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Steve Moskowitz

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ChazA,

Welcome to the AACA Discussion Forum. You really are not going to get an answer to this question on the Forum. I think that the really dedicated national office staff kept the on-line registration up past 5 pm on Saturday, but it is not a great surprise that they did not stay in the office until midnight, before shutting down the on-line registration. You have missed the deadline.

If you want to take a chance, I would suggest you try the following... with no idea if it will work or not.... Send your registration in by overnight mail or Fed Ex next day delivery immediately. If it arrives in that manner, which should be as fast as a normal first class mailing by the deadline, perhaps they will let you in even though you have not got it postmarked by the well publicized deadline.

Every year folks come up after the Hershey deadline and complain. I would expect that the national staff and the Hershey Region are very tired of this. It still happens every year. Good luck, but be sure to register early next year.

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Matthew, thanks for the welcome and detailed info!

Welcome to the AACA Discussion Forum. You really are not going to get an answer to this question on the Forum.

<O:p></O:p>

Yes, I did email the appropriate aliases directly too, but thought I'd check here also. <O:p></O:p>

I think that the really dedicated national office staff kept the on-line registration up past 5 pm on Saturday, but it is not a great surprise that they did not stay in the office until midnight, before shutting down the on-line registration. You have missed the deadline.
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I have no doubt the national staff works hard and is dedicated. Good info on them working until 5, but I do not see anywhere where it states the online registration will close at 5, or during the day on 8/20, or staff works on Sat, etc... I am not sure why you are stating I

missed the deadline
where it clearly states on the website on 8/21, as I previously posted. Can anyone clarify where I should have seen that information?

If you want to take a chance, I would suggest you try the following... with no idea if it will work or not.... Send your registration in by overnight mail or Fed Ex next day delivery immediately. If it arrives in that manner, which should be as fast as a normal first class mailing by the deadline, perhaps they will let you in even though you have not got it postmarked by the well publicized deadline.

<O:p></O:p>

I don't see why the need for that if I am following the rules and attempted to register on 8/20. Based on your info, sounds like there is a manual process involved to mail a check. I am assuming then that there is no option to enter a credit card or even PayPal when registering. We can save some admin tasks in the future by automating. As someone in the computer field, I'd be happy to assist us in setting up automated payment, for example using PayPal. The attendee can pay the PayPal fees. For example, I just joined the Norwich NY museum as a member and paid immediately with PayPal and joined. <O:p></O:p>

Every year folks come up after the Hershey deadline and complain. I would expect that the national staff and the Hershey Region are very tired of this. It still happens every year. Good luck, but be sure to register early next year.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
<O:p></O:p>

Understood. I don't think you are putting me in that category :-) As stated, I tried to register before the clearly stated deadline of 8/21 on the Hershey club website, so I am not asking for any special treatment or an exception. Thanks for the tips.

Edited by ChazA (see edit history)
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I can understand the confusion. I am not sure why the website says the 21st as everything else over the past several months said the 20th. I just do not have an answer tonight.

The key is the region has told us that they will go by the postmark and we closed down the electronic registration after the post ofices closed yesterday as there was no reason to keep it open. There is no online payment avaialble for our meets. We know how easy it is to do technically (we do online for judges pqayment, membership and our gift store) and would like to see it happen some day but for a variety of reasons it is not an option now.

We keep trying to stress deadlines in the club and HATE saying no to people but people have had months to send their registrations in. This past week our staff was working non-stop for all the last minute people and we even kept the office open on Saturday until noon to assist people. However, when a region, particularly a meet the size of Hershey, we have to understand that they have reasons for setting those deadlines.

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Steve, thanks for the info and understanding the confusion :)

As you see from my posts, I am new to the forums. I am also a new lifetime AACA member and I recently joined a local chapter. As a newbie, just learning the ropes :)

I did a search a while ago on bing for AACA and Hershey and it brought me to the link above. I then showed my 11 year old son (new AACA junior member) and said we have until 8/20 to register, so let's put a reminder on the calendar. For reasons I won't get into here as it's moot, but green light for my son to go on 8/20. Sounds like there were other methods of communication on the deadline too, but I went with the website link...of course he spent the last few weeks getting one of our cars ready for the voyage :)

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Based on your info, sounds like there is a manual process involved to mail a check. I am assuming then that there is no option to enter a credit card or even PayPal when registering. We can save some admin tasks in the future by automating. As someone in the computer field, I'd be happy to assist us in setting up automated payment, for example using PayPal. The attendee can pay the PayPal fees. For example, I just joined the Norwich NY museum as a member and paid immediately with PayPal and joined. <O:p></O:p>

ChazA, You are correct. After you register on-line you have to print out the registration and mail the document along with your payment. Some people prefer that while others like you and me would like an on-line payment option. A few years ago I asked about automating the process like you did (I work in IT also). Long story short there are back office challenges and logistical issues that make this process more than just a matter of automation of the web site to use Paypal and/or a credit card processor.

BTW Steve M., Since it has been brought up where does this project stand???? Anything new to report? Any progress?? It has been a year or two since I asked about this last so I guess it is time to ask again. ;)

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Charlie, the same forces are still in place that make online payments for meets a challenge. We have not actively worked on it since we have had other fish to fry but it does remain on our plan. The solutions are there, it is just a matter of biting the financial bullet and getting the agreement by our regions and chapters who host the shows.

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I can understand the confusion. I am not sure why the website says the 21st as everything else over the past several months said the 20th. I just do not have an answer tonight.

The key is the region has told us that they will go by the postmark and we closed down the electronic registration after the post ofices closed yesterday as there was no reason to keep it open. There is no online payment avaialble for our meets. We know how easy it is to do technically (we do online for judges pqayment, membership and our gift store) and would like to see it happen some day but for a variety of reasons it is not an option now.

We keep trying to stress deadlines in the club and HATE saying no to people but people have had months to send their registrations in. This past week our staff was working non-stop for all the last minute people and we even kept the office open on Saturday until noon to assist people. However, when a region, particularly a meet the size of Hershey, we have to understand that they have reasons for setting those deadlines.

Called today and spoke with the Hershey club, absolutely not was answer....too late, can't register. Sadly the person I spoke with pretty much gave me a "too bad" answer. :( Dismissed the mistake on the website and basically said I should have known the process, even after I explained I was new lifetime member and used the Hershey club website date as the cutoff. :( With the current process, it's understandable if the Hershey regional staff is probably a little stressed out with the process currently in place and are probably getting calls from some who are actually asking for an exception. Suprised they don't get more calls.

I must say that the national folks, especially Steve, was very helpful. Thanks for trying national folks!! You were very professional and I appreciate your understanding of the situation. I definitely understand the process now :) Not sure my 11 yr old son does as he asked..."Daddy, you said we had to register by 8/21 and that's what it said on the webpage...if you tried on 8/20 and it didn't work, why won't they still let us go with the car?":(

One other tidbit I thought was interesting and surprising!: At then end of the call I was told that there are too many registered today and 100 or so checks will need to be returned. Wow! If automated, a simple counter can be used on the website to deny registration once a limit is reached.

I'll be more than happy to assist/volunteer with any tasks needed to automate this meet registration process, Hershey or otherwise, so no one else runs into this situation I encountered. I am a member of 5 regional clubs and hold offices in two. As someone in the computer field, I've assisted local clubs in various technology tasks, such as a centralized cloud storage location for club documents, and using blogs and Facebook to disseminate information, to make life easier for all...this would include the hard working folks who host meets! :)

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Sorry it did not work out. I think many people at the region feel the same way but year after year we stress the deadline for months and people just cut it too close or forget. We are a club of procrastinators!:) The region folks have a very big job to do with laying out the fields for the show and 9,000 plus flea market spaces plus the car corral and then have to get it all in for the program printing. That takes time. I hope you still come with your son and let him attend the various youth programs, eat some junk field and spend the day with his dad looking at 1400 great cars.

The field is only so big so yes there is a cutoff. We hope that the show is not oversold as that is something we try our best to avoid each year. Some day, their may be more space.

