By Frank J. Diekmann
Some items to ponder as I await the name, image, likeness deal this college football season that I am sure is coming my way…
Net Income, or an ATM Withdrawal?
Each week it seems a small credit union disappears forever in a merger with a much larger CU, taking with it the now-forgotten founders (and their passion), histories and stories that, if they are lucky, may be memorialized with a paragraph or two buried somewhere on acquiring CU’s website.
That’s why whenever it can do so the credit union community should pause to remember the little shops that have turned around the Open sign one last time, or, in this case, mailed their last letter. They very often offer some perspectives on one rapidly fading aspect of CU diversity, in this case, asset size and budgets.
In Ohio, the $981,536 Trumbull County Postal Employees Credit Union recently merged into the $193-million Credit Union of Ohio. As CUToday.info reported, “On its mid-year call report, Trumbull County Postal Employees reported net income of $48 and total employee compensation of $5,518. It had net worth of 14%.”
The Pop-Up Credit Union
Companies across the country have rolled out a variety of so-called "pop-up" retail experiences and stores aimed at generating buzz around their product/service du jour.
At right, for instance, is one such pop-up store from American Express. With CUNA announcing it plans to once again host its GAC next year in Washington, why not a credit union pop-up store on the sidewalk outside the convenion center or somewhere nearby in town? What might be inside? Use your imagination. Opportunities to sign up for membership, get a one-minute answer to a financial question, or just a quick explanation of what the heck a credit union is (as you'll read below, there remains some "confusion" on that latter issue).
A Throwback, or Is It?
Speaking of throwbacks, here’s a TV spot from Workers Credit Union in 1983. Make sure you stick it out to the end for the dramatic finish!
And before you dismiss the spot due to its dated Reagan-era music and fashions (the Fed had set interest rates at 11%, btw), ask yourself if the spot and its message is really all that much different from many of the commercials credit unions are running today? Really. Take the script, tweak it a bit and--good or bad--you’ve got yourself a CU commercial in 2021.
Coming Together Again
And speaking of mergers, if you didn’t see the original report in CUToday.info, here’s an interesting note on a recent merger.
In a rare move, a credit union that was once a single CU before splitting, is combining again.
Members of the $11.3-million Midland Co-op Credit Union (MCCU) have voted in favor of merging into the $1.8-billlion SPIRE Credit Union in Falcon Heights, Minn. partnership/merger between SPIRE and MCCU will become effective Nov. 1, 2021.
According to the CUs, Midland Co-op Credit Union and SPIRE Credit Union started as one credit union in 1934 at the height of the Great Depression. SPIRE’s founder, Edgar Archer, was an employee of Midland Cooperative Oil Association.
“He sought a loan to pay debts incurred while out of work, but time after time was turned down. Archer worked with seven colleagues to apply for a Certificate of Organization in March 1934,” the credit union reported. “Founded as Twin City Oil Co-ops Credit Union, now SPIRE, the credit union opened with 52 members and an average loan amount of less than $50.
“By 1940, the credit union was serving members and employees of both Midland Cooperatives and Co-op Services. Regulators encouraged splitting the two groups with Twin City Oil Co-ops Credit Union (now SPIRE Credit Union) servicing Co-op Services, and a newly formed Midland Co-op Credit Union to serve Midland Cooperatives.”
Extra! Extra! Ironic All About It
The banking industry's two primary trade groups have been calling ever more loudly for the tax exemption of credit unions to be eliminated, using the recent and growing trend of CU acquisitions of banks and bank branches as their most recent "evidence" the exemption is now obsolete. Which makes this latest brochure for a conference hosted by Bank Director Magazine--which has been holding this meeting for 28 years--rather ironic.
Extra! Extra! Confused all About It
You never know in what context the words “credit union” might appear. Consider this headline:
Schoolboy William Woods rearing calves following Credit Union win.
Go ahead. Give it a click. And then come back.
Getting Onboard
Here is an interesting observation shared during the recent Symposium hosted by Alloya: “One thing we have looked at this year due to the employee shortage is revamping our onboarding program to find ways to improve on that. I think sometimes if you have a new employee who stays for a month or 60 days, what is the reason? We have looked at having new employees come in and not be thrown into the fire, but to do more shadowing, more learning about the culture, to have a better understanding of who and what we are. That has helped with retention.”
Umm, So, Maybe Some Work to Be Done
On a (very) early hotel shuttle ride through the darkness to the Boise airport last week at the end of the Northwest CU Associations MAXX meeting, my fellow passenger from CUNA Mutual asked the driver if he was a CU member. His response: "Well, I have a credit card from Wells Fargo and a Bank of America account, so I guess I belong to a credit union."
Oy. Some work left to be done.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of several new book, including the brand new “The Last Lyric,” a humorous satire about a murder investigation at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in which every line of dialogue is either a classic pop/rock song title or lyric. Available on Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Mr. Diekmann is also author of a non-fiction compilation of the very best & worst he has seen and heard in covering more than 500 CU meetings and conferences, “501 Name Tags: How Everything You Need to Know About Business Can Be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Lulu, and Smashwords.