Question for Tri-County Gun Club Members

[EUGENE the REALTOR]

Is there any way to get the initiation fee waived or reduced? Do they ever have special promotions or have referral specials? I'd like to join but hate paying "fees". I just found out that my Christmas gift from my wife is that she's "allowing" me to join.

Also, is there a charge for bringing a friend guest once in a while or is that not allowed. I see they have an associate member fee for a spouse but don't see anything on their website about bringing guests. I guess I can ask when I call but thought I'd ask here while I'm at it.

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[RVNvet]

As far as I know, there is no waiver of any kind for the initiation fee, but you can do volunteer work at the range to pay off some or all of the yearly dues. Go to this page and send them an email, to make sure about any possible waivers... <broken link removed>

A member can take guests to the ranges at any time, BUT, only one person at a time may shoot. The reasoning for this is that either you're shooting, and you know the rules and procedures from your orientation class, or you're watching and can make sure the guest shooting is following the rules/regs/etc.

Max

 

[actionflies]

You can take up to 5 guest but only one guest can shoot at a time. The $175 initiation fee is high at first for me but I have been a member for 2 years and have met a lot of good people and gotten a lot of free ammo, brass, primers and some very good deals on ammo too. This is the best club in town!

 

[Gunner69]

As far as I know, there is no waiver of any kind for the initiation fee, but you can do volunteer work at the range to pay off some or all of the yearly dues. Go to this page and send them an email, to make sure about any possible waivers... <broken link removed>

A member can take guests to the ranges at any time, BUT, only one person at a time may shoot. The reasoning for this is that either you're shooting, and you know the rules and procedures from your orientation class, or you're watching and can make sure the guest shooting is following the rules/regs/etc.

Max

You can take up to 5 guest but only one guest can shoot at a time. The $175 initiation fee is high at first for me but I have been a member for 2 years and have met a lot of good people and gotten a lot of free ammo, brass, primers and some very good deals on ammo too. This is the best club in town!

Both are right on.. I've been a member out at TCGC for going on 3 years now and I put in 40hrs a year of volunteer time to offset my dues.. I figure that I've made my initiation fee back and then some in that time frame.

 

[EUGENE the REALTOR]

Both are right on.. I've been a member out at TCGC for going on 3 years now and I put in 40hrs a year of volunteer time to offset my dues.. I figure that I've made my initiation fee back and then some in that time frame.

So that's about $3 per hour if my math is right. I guess that's why it's called volunteer work...

I think the yearly dues are fair, just $10/per month. I just don't like the initiation fee. If there's no way to get that reduced, would anyone here benefit from referring me?

 

[SquackDaddy]

$175 initiation fee is not enough to complain about, considering that you will be enjoying the finest shooting range in the state. It is a one time fee. In my opinion, just pay it and enjoy your time there. It is the best $175 I've spent in years!

 

[Monkeyman]

$175 initiation fee is not enough to complain about, considering that you will be enjoying the finest shooting range in the state. It is a one time fee. In my opinion, just pay it and enjoy your time there. It is the best $175 I've spent in years!

+1. Best deal in Portland.

 

[swoop]

Dues are only 90.00 a year if you are a old guy like me.. 62 and up

 

[HappyRoman]

I paid my initiation fee when I joined, as has everyone I have know who joins. In addition, I went thru the training,familiarization meeting too.! If you really are against the inititation fee, then please do not join. Our membership dues and fees help substain the facility and would hate for you not to feel that you have done your share. You can join the work parties on Monday and offset your costs, as well as get qualified as a range officier of the day and even cover more of your expenses. WE ALL MAKE CHOICES, YOUR WHINING HERE SEEMS WAY OFF BASE.. jUST MY .02c

 

[NoAim]

I paid my initiation fee when I joined, as has everyone I have know who joins. In addition, I went thru the training,familiarization meeting too.! If you really are against the inititation fee, then please do not join. Our membership dues and fees help substain the facility and would hate for you not to feel that you have done your share. You can join the work parties on Monday and offset your costs, as well as get qualified as a range officier of the day and even cover more of your expenses. WE ALL MAKE CHOICES, YOUR WHINING HERE SEEMS WAY OFF BASE.. jUST MY .02c

Wow. There was whining in this thread? Or did someone not get what they wanted for Christmas?

 

[EUGENE the REALTOR]

I paid my initiation fee when I joined, as has everyone I have know who joins. In addition, I went thru the training,familiarization meeting too.! If you really are against the inititation fee, then please do not join. Our membership dues and fees help substain the facility and would hate for you not to feel that you have done your share. You can join the work parties on Monday and offset your costs, as well as get qualified as a range officier of the day and even cover more of your expenses. WE ALL MAKE CHOICES, YOUR WHINING HERE SEEMS WAY OFF BASE.. jUST MY .02c

Whining?:huh:

I simply asked if they ever had special offers or deals to reduce/waive initiation fee.

Thanks to the others who have posted helpful information and those that have PMed me with other options in the area.

 

[86-0134]

Whining?:huh:

I simply asked if there they ever had special offers or deals to reduce/waive initiation fee.

Thanks to the others who have posted helpful information and those that have PMed me with other options in the area.

dont listen to "mr.poo-poo pants!" you have a valid question and no whining detected by me. tri-county is great! its gotten alot better over the years too. Dont let happyroman bug you, he's obviously a HUGE RICHARD!!!

 

[Monkeyman]

dont listen to "mr.poo-poo pants!" you have a valid question and no whining detected by me. tri-county is great! its gotten alot better over the years too. Dont let happyroman bug you, he's obviously a HUGE RICHARD!!!

I'll stick up for HappyRoman; he's nothing like either of your cute phrases, and a pretty good resource for the forum.

The OP posted his distaste for spending money, and re-stated his position in a second post. Ok, we get it. If spending the dough is a problem, don't join the club. Your loss, it's the best deal in the area. I've been a member going on two years, met lots of wonderful people, learned a TON out there, and I don't know a single person who thinks it's not worth the money. But the OP does, so let it lay. By his own words, his question was well-answered. The second comment about not liking the initiation, frankly, sounded a bit snarky to me, too.

No hard feelings, though, and Merry Christmas to all!

 

[EUGENE the REALTOR]

I'll stick up for HappyRoman; he's nothing like either of your cute phrases, and a pretty good resource for the forum.

The OP posted his distaste for spending money, and re-stated his position in a second post. Ok, we get it. If spending the dough is a problem, don't join the club. Your loss, it's the best deal in the area. I've been a member going on two years, met lots of wonderful people, learned a TON out there, and I don't know a single person who thinks it's not worth the money. But the OP does, so let it lay. By his own words, his question was well-answered. The second comment about not liking the initiation, frankly, sounded a bit snarky to me, too.

No hard feelings, though, and Merry Christmas to all!

I never stated that I have a distaste for spending money. If I did, I wouldn't own Sigs and HKs (or have a gun hobby for that matter). I simply don't like paying fees, whether it's bank fees, credit card fees, or initiation fees. My health club is $125 a month for my wife and I and the joining fee is $350. Just by simply asking a question like I did on this thread saved me $300 in joining fees because I waited 2 weeks for a promotion they had on referrals.

I'm sure if you had the same opportunity with TCGC, you would've taken it. You guys act like this is some kind of non-profit organization. And if you and Happy Roman are any indication of what the members are like there (wannabe country club members?), I think I'll go another route.

No hard feelings though.

 

[elsie]

...
I'm sure if you had the same opportunity with TCGC, you would've taken it. You guys act like this is some kind of non-profit organization. And if you and Happy Roman are any indication of what the members are like there (wannabe country club members?), I think I'll go another route.

No hard feelings though.

I've never heard of any waivers or reductions in the initiation fees. As others have said, you can do volunteer work to ameliorate the annual fee. I've done hunter sight-in days as a 100/200 yard coach off and on for about 20 years, as well as weekend range officer for a short period.

I can't find the original documents I received when I initially joined, but TCGC is registered as an Oregon non profit, classified as a "Mutual Benefit with Members". I don't know if they're also registered as a 501(c)(7) non profit but they may be.

elsie

 

[zul]

The only thing that bothers me about TCGC is that its not too casual-friendly. I would probably only use it a few times a year, and that is not worth all the fees and loop jumping to become a member IMO.

 

[NoAim]

The only thing that bothers me about TCGC is that its not too casual-friendly. I would probably only use it a few times a year, and that is not worth all the fees and loop jumping to become a member IMO.

Yeah, it's $10 a month.

Although I'm not sure what "loop jumping" there is you are referring to. You just go on new member sign up day and sign up.

 

[EUGENE the REALTOR]

I can't find the original documents I received when I initially joined, but TCGC is registered as an Oregon non profit, classified as a "Mutual Benefit with Members". I don't know if they're also registered as a 501(c)(7) non profit but they may be.

elsie

I'd like to know more about this if anyone else can chime in. I read on their website the other day that they were member-operated, but did not see anything about being registered as a non-profit. I plan on calling them on Monday so I will find out then if anyone else would like to know.

Thanks for the info

 

[Siglvr]

It's great that it's OK with your wife. I was just out there today, in a relatively warm, ventilated, lighted room, shooting .22s with my son who's home from college. We have, in the past, gone out into the woods and shot. However, with icy roads, snow above 1800 feet where we shoot, and high gas prices, I figure that I easily paid for a good chunk of my membership fees just today by not dealing with that. The real question you need to answer is this: will it be enough for YOU? For MYSELF, it easily and absolutely is.

I thinks it's OK to ask for a discount, Heck, 20 min ago, I canceled an online order for nearly $400 worth of balsamic vinager when the web site didn't take my 5&#37; code. Now I figure I'll wait until I an get a larger discount. I can understand that it's not about the money. However, I have not seen a discount offered at Tri-country, and they embrace the idea that this is the members place. So if one can weasel out of this or that, that burden essentially becomes on of our brothers: so that kind of thing is not really suited for this place.

What I'd recommend is to see if you can find out when the next orientation day is, or see if you can just show up and check the place out with no obligation. I will say that orientation day may be a poor way to do it o show up with 40 other new folks and listen to a bunch of non-germaine things: better to find a member willing to show you around: much faster. See if you are interested, but remember, it's a club, not a business that is designed to maximize it's profits off you, and that everyone is in it together. You might start by checking out the web site if you haven't: http://www.tcgc.org/. They have some pretty good organized shoots if you are interested, you can see on this months calender: <broken link removed> .

I love the place, and I don't personally wish to be spreading lead, mercury, and other toxins around in the pristine wilderness I normally habituate to hike and climb in just for target practice.

Good luck: hope you join, the place needs members to stay open and running.

 

[ZachS]

FWIW, TCGC is a a 501(c)(7) ("social/recreation club") non-profit organization. You can view its tax forms online at www.guidestar.org (registration required). None of the officers, managers, or board members are paid a penny.