Steve...

At this point in time we have 277 full life members and 564 regular members for a total of 841 active full members, not including 129 associate members.

Since last year's convention we have had 121 full members not renew and 54 new full members, for a net loss of 67 full members.

Also to factor into the equation is that we have had at least 170 members (including life members) pass away over the years, and I'm sure that there are possibly many of whom I am unaware.

At this year's convention we signed up 6 new members, at last year's we signed up a total of 5.

I feel that the decline in membership is due to several factors, but the biggest reason for not joining our organization is that there is not enough perceived value in doing so. As David Spragg noted elsewhere, there are at least 7,000 people in the world who are involved in the casino collectibles hobby, most of whom would say that they don't need to be a member of an organization to pursue their interests and then ask what the value would be in joining. The Casino Collectible News is an outstanding publication, but we need to be more than a magazine subscription to expand and prosper.

Beyond this, I think it would be worthwhile to recruit from the set collectors, whose interests certainly parallel ours. I personally would love to see a bunch of them at our convention and at the SNCCC and Casinorama shows.