As to the offer of technical help. We have lots of committees and would wlecome your assistance, just send me an email back. In this case it is not a how too though. It is far more complicated than you think as we have dual systems and rely on registration chair people at our various national meets who have their own systems. Going to online is simple technically, the other issues are not so simple.

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We are a club of procrastinators!:) .

LOL!

Understood. I didn't mean to imply that the solution was simple either :D I'm sure there are some very smart people who volunteer and if was simple, then Charlie's request would have sailed through years ago :)

Additionally, as many are aware...like many other fields...there are various disciplines with IT, and maybe there are certain tasks that may need to be outsourced, like programming for example, so not sure if all of our IT volunteers can cover the spectrum ;) (I hate programming BTW :D )

Sure, will fire off an email with info.

Thanks!

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ChazA,

Picture this area jammed with vehicles, flea market vendors and car corrals and you will have some idea of the scope of what the Hershey Region is dealing with. It is staggering what this would look like during "The High Holy Days of Hershey". :eek:

Like Steve suggested, bring your son and get a feel for the place. And be sure and stop in and get some of that great Hershey ice cream too. :rolleyes:

post-36313-143138638296_thumb.jpg

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ChazA,

Picture this area jammed with vehicles, flea market vendors and car corrals and you will have some idea of the scope of what the Hershey Region is dealing with. It is staggering what this would look like during "The High Holy Days of Hershey". :eek:

Yes, was there as a spectator a long time ago at Hershey once, before I had any restored cars. I have only recently started acquiring vehicles and restoring some myself. (I'm the youngest in my clubs....so still a newbie :))

I felt bad for the older gentleman I was speaking with on the phone today as I don't think he had any idea what I was saying regarding the website or online registration and he seemed stressed, so I didn't bother elaborating too much, especially as he was adament that there will be no way I can register and he was so focused on an old school postmark stamp.

As a Right Coast Association member, I'm also familiar with some of the logistics of a large car show as my city hosts the largest car show on the east coast-Syracuse Nationals (even though not comparing apple to apples here), so understood.

"Every attendance record was broken once again in 2011! The car count climbed to 7,589 show cars. Five Canadian provinces and 40 US states where represented at the NY State Fairgrounds. Over 86,748 fans attended the three day event under clear blue Central New York skies."

Check out the website and registration process: Syracuse Nationals

Like Steve suggested, bring your son and get a feel for the place. And be sure and stop in and get some of that great Hershey ice cream too. :rolleyes:

Will most likely skip as the goal was to bring one of our cars to the show. Although my son loves seeing the cars (attended 3 local AACA events this year), he was really looking forward to entering ours after all the work he did on it this summer. Don't need any parts right now either as the project I'm working on now is almost ready for assembly.

As a side note, my son and I were vendors at Carlisle a year or so ago and it was fantastic. Best part was meeting and negotiating with all the people :D

post-76082-143138638314_thumb.jpg

Edited by ChazA (see edit history)
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The post mark stamp has been the rule for years, there nothing wrong with it. It been in place all year and prior years.

I contracted Hershey Region AACA late last week and they email the registration forms out to immediately, the next morning Thursday,I took the completed forms together with my check immediately to Aramex Overnight as i am overseas, (like Fedex) and sent them off, hopefully they get them in time to process me.

I found the Hershey Regions Staff, Lynn and Max, extremely helpful, I appreciate the extra efforts they put in to accommodate people registering right up to the deadline. .

Edited by packards42 (see edit history)
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As a Right Coast Association member, I'm also familiar with some of the logistics of a large car show as my city hosts the largest car show on the east coast-Syracuse Nationals (even though not comparing apple to apples here), so understood.

Yes. I think you're comparing apples and oranges. I think each event could claim largest, depending on what is taken into account for making the claim. The Syracuse event certainly has more cars, but you don't mention anything about flea market vendors. When you add up all "Hershey" has – 9,000+ vendors, 1,500 car corral cars, and 1,200 show cars, plus 200,000 visitors – I think the Hershey event probably outsizes Syracuse considerably.

I've never been to the Syracuse event, so I can't really judge it correctly, just going by the information supplied.

