New Numbering System for ANA Life Members 1 1

[VKurtB]

I just got my Life Member stuff from the ANA. Up until recently, