The proposed solution to the magazine issue was definitely not my idea. The Membership Growth and Engagement Committee had been kicking around ideas on how to address the financial problems for a while. (building on research Ed Hertel and Alan Anderson had done years ago)

Together we narrowed in on a one-issue-per-year solution. It is a viable balance between going all-electronic immediately (a shock to the system and any people would object to not getting anything printed anymore) and staying as we were (and bankrupting the club in around 5 years).

Some people have stated that the club had "not looked at all the options before making this decision". I can say for certain we looked at a LOT of options. As Barry said if people have better ideas we are all ears. The 4x printed per year will continue for at least a year as steps are made to stand up the electronic version. If a better solution comes up we have time to change course.

The crux of the problem is 2 sided: income and expense. The income to support the magazine is only part of the annual $40 dues. Remember: the club has other expenses that need to be covered by the $40. And the contribution toward magazine expenses is even lower from the Lifetime Member fund. The cost to produce the magazine has skyrocketed from 2 factors: hard cost and per copy costs. General printing costs have gone up just as many other costs have. The per copy costs have gone up because the membership has gone down by 2/3 from our peak. The cost per copy when printing 3,000 copies is much lower than when printing 1,000 copies. Declining income and increasing printing costs crossed over years ago, but the financial crisis is only being addressed now.

As far as young collectors go, I agree exposure early is key. And kids by definition cannot be exposed too early to gaming collectibles. There's also the fact that there are FAR more things to do recreationally than before. Casino Collecting has to complete with watching untold options on Netflix and TikTok. Plus younger people have joined social clubs like our because they have needed to in order to participate in their hobbies (like said above with the Disney Pin collectors)

As I said I think the club is worth working (fighting?) for; I and a bunch of us will continue. We hope others will too.

- Bob M