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You snooze you lose. Nuff said? That's probably the most important lesson a young person can learn...............Bob

LOL..thanks dad...(joking)<JOKING>. Hate to keep beating a dead horse here, but I attempted to register on 8/20, before the posted Hershey website deadline stating 8/21. We all know now that it was a mistake by the webmaster. Understood and not the end of the world as we all make mistakes. Call me crazy as a new member for using the Hershey club website as the definitive answer for the deadline :D

Lesson learned-some people make mistakes....they may admit them, and attempt to correct, or apologize, or deny. I am also guilty of waiting until last minute and risking a process breakdown. The same could have happened to someone who mailed in a form last minute without a "receipt requested" and then having it get lost in the mail. Definitely a risk waiting until the end.

As I said, what I'm more suprised at is how I was treated when calling. My son heard the conversation. Instead of a similar professional response from the national folks, get a "too bad", or here on forum, a "nuff said" or a "????" response :) I did not "snooze" and miss the published deadline, so please don't put me in the category of complaining that I can't register past the date. But let's move forward and see what can be done to prevent in the future.

I've received some great feedback and info so far. A simple short term fix would be to add this add'l info to the site:

  • There is a limit to the number of cars at (insert meet location)<INSERT location meet>, so registration may close earlier then the published <INSERT date>deadline of (insert date). Registrations will be processed on a first come first serve basis.
  • The website is just a form printing tool, not a registration system (Maybe we should change the name). Instead of sending a snail mail form to us requesting a registration packet, you now can save time by filling out your car info on the site, print the form, and then mail.

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The post mark stamp has been the rule for years, there nothing wrong with it. It been in place all year and prior years.

I contracted Hershey Region AACA late last week and they email the registration forms out to immediately, the next morning Thursday,I took the completed forms together with my check immediately to Aramex Overnight as i am overseas, (like Fedex) and sent them off, hopefully they get them in time to process me.

I found the Hershey Regions Staff, Lynn and Max, extremely helpful, I appreciate the extra efforts they put in to accommodate people registering right up to the deadline. .

Great info!

I'm also not suggesting the post mark stamp method be eliminated...unless of course the US Mail system starts reducing delivery as they keep losing money ;)

Sounds like from Steve there is already a proposal being considered to have an automated registration system for national meets. My guess is after 10 years or sooner, if implemented, the majority of members will probably register on the web.

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Yes. I think you're comparing apples and oranges. I think each event could claim largest, depending on what is taken into account for making the claim. The Syracuse event certainly has more cars, but you don't mention anything about flea market vendors. When you add up all "Hershey" has – 9,000+ vendors, 1,500 car corral cars, and 1,200 show cars, plus 200,000 visitors – I think the Hershey event probably outsizes Syracuse considerably.

.

Sure...agreed on the comparisons :). The Syracuse event isn't perfect either as there are issues with reserving spaces and some negative feedback with the vendor space allocation, etc.. However, the registration process is great and thought I'd throw the site out there for additional ideas on the AACA site as it's a large scale show. Security isn't perfect, but the entire fairgrounds is fenced in with night security, which is nice.

BTW, Although 7500+ cars, I believe around 400-500 in car corral and less than 1000 vendors, but don't quote me :) Only been around ten years but getting bigger each year as enough room to expand.

It is amazing that so many cars attend and if you can get up here in July...fantastic show.

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Guest South_paw

One other tidbit I thought was interesting and surprising!: At then end of the call I was told that there are too many registered today and 100 or so checks will need to be returned. Wow! If automated, a simple counter can be used on the website to deny registration once a limit is reached.

Oh boy... I hope I made the cut. Postmarked the 19th. :eek:

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Just a reminder for ChazA and any other late folks, Hershey is not the only National judged event of the year. Check the AACA calandar, and I think in the Northeast, Wyomissing, PA is next May. This spring was Stowe, VT.

John

John, good info! Started to look at earlier today.

As mentioned, not the end of the world here and plenty more shows to attend in the future! Just thought I'd give some constructive feedback on the exisitng process.

Thanks for the info and I'll be sure to register early!! :D

Edited by ChazA (see edit history)
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