The ANA And The Hobby

I'm sitting here looking at my renewal form and trying to figure out exactly what my membership fees are paying for.

ND, do you have any hopes of improvement after the election? I ask you because I thought you might know some of the candidates personally.

Just so everyone knows, this is a copy of my final email to the ANA.

Good afternoon,

I am writing to you today in hopes of clearing up a few matters. The ANA has partnered with ebay to promote "good" selling and some basic rules, however it seems to grow worse each and everyday. More counterfeits are being sold with NO recourse. What is the ANA doing to stop this? I am a member of an online coin forum https://www.coincommunity.com and the members have repeatedly questioned the ANA involvement. For all appearences it would seem that the ANA is only concerned with getting their name in front of the millions of people using ebay.
ebay has once again moved the reporting page, making it more and more difficult to report bad auctions. This move is consistant with their "We are only a venue" mentallity.
I know that many ANA members have repeatedly written to the ANA in hopes of getting ebay to at the very least enforce their own rules with no avail. With the ANA partnering with ebay, you have forever associated yourself with the good and the bad.
Even now, there are many counterfeits being sold. One of the most blatant is an altered date 1944 Lincoln Cent to look like a 1914-D. See this auction. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...photohosting
This auction has been reported many times over the past few days, but no one seems to care. Now some unsuspecting collector will pay more than $300 to purchase a fake coin. Where is the ANA protection?
Has the ANA stopped caring about the collector? At this point I am disgusted. I have been a member dealer for quite some time, and have promoted and given ANA memberships as a way of protecting yourself. Well those days have changed. For weeks the ANA has been bragging about their accomplishments, IE: Website, ebay. Well obviously no one at the ANA reads any numismatic magazine or looks at any numismatic forum. NO ONE is happy with either accomplishment.
As long as the ANA continues to support and promote ebay, I will not be associated. I DO NOT want to be associated with anyone that allows the continued selling of counterfeits and bad third party grading.
The ANA is supposed to be the guiding light in the numismatic hobby. Step up and PROVE to the average collector and dealer that the ANA has their best interest in mind. Make standard grading rules, enforce YOUR rules, reach out to the collector. You need to be neutral. Stand up for what is right. The ANA should be fighting congress to change our coins, not sit back and applaud the mediocre designs being forced upon us.
Is there no passion for coins at the ANA?
Before I get generic replies about all the good the ANA has done and will do, think about this. Would I be asking these questions if the ANA was out there doing these things? Talk is great, but actions are what get things done.
Why is the ANA not asking the "former" members why they left? The lack of action on the part of the ANA leaves much to speculation. In a hobby that supposedly has 100 million people involved, why would the ANA proudly proclaim their 30 thousand membership base?
I am ashamed that NO organization is leading this great hobby of ours. At this point, you have lost my membership and my support. Maybe, just maybe the ANA leaders will realize that they need to step up and fight for this hobby before more members leave.


Steve A. Bryan
Pres. and Ceo.
MidAtlanticCoins, LLC
CoinFest

OK, Here's my story.
I finally decided to join the ANA to help support my hobby. I knew they are mostly an educational organization but I decided to support what I thought was the leader in numismatics.
I went online & tried to join a few times over 2 weeks with no luck. So I called the membership # posted on the web site. Gave the gal my vital information & signed up for 2 years, she took my credit card # & said I was all set. This was the first of February.
A couple of months go bye I hear nothing. In the mean time I understand from talking to people on coin forums that I should receive a welcome to the ANA package & the Numismatist magazine.
So I called them back & asked what's up. I was told that they were having alot of trouble as of late & they would get it right out to me. Finally I did receive a magazine, April. At the end of May I called again because I still had not receive a welcome package nor a May mag. Again I did receive the magazine.
So here it is now almost the end of June & I haven't heard a word. So yesterday I called AGAIN and now they tell that I never paid my membership fees!!! And that is why I'm not receiving anything from them. And they want me to send them proof that I paid for my membership.
Like alot of rural folks I buy alot online & over the phone & I've NEVER had this kind of responce from any Co. tring to make a living. Once you give them your credit card # it's a done deal.

Don't you people want members?

Anyway I called my credit card Co. & I'm being reimbursed the 70 odd dollars.

I give up.

David Gentry
#3121590

1) Instead of raising membership fees, stop losing lawsuits.
2) Put David Bowers' Joy of Collecting back in the NUMISMATIST.
3) BTW, the new ANA logo sucks and hate it. People like me are the reason why you need positive people like David Bowers' Joy of Collecting! How dare you send the Numismatic writing dude's column
into exile!

