ARRL Printed Magazines Message

[KK4JUG]

From the ARRL Bylaws as revised August 5, 2021:
"44. There shall be an official publication maintained by the League, in the form of a monthly journal, the name of which shall be QST. A copy of this journal shall be supplied digitally or by mail each month to every member of the League in good standing."

Well, there goes all the lawsuits.

 

[MTS2000des]

Everyone wants to sue. The bottom line is the organization can change whatever they want when they want, as a contributor, ones' option is to not support. I don't. I won't. What does one actually get for the dues? I see where some good old boys earn more than quarter mil a year or more in salary doing a puff piece job, but now they take away the one thing that so many hams love to read on the toilet?

More value for my membership is spent at QRZ. Much better digital content over there. Supporting a small business and not more of those guys who want the rest of us to work overtime hours for bull**it pay.

 

[GlobalNorth]

I agree with the position, but am trying to illustrate the points of law for those not familiar with law and its' mechanics.
Words mean things and terms like 'common sense' are not used in law, but the term 'reasonable person' is.

The ARRL and Minster are wholly out of touch with modern communications technology and with their a good portion of their members.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Well, there goes all the lawsuits.

Not necessarily. If the League changed by-laws to push PDFs towards its' members for a less than honorable purpose, the Courts can find that any part of their by-laws are faulty and the League is attempting to indemnify itself by bad practices.

Think of those dump trucks with the signs on the rear: "Not responsible for broken auto glass - Stay back". That means nothing, since most if not all States require trucks to adequately secure their loads.

 

[MTS2000des]

I agree with the position, but am trying to illustrate the points of law for those not familiar with law and its' mechanics.
Words mean things and terms like 'common sense' are not used in law, but the term 'reasonable person' is.

The ARRL and Minster are wholly out of touch with modern communications technology and with their a good portion of their members.

Your right, words do mean things. When I look at their form 990, I see a top heavy organization that, rather than cut their bloated excuturd salaries, they choose to take away something their membership in good faith, paid for.

Whether or not a class action would do any good is another story. The lawyers get their cut, and those actually affected get the crumbs.

 

[prcguy]

The ARRL CEO made $258,831 last year with another $46,981 and works a whopping 40 hours a week. Do you think you're getting your money's worth supporting a few "Rich Men North of Richmond" doing exactly what to earn that money? All of this is right from their IRS form 990, no secrets here. They are all about themselves at the cost of their membership.

Our county manager makes over a hundred grand a year less than that and works 60-80hrs per week.

Stop supporting them. Problem will solve itself.

That’s pocket change for a CEO and would be embarrassing for them to mention that in a salary conversation. That’s roughly VP salary for any major company.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Well, there goes all the lawsuits.

Not really. I have good evidence that I bought print edition on renewal.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

That’s pocket change for a CEO and would be embarrassing for them to mention that in a salary conversation. That’s roughly VP salary for any major company.

Whats embarrassing will be the further loss of advert revenue when the print advertisers walk away.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I got this email 11/14/2023 when you log in to your account it shows how much you have to pay depending on when your membership is up.

IMPORTANT: About Membership and Magazines​

All members continue to have access to four digital magazines: QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ. Printed-and-mailed issues of QST and On the Air magazines will not be included with current and new memberships effective January 1, 2024. Print subscriptions are available and sold separately. A summary of 2024 dues rates and related changes are available at www.arrl.org/2024-dues-rates.

That is the part where they breach contract. I thought ARRL had a smart legal team? I guess they only have zoning and FCC lawyers, not contract lawyers.

 

[SigIntel8600]

The ARRL made their foolish decision concerning the printed edition of QST. I have made mine. The ARRL can go pound sand. Not one more dime from me.

 

[PD47JD]

The problem is that "common sense" is not a quantifiable standard in law and the ARRL is all too likely to have a differing opinion before the Court. What argument might the Court cite in a concurring opinion? That's up to the argumentation and rhetoric used before the Judge/Magistrate hearing the case.



There are three types of class action suits in State Courts and Federal Court. The first is employment wage and benefits - clearly not applicable here since we are not employed by ARRL. The second is based in product liability - think of the Ford Pinto, Takata airbags, etc. The third and final one is consumer claims - did the buying consumer get what they contracted and paid for? This final one might be the likely actionable justification for bringing an action against the ARRL.

