Rick,

Some collector clubs do provide incentives to renewing members.

Let's see...I was a member of the Ron Lee collector's club for a few years . Every year that I renewed I recieved a small gold-plated clown statue, mounted on an onyx base. Here's one of the Ron Lee pieces that isn't packed up in the basement (because this piece fits in with our current collection)

I was also a member of the Budweiser collectors club for a few years. They used to send out a mug or a stein to renewing members. Can't show you any Bud mugs because they're packed up in the basement.

Each of those clubs sent out newsletters that were a few pages each...nothing even close to our fabulous award-winning magazine !

The clowns and the mugs weren't enough incentive to keep me renewing my memberships once I was bored with the one-dimensional aspect of the collection. I only collected the Christmas mugs from Bud, once I had them all there wasn't anything else left to collect. Buying one new mug a year wasn't very interesting, and then I realized that I was buying mugs I didn't even like...just to keep the Christmas collection complete . I was a charter member of the club, but dropped out when I realized that it wasn't offering me any kind of fulfillment. My experience with the Ron Lee Club was similar, except I didn't have them all...but still found myself buying clowns that I didn't really like that much, just because they 'fit' the collection.

The CCGTCC is different! To me, the incentive to join the club every year is the joy of being a member of this club! There's a million things to collect, chips, postcards, matches, playing cards, swizzle sticks, glassware, china, banks, slot glass, dice, menus, and even panty-hose ! There's a jillion stories about the clubs, the gambling, and the people involved...legal and illegal. I get a lot of pleasure from researching and writing about some of the clubs and casinos in Nevada...which is where my interest lies. While I'm not close friends with anyone in the club (and haven't met many members in person), there's still a camaraderie just from hanging around the chipboard for so many years . I'm sure a few people would wish me a happy birthday, if I told y'all when it is . Some people might use the disagreements on the chipboard as an excuse to quit the club...to me, it's one of the best things about the hobby, because it's my contact with other club/hobby members.

Didn't mean to get on a soap box here, just wanted to make the point that a free chip probably wouldn't be incentive enough to keep me as a member (can't speak for anyone else), but the hobby, and the people in it, satisfy my soul...and THAT'S my incentive for rejoining the club every year. Thank you (stepping off of soap box)