ALOA? What a clusterf**k!!!!

there is a local organization, 200 miles away.. and 2 of the officers said several years back about ALOA.. wasnt pretty..
--Shiva--

Well, I'm in for another year.Signed up for Lockmasters course. So may be my last.
Thanks for the support.
Oh yeah-almost forgot:
M.C.O.T.= "Must've Come Off Track"
LOL. goma.

Lockmasters is good.. What area?
--Shiva--

agree, there are better ways to spend $155.00 a year. we quit ALOA this year.. we haven't heard anything from them in 2004 at all...

Yes , ALOA has done it again, They have screwed the membership again NASTF information. What do we pay dues for? They raised the dues a few years back for ' legislative action" fees .. now they just bail
I think it is time for All of the ALOA elected officcials to do the right thing and resign ,

Several years ago I paid a pretty price to get my PRP when they came to town.
I had a class with my association at the exact same time, so I told the guy sitting there (it was Bob if I recall, but it doesn't matter...) that I had a conflict. So he told me I'd get my $75 back (or whatever the hell I paid). I'd have to call the association.
I called several times. Nothing. "We don't have a record of that." Blah blah blah.
Never got my money back, or even a credit for the amount I paid.
Last time I'll deal with that rip-off organization.
Sunshine Locksmith Team Well, I've been waiting for a masterkeying manual for 2 months now. > Tried logging in at the site-I don't know how many damn times I have to > change the damn login. > I've sent emails and gotten auto-responses-" they are sick(ill)" > I'm sick too. > sick of this shit. > > I called about my order. > After I gave the guy my name and number several times-finally-"Oh yeah, > it's on back order." > No idea when it gets there. > > PRP sittings-I get the word a week before-I went years without getting > any at all. > > Oh yeah and the local chapter? > I pay 40.00 a year to have two people jumping my ass at the same time > because I don't charge 65.00 to open a car locally. > > I could spend 155.00 a year alot better than that. > > > not good mood. > > goma. >

Hello folks,
$ 155.00 a year for membership?
Since I'm a new locksmith, money is tight, and I need to focus my funds where they can do the most good.
So I need to ask...
If you still need the state locksmith permit, business license, and a contractors license as well, what does an organization like ALOA offer besides a membership logo that you can add to your web site and business cards?
If you can knowledge pool via other more comprehensive services such a ClearStar, training is way out of California, and the ALOA online courses do not seem very extensive (CCTV, biometric, etc.) what is the point?
Is anyone here part of the California Locksmith Association, with an opinion of their value? cannot find membership fee info there, so it seems more collaborative where members directly offset costs for meetings and events. At least they have local montly meetings I can attend...
Your responses are appreciated!
David

Locksmithing is dead and even ALOA knows it. Become a plumber. Masterkeying? Talk to Bob DeWeese, he wrote the book.

The only way that will happen is if some of those who are still spending money on membership put themselves forward as candidates and convince people that they can do the job better.
Take your pick. You can quit and let the organization die, or you can get involved in changing it. Either's defendable.
(Me? I've been putting off joining until I'm ready to get serious about the PRP, and it looks like that will be a while.)

LOL.. I have NO chance in HELLO of EVER passing the PRP..
there are things in that test , the ONLY way I would ever see them is MOVE to the east coast --Shiva--

That's like volunteering for the job as captain on the Titanic......after it's hit the iceberg.
Locksmithing is a dead career.
Why? So you can add a couple of letters to your business card?
When I'm looking for a neurologist I interview them, look at education, schooling and certification and the letters after the good doctor's name are important to me.
When I'm looking for a locksmith I...... well I don't..... look for a locksmith that is. I go to a big box center...
Why waste money on some butcher that can barely read, brush his teeth and wash his van once in a while?
I went to the MLANJ show a couple of years ago and when I got home the stench on my clothes was so bad from mingling with locksmiths, most of whom have never heard of soap, that I had to burn my cloths.
Oh, why was *I* there? I run a multimedia consulting firm and I provided sound systems and models (ladies for you slow types) so the coporate suits could run their demos.
I'll never forget this one slimeball from U.S. Lock....the dirtbag was wearing a cheap suit and stank of booze at 11am...
So whoTF cares about a waste of money and time like the PRP? Maybe another locksmith hiring you, but that's about it.
The only people getting fat on the PRP and all the other junk ALOA fences (books, videos, secret decoder rings) are the leaders of AOLA selling all this junk to noob smiths.
It's like Foley Belsaw and others. They lose money on the course but they make it up selling idiot smiths' tools, books and supplies to get their shops going.
Locksmithing = joke...

And you're a troll. Plonk.

Dunno. But since I'm already here... <grin/>

No, he is a locksmithing home study course failure.....

ALOA sure won't our 300 a year ever again..
my2¢

Nobody fails those courses. Reading this and other locksmithing fora (ie:clearstar) is proof positive of that.
Do you think this guy would ever let you down?
Now this man is a Locksmith!
He has his diploma and professional set of tools!
Just look at those files! You can buy better stuff at "Dollar Heaven". Then again, any course that teaches you how to smoke a key blank can't be all that bad. I've heard about locksmiths shooting blanks, but never heard of one smoking a blank.
FWIW Locksmiths shooting blanks is natures way of preventing them from procreating and poisoning the gene pool.

"Joe Kesselman" snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com... that's the same story about ALOA that I have been hearing for the past 25 years.. took me 20 years to join them and only two years to quit.
my2¢

hard to believe anyone is that clueless.. but, knock yourself out troll-boy..
no real need for you to reply. you will just be responding to yourself.
<ploink>

You spelled *plonk* wrong.
With all of the time you spend giving bad advice in alt.locksmithing it's fairly obvious that you are not out servicing locks.
So either you are a trust fund baby, which is doubtful because no debutante would ever go near a locksmith, or you have way too much time on your hands do to lack of job opportunities.