USPSA/SCSA New Membership Fees

[Hoops]

Can someone point me to BOD minutes where fees were discussed and ultimately approved?  Also, how much will be the increase in October?

 

thanks,

 

Hoops

[joseywales]

initial bod announcement Important Update from USPSA Board of Directors

new fee structure not detailed

 

initial thread on enos 

 

 

 

 

[Hoops]

Thanks.

 

I rarely look under USPSA in this forum.

 

with the very high percentage of non-members that already shoot both sports, I wonder what the effect will be.  

[Hoops]

Does anyone know if USPSA/SCSA publishes what percentage of first time members do not renew their membership?

 

 

[bigdawgbeav]

glad i got my lifetime before the increase.  

[Flatland Shooter]

On 8/23/2023 at 4:58 PM, Hoops said:

Does anyone know if USPSA/SCSA publishes what percentage of first time members do not renew their membership?

 

 

Or how many members drop their memberships due to the price increase.

[Zachjet]

I just did. A 3 year.  I wish I could upgrade to a lifetime without losing my 3 year 

[BritinUSA]

On 8/23/2023 at 3:58 PM, Hoops said:

Does anyone know if USPSA/SCSA publishes what percentage of first time members do not renew their membership?

They would certainly have that information but I've never seen it published. I'm not sure they have ever contacted lost members to determine why they did not renew either.

 

There seems to a constant turnover of members and according to the latest surveys a significant number do not even shoot regularly, if at all.

[Hoops]

A local SC match director promotes membership by saying it allows you to compete against a national database by division.  Truth is it does not.  The data is there but other than top 20, there is no way to know how you perform across the full membership by division.  A simple 500/3500 by each division would at least let a person know they are 500 out of 3500.

 

So basically you shoot local matches against whoever shoes up.

 

I am a staunch SC supporter.  I’ve donated considerable time and money to the sport.  But I’ll still ask the question…..what do 90% of shooters get by being a member?  What is the selling point to new potential members that will never shoot above a level 1 match?

[Joe4d]

56 minutes ago, Hoops said:

A local SC match director promotes membership by saying it allows you to compete against a national database by division.  Truth is it does not.  The data is there but other than top 20, there is no way to know how you perform across the full membership by division.  A simple 500/3500 by each division would at least let a person know they are 500 out of 3500.

 

So basically you shoot local matches against whoever shoes up.

 

I am a staunch SC supporter.  I’ve donated considerable time and money to the sport.  But I’ll still ask the question…..what do 90% of shooters get by being a member?  What is the selling point to new potential members that will never shoot above a level 1 match?

I suspect 90% of SC challenge shooters arnt members... Be surprised if 50% are...  basically because member ship offers nothing.
 

[blackss06]

4 hours ago, Joe4d said:

I suspect 90% of SC challenge shooters arnt members... Be surprised if 50% are...  basically because member ship offers nothing.
 

Maybe at whatever tiny local you’re shooting. My last local had 70 guns, only 12 of which aren’t members.

[Squirrel45]

Here in New England almost 95 percent or better or USPSA members.  What the real issue is that after 3 years they burn out and pursue something new. This has been my experience shooting this for a couple years.

[Cuz]

17 hours ago, Hoops said:

 

 

I am a staunch SC supporter.  I’ve donated considerable time and money to the sport.  But I’ll still ask the question…..what do 90% of shooters get by being a member?  What is the selling point to new potential members that will never shoot above a level 1 match?

For me, it was to maintain my RO status. 
I’ve been a member of USPSA since 2005, and an RO since 2009.  I’ve never shot anything above a level 1 match. And in the last 5+ years I’ve shot only 2 actual USPSA matches. The rest have all been “Action Pistol”, falling steel, and many other unofficial matches, but I’ve maintained my membership because I liked keeping my RO status active.  I had renewed just prior to the rate increase announcement, without knowing about the increase. I’ve been sort of wondering for the last few years why I renew, now I won’t have to wonder as I won’t be renewing. 

[Joe4d]

5 hours ago, Cuz said:

For me, it was to maintain my RO status. 
I’ve been a member of USPSA since 2005, and an RO since 2009.  I’ve never shot anything above a level 1 match. And in the last 5+ years I’ve shot only 2 actual USPSA matches. The rest have all been “Action Pistol”, falling steel, and many other unofficial matches, but I’ve maintained my membership because I liked keeping my RO status active.  I had renewed just prior to the rate increase announcement, without knowing about the increase. I’ve been sort of wondering for the last few years why I renew, now I won’t have to wonder as I won’t be renewing. 

I did that for about 3 years after I quit shooting,,, but then figured I wouldnt be a good RO if I wasnt shooting and keeping up with some newer rules..
I will probably shoot a couple steel challenge matches a year.. Would probably join if they had an RO program, and I felt like the org actually did something for steel challenge.

[Sigarmsp226]

Hope I am wrong but I bet the total membership reduces by 10% - 20% as a result of this increase - but this may be what the board is wanting - less members paying more money now could reflect the same total amount of $$’s coming in with less monthly magazines going out each month which saves on printing and mailing costs.

 

Bottom line $$’s improves with less members.
 

Guess we will know more about this in the next 24-36 months…..if the BOD  continues to publish membership numbers in the magazine going forward like they have up to this point.

[Joe4d]

less magazines going out mean less add revenue,,, Org is being mismanaged into the ground..

[truespode]

There needs to be a rethinking of membership and activity fees. Not sure how it is really structured but I read that activity fees are the same for members and non members.

 

No incentive to be a member of you aren't doing majors. But if activity fees were higher for non members then clubs could help incentivize getting members because they would charge higher fees to compensate so there is a financial pay back by being a member and paying less match fees. 

 

Anyone know if I'm accurate on my thinking in that? Like I said I don't know what the fees are so I may have heard wrong but based on what I heard I was surprised it is the same. 

[Farmer]

Used to tell you the membership fee on the sign up page but now you have to insert all your info first and then you’ll find out. I absolutely hate that type of format because it’s just plain chicken s**t! Be up front with the info. 

[Sigarmsp226]

15 hours ago, Joe4d said:

less magazines going out mean less add revenue,,, Org is being mismanaged into the ground..

Joe - You are 100% right - this was not something I thought about when I was typing my post. Thanks for pointing this out - good call out on my oversight.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Sigarmsp226
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[Sigarmsp226]

I will say that when my annual membership expires in 2024, at these new membership prices, I more than likely will allow my membership to expire and start shooting IDPA again…..unless I become a M or GM over the next 10 months 

[AR_James]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:01 PM, Joe4d said:

I suspect 90% of SC challenge shooters arnt members... Be surprised if 50% are...  basically because member ship offers nothing.
 

 

Made me curious, so I looked at my four "local" clubs that host Steel Challenge matches.  Took the last three matches each club held (so 12 matches total) to get a larger sample.  79% of their entries where S.C. members overall.  Would be interesting to know how many of those have a membership so they can shoot Tier 2-4 level matches. 

[Hoops]

Reference July 2023 USPSA magazine.  Article by Jake Martens page 12 addresses these figures (but not all).

 

2023

USPSA paid activity: 99,237

Members with activity: 17,237

Non-members with activity: 8,924

 

SCSA paid activity: 45,326

Members with activity: 6,592

Non-members with activity: 6,392

 

My note:  missing in the numbers above is the breakdown of members vs non-members within the total paid activity.  In other words, which group is shooting more often.  Looking at a lot of Practiscore matches, I would put the number of non-members regularly shooting matches at between 20 - 28%.  (USPSA has the exact data)
 

The last paragraph in the article reads:

 

Also, looking at these numbers as we see participation growth with membership, we also see growth in Non-Members that are participating in matches.

 

 

 

 

[Joe4d]

so about 50/50...  As its one membership I imagine at the local level you are lookign at areas with alot of people that shoot USPSA  and an occasional SC, vs people that shoot only steel challenge..
According to those numbers looks like I was spot on,, about 50% members.
matches I have shot I see alot of kids and girlfriend type shooters.. I think ammo and primer prices probably had some to do with that as well  As rimfire goes with SC fairly well. Its also a pretty good entry game to shooting sports. 
Instant feed back on hits, super easy to understand the game, little to no movement and no draws required.

 

[bigdawgbeav]

the last local match I attended there were 98 guns registered and only 8 shooters total that didn't have a USPSA number.  Match before that there were 47 guns and 15 shooters without memberships (although that match typically gets more new shooters than other local matches)

[BritinUSA]

Missing from that breakdown is a count of how many members shoot either USPSA or SC. So combined participation could be anywhere between 17,237 and 23,829... which is well shy of the total membership, there are a lot of members who don't shoot at all.