Another question that needs to be addressed is where to file - State or Federal. Since 'diversity' exists throughout ARRL membership... Federal would be a better venue. Diversity among class action members doesn't mean what many might believe it to be - it [diversity] describes where members of the class action reside and where they claim residence. Members may have a single residence or live in multiple states, but the Federal filing covers them all without trying to research civil class action rules of all 50 states and however many Federal territories are involved. Some are Life members, some are annual members, others are multi-year members and they would all have to be certified as members by the respective Court or Courts.

The ARRL is a 501.c.3 organization under applicable IRS rules and is considered a non-profit, so there may be a question as to how much responsibility that an annual, multi-year, or life member has in Board decisions and how much the recent member survey had/has in publishing a physical copy of QST [or other] magazine for each regular [not associate] member. The Court will also have to determine if there is a contractual obligation on ARRL in providing a magazine as part of membership.

Important - I am not an attorney, not a lawyer, or other legal advocate, but am simply bringing facts to consider that have to be considered if someone or collection of persons considers action before the judicial system.

I am an Attorney. 30+ years, state and federal bar, plus admission to state and federal appellate courts.
Now that having been said, as a non-attorney, you did a fairly decent job of providing a brief overview of what it takes to commence a class action suit. You did not mention the requirement of numerosity and inter alia, certification of the class prior to actually commencing the action. Practically speaking, funding a class action usually is in the range $1M+. Although if the class prevails either by settlement or judgment reasonable attorney fees and costs are paid by the other side.
But the question is What is the actual harm $$ suffered? What is the remedy? A refund? A one-year all-inclusive subscription free of charge to all currently subscribing members? In most likelihood that would in fact be the outcome. Connecticut provides relief under CUTPA, Connecticut Unfair Trade Practice Act which facially appears the best avenue to pursue.

 

[MTS2000des]

That’s pocket change for a CEO and would be embarrassing for them to mention that in a salary conversation. That’s roughly VP salary for any major company.

Except this is a small 501.C3 who is shaking down it's membership by cutting the one material thing membership offered, yet the board doesn't adjust their salary. Bad for a charity. I know, I sit on a board of a tiny non-profit and we don't even have salaries. We do what we do because we believe in the mission, not to make close to 300 grand a year.

The ARRL can DIAF. More rich men north of Richmond doing what they do best.

 

[AK9R]

yet the board doesn't adjust their salary

The elected ARRL Board of Directors are unpaid. What would you like them to adjust their salary to?

 

[buddrousa]

How about when your current subscription expires you will no longer receive the magazine that you have received in the past.
WHAT I PAID FOR. THE ONLY REASON I PAID AS I RECEIVE NO OTHER USFUL BENIFIT.

 

[trentbob]

How so were you informed?? On what date?

This is how my subscriptions appeared when I renewed. The on line subscription was presented exactly as on the paper reminder letter. No words as to any change in print delivery. Also the e-mail receipt is same as previous year.


View attachment 151513

I actually got the renewal in snail mail, it appeared to have two different prices for renewal, one without the magazine and one with the magazine.

I think that was August of this year.

 

[alcahuete]

The elected ARRL Board of Directors are unpaid. What would you like them to adjust their salary to?

Somebody is getting the $7.2 million in Salaries, compensation and benefits.

 

[MTS2000des]

The elected ARRL Board of Directors are unpaid. What would you like them to adjust their salary to?

Maybe those 5 bafoons making a king's ransom should share the wealth. My guess is the unpaid volly's are doing all the work while the top 5 eat steak dinners and drive BMWs while those board of directors putz around in 10 year old Hyundai's.

 

[prcguy]

Back in 2006 my big boss and CEO made $6.5M that year. I have no problem with that as no other employee I know of at our company could steer a $31B company (at that time, later sold for $67B!) to the profits we made during that time. ARRL is much smaller and probably not making great decisions about getting their product to customers right now, but why shouldn’t their CEO or any CEO make good $$ if they are doing well?

And a CEOs salary should have little to do with what our piddly wages are.

 

[alcahuete]

...why shouldn’t their CEO or any CEO make good $$ if they are doing well?

Actual vs. forecasted numbers are nowhere close, membership numbers are drastically falling, ARRL VEC sessions are down, ARRL VEC license applications are down, publication sales are down, contributions were cut in half.

Do you think their CEO is doing well?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I actually got the renewal in snail mail, it appeared to have two different prices for renewal, one without the magazine and one with the magazine.

I think that was August of this year.

My renewal mail was earlier and made no distinction as to digital or print options. I actually got a separate renewal letter from QEX this year which was odd. I mulled over simply renewing the QEX, but in the end, renewed both on line and the prices and description mirrored the renewal letter. In the past couple years I have renewed on line and both times had difficulty with their billing software. My log in creds would not work.