Just filled out the form but not in the mail yet. Been thinking about it for awhile. Been signed onto the Roasters Guild public forum since 06. What are some of the benefits you've enjoyed by being a SCAA Cmember.
espresso cheers,
farm

I thought the c-membership was effectively dead (corrections welcome). When I was a paying member, benefits included access to the SCAA library and a 10% discount at their online store. The c-member sessions at conference ended in Seattle.

I was one of the charter members...It was a huge disappointment. With the exception of a couple of freebies, there were really no benefits to be gained, other than the two Dan mentioned. Think I might have received a grand total of two newsletters. IIRC, three (over the course of a couple years) were published. Save your money and do something useful with it.

Mike

HB wrote:I thought the c-membership was effectively dead (corrections welcome). When I was a paying member, benefits included access to the SCAA library and a 10% discount at their online store. The c-member sessions at conference ended in Seattle.

I had read that it was mostly dead too. There are a few SCAA members who still think there is a good concept with it, and others, seems like the majority, who don't. I've had the same experience with the Roasters Guild public forum. There are just a few who really try to help serious Homeroasters (special thanks Tim S.). I'm a sponge when it comes to roasting info. and make an effort to be a prosumer advocate for specialty coffee. I live in an area with several top roasters who are well established so to get into the biz. would either involve intense competition or moving to a less developed area. I was hoping that access to the SCAA library and the membership forum might be worth it but don't know what they really contain. Personally I think prosumer advocates ARE valuable to the industry. Dan along with the other moderators and sponsors on this site I believe are the proof.
changing the coffee world one cup at a time,
Ed

quar wrote:Save your money and do something useful with it.

A donation to Coffee Kids will do more for coffee.
CWOM.
x #346

Ian Already a singer in that choir! And it was an easy decision.
farm

I was a c-member and am a full member now. I joined as full member mostly as a way of donating when they had their financial crisis, and reupped earlier this year. The full membership is a lot more expensive and will not get you any more respect. However, it does get discounts for the show and for the paid professional development courses if you want these. The ones for cupping and roasting are decent, I'm told, and the espresso one is getting that way, so for those wanting some hands on training, it may be worth doing for two years and taking them.

Otherwise, it is my impression that the SCAA is heading in the wrong direction and going that way fast:

• There is a sharp structural distinction between a social world and an industry. Chevies and Toyotas are an industry, vintage and race cars are a world. Pop music is an industry; jazz, classical or opera are worlds; rock and country are divided into both. Movies are an industry; theater is a world. Fast food is an industry; high end restaurants are a world. etc etc.
• The people who buy the products of a world are willing to spend a lot more time and money. But they do not want to be treated merely as customers, but also as peers, the fellow explorers of a good thing. Anyone who draws a sharp boundary between amateur and professional is creating an industry, not a world.
• The SCAA was founded to be a counterorganization to the NCA, the trade association of mass market roasters. As such, its raison d'etre lies in representing a world, not an industry.
• Every time an SCAA or specialty coffee person says or implies that it's really about professionalizing the people, market, and operation of smaller cafes and roasters; they are simply writing the operating manual for McDonald's, and digging their own graves.

I have no idea whether it's better to do exit or voice with the SCAA, whether to protest from the inside or walk away. What seems certain to me is that the housecleaning after the financial difficulties of a few years ago had very little to do with solidifying the finances -- the wasteful, inefficient, overlapping and untransparent committee and governance structures remain in place; instead it turned into a putsch against all the officers and employees who were for consumer outreach. So I doubt anyone in the SCAA is listening anymore. I have gotten nothing publicly or privately that even hints at anyone much caring anymore.

As I've been working for 40 years with the developing local and regional food systems which are showing a bright future the present course of the SCAA will lead to a dead end with as you imply little difference from the NCA in the end. Very sad. How loud must one yell iceberg ahead when they just keep dancing.
Ed

HB wrote:I thought the c-membership was effectively dead (corrections welcome). When I was a paying member, benefits included access to the SCAA library and a 10% discount at their online store. The c-member sessions at conference ended in Seattle.

Most everything I ever wanted from the online store was "out of stock," so the discount doesn't amount to much. I am planning on attending the Roasters Guild retreat next month and depending on the value of the retreat, renew my membership or not.

I was contacted by a mass email questionnaire from the new SCAA PR person. They are asking, what does the membership think is wrong and what can be done to fix it. Maybe there is hope.

Fullsack wrote:I was contacted by a mass email questionnaire from the new SCAA PR person. They are asking, what does the membership think is wrong and what can be done to fix it. Maybe there is hope.

Yes, there is hope. I just returned from two days of meetings in Long Beach, where Board members and committee leaders from around the country (actually the world) came in to discuss the survey results and how to better serve members. Changes are in the works. Can't say any more for now.