusion of suppliers on the CASAA board, but that's what makes us different. There are only two suppliers (less than 20%) and the bylaws prevent more than a 25% supplier participation on the board ever.

If you think about it, the tiny percentage of users who are on these forums make up less than 10% of the e-cig population. Most suppliers are users too and hardly the SE/njoy corporate types. We're small business owners who (potentially) could open our mailing lists to tens of thousands of users (most who wouldn't know a forum from a hole in the ground) Besides, who better than a supplier to have the experience of seeing first hand hundreds of customer issues, model and supply chain problems, changing import regulations, etc. ?

My reason for joining you and Sun in creating CASAA was that I felt suppliers like you and I were being bunched in with SE. I absolutely agree that suppliers should never have ruling control of the board, but to say we should have NO voting rights is wrong too.

As CASAA evolves, even the supplier issue has become moot. The board is very much active with doctors, lawyers, IT professionals and PR experts who represent the diversity of all users. We don't all agree on everything but that is what keeps our goals and actions more encompassing of all users. We share information and work with other groups but each of us have (slightly) different agendas and strengths that the others don't have.

Give us a little time old friend, the original vision hasn't been lost and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what the ECA and RtV are doing and how each group is different and devoted to being responsive to our members.