Since the ANA has not officially contacted me yet, (but my inbox is filling), I thought that I would list a few suggestions so that when they read this thread they would see what works.

1. Process memberships in a timely manner.
2. Pick up a phone book and contact the Boy Scouts-Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs in each state.
3. Send thank you post cards to all that attend the ANA conventions.
4. Advertise in mainstream media.
5. Get involved in communities.
6. Pay someone to build a decent user friendly website.
7. DO NOT sell your membership list.
8. Create a uniform grading standard.
9. Enforce YOUR rules.
10. Endorsements should be non-biased. NOT FOR SALE!
11. Listen to your members. Respond in a timely manner.
12. Create education programs in each state through dealers or clubs.
13. Lobby congress on coin designs.
14. Lobby the U.S. Mint for a National Numismatic Museum.
15. Create a professional numismatic education program for college level.
16. Create a standard for licensing coin dealers.
17. Update your magazine. Report the news in a timely manner.
18. Update your website to give up the day news.
19. Offer easy access for members to contact ANA representatives.
20. The ANA should have a booth at EVERY major coin show.
21. Showcase the benefits of being a member.
22. Stop allowing dealers to leave your shows early. (This falls under enforcing YOUR rules).
23. Create a graders standard. You TALKED about this, but "reconsidered" when the grading companies didn't like it.
24. Create standards! Do not bend your will to match those who have NO ethics.
25. Partner with the Secret Service to prosecute those who sell counterfeits.

Finally, stop playing politics. Make your word mean something. Say what you mean and mean what you say. The ANA is supposed to be the leader in the numismatic hobby. In order to lead, decisions have to be made. Those decisions must be enforced. Each time the ANA waivers, it just goes to prove that we have no leadership.
Before the ANA goes around bragging about their accomplishments, go out in the street and ask people if they have ever heard of the ANA.
If you still cannot figure out what a leading organization should be, take a look at the American Legion. http://www.legion.org/

I have been "waiting" for the ANA to make some sort of positive move for years now. Everyone knows that I am incredibly active in the coin business. I sponsor events, take an active roll with kids, and fight in the halls of congress.
The ANA has a very limited view of our hobby. The same few people run for office over and over.
Just as an example. Many of "us" members NEVER received a ballot to vote.

Each member is associated with ebay thanks in part to the ANA. Well many feel that ebay is getting worse and worse by the day. The whole "We are simply a venue" mentallity is irresponsible. With the ANA supporting (by that I mean not acting against) the sellers who routinely VIOLATE ebay and ANA rules, this gives each member a black eye.
I pride myself on the standards that myself and my firm hold. I DO NOT wish to be associated with ebay in any form or fashion as long as they allow counterfeit and trash coins to be sold.
I am not claiming that leaving the ANA will change things, but at some point if you don't like the way the game is played, you take your ball and go home. There are other organizations springing up that are trying to make a difference by ACTING.
It wasn't my intent to bash the ANA, or get anyone to leave. My purpose is relaying the facts as I see them. I have repeatedly asked many ANA representatives to offer their point of view, but have never received a response.
I have forwarded many threads from this forum to them to read. Again, no response. Seems like any other political party to me.
Proudly boast of accomplishments that only please the poster, make wide ranging promises with NO HOPE of succeeding, and sell your endorsement to whomever is willing to pay for it.
It is only my opinion, but no one has come along to offer another.

i gave ANA up somewhere around 30 years ago for the same reasons I'm reading about on this thread. The organization would have to do something fairly spectacular to get me to join again.

quote:

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Originally posted by OldDan
i gave ANA up somewhere around 30 years ago for the same reasons

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I have been hearing this quite a bit since I began my attempts at creating change. I have talked with many long time collectors who essentially have had the exact same issues, (minus website), that collectors today have.
I just don't understand why there is NO RESPONSE about these concerns. Where is the customer service? If you can't be bothered with your customers, you have NO CHANCE at surviving. I gave away several "gift" memberships last year to show the ANA that I was doing my part. The quickest got processed in 2 months. I was double charged on more than one occasion, given an extra year on my membership, had my check returned, and told "We are trying" enough times to make me sick.
I would love for the ANA to post the numbers of members who sign up for year 2. Honesty and integrity seems to be a long lost art.