Vespa World Club was announced about a year ago, but not much happened since then. Today Vespa Club of America president J.D. Merryweather received confirmation that on Feburary 28, at the VWC Directive Council meeting, VCOA’s membership was officially approved. This announcement signifies a commitment from Piaggio in Italy that thankfully ends a year of confusion about the future of the VCOA. The affiliation should enhance the VCOA’s already-great credibility, stability, and member benefits.
6 thoughts on “It’s official: VCOA in Vespa World Club”
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What benefits? I get benefits?
Join the VCOA, it has a great magazine. And benefits.
or… it will do exactly what being part of the FIV did. Which was… wait a minute I wrote it down somewhere…hold on….
oh yeah.
It remains to be seen if Piaggio will nurture a mutually beneficial relationship with VCOA, or if they’re really only interested spamming it’s members.
The above is me speaking as a VCOA sub-officer and PR dude. The following is me speaking as a scooterist and VCOA member.
Piaggio & Co. SpA is glacial and backward with a thin veneer of modernismo, which is adorable in a way, as long as you don’t have to deal with it day-to-day. PiaggioUSA is the same way, but the charm soon turns to frustration in 2007 America.
There were so many rumors flying and conspiracy theories developing (many of them started by me) that it’s just good to know that P(SpA) sees the value in endorsing us, even if it’s mostly symbolic. Since we’ve been sort of frustrated with PUSA, several VCOA members have worked hard to develop relationships with P(SpA) employees and build up our name and reputation in Italy. That somehow seems more permanent, real, and important to me, it’s completely removed from any relationship the club has with PUSA (which is also improving).
If P(SpA) does really get their act together and administer the VWC as they’ve envisioned it, it will be a great thing, even if it does shift the focus to include new Vespas as well.
The most important thing is that Italy has our email address and vice versa. The lines of communication between the enthusiasts at Piaggio and the VCOA are now fully open, without egos, company politics, or personal vendettas in the way, it’s a clean slate to build a stronger relationship.
To be honest, they’re not organized enough to spam. I’ve signed up for the Vespa Calendar several times and any promotion they’ve ever hosted on VespaUSA.com, and the VWC, and I’ve never got a spam from them, and only one calendar in five. Most Vespa fans would likely be thrilled to get an email from P(SpA), PUSA, VWC, or their dealer, even if it was spam, it would at least let us know we matter to them in some little way.
Yep, checked the website. It all looks encouraging. Except they have JD’s name and Rolf’s old information. It looked like they imported an old outlook address book.
It’s been like that forever, they haven’t touched that site for months, or answered any email I’ve sent them, so hopefully the letters sent out to club presidents mean the club is going to start moving ahead.