WHAT’S MY AVERAGE?   IT’S NOT ON MY USBC MEMBERSHIP CARD!

Many of you have probably received your 2007-08 USBC Membership Card and realized your previous season’s average is NOT recorded on it.

“What happened – did somebody do something wrong?” “What average will I use for tournaments?”

NO, there is nothing wrong. The average was intentionally NOT imprinted on the membership card for a couple of reasons.

Having the previous season’s average imprinted on the card was originally thought to be a good idea. BUT has since proven to cause more problems than the benefit, one of which created disqualification of prize winnings and forfeiture of entry fees.

 The reason being – the average recorded on the card was possibly NOT the CORRECT average.

“Why not?” – A person bowls in more than one Local Association and fails to provide the same National ID # to each of the Associations. Thereby resulting in the person being recorded as TWO different people with TWO National ID # and therefore TWO different averages.

During the 2005-06 season, a bowler bowls in Local Association A and achieves a 159 final average. He/she also bowls in Local Association B and achieves a 168 final average. Then in the 2006-07 season, this person purchases a USBC Membership in Local Association A and receives a USBC Membership card with the average (159) from THAT Association imprinted upon it. Which is NOT his/her HIGHEST Average, this could result in the bowler entering a tournament with the INCORRECT average. “But I used the average printed on my card”

 Another reason is a bowler’s interpretation of the average data recorded is incorrect.

They think the average recorded on the membership card is for THE season the card is valid for, and not the PREVIOUS season’s average.

The membership card states 2006-07 on it, so therefore the average imprinted on it is my 2006-07 average.

The bowler uses that average when asked for their 2006-07 average – again a possible incorrect average provided for a tournament.

 The error in that logic is – How could the 2006-07 membership card printed in OCTOBER 2006 +/- have the final average achieved in APRIL 2007?

 BUT the primary reason the average data is NOT recorded on the membership cards is Financial.

The U.S. Postal Service has deemed a person’s average as PERSONAL information and thereby requires the card to be mailed using FIRST CLASS postage ($0.41 each). Instead of paying this higher rate, the USBC has opted to save thousands of dollars and mail the membership card using the business bulk rate method.

“So how do I know what my final average is?”

We would think the bowler would know that. But if not, there are several other methods of obtaining that information.

There are Final Average Books in local bowling establishment or local association.

The information is available on many association websites.

Also EVERY USBC BOWLER’S information is available on the USBC website BOWL.COM.  On the home page, click on FIND A MEMBER, enter your information or any other bowler (Name or ID #) a printable version is available also.

 Once you have obtained your final average, write it on the membership card and put a piece of tape over it.

A first impression is “We need to jump through a lot of hoops to obtain information that was previously available to us!” Possibly so, but imprinting the final average on the card has only been a feature offered for the past few years. Prior to that, we ALL had to know what our average was.

AND also if one less bowler is disqualified from a tournament because he/she used the “incorrect” average imprinted on the card – it IS worth the hassle.

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WHERE IS MY USBC MEMBERSHIP CARD!

IF you as a bowler have NOT received your current season’s USBC Membership Card within a reasonable time period (4-6 weeks), ask your league secretary what’s going on. DON’T accept an answer of “I sent it in, the USBC is slow in processing”. THIS IS NOT TRUE!  With the computer program and electronic transfer of data available, USBC memberships are fulfilled and forwarded to the members 7-10 days after data is processed by the Association Office. 

Don't let your League Secretary walk around with bowler’s membership applications and MONEY for 4 – 5 months before they submit them for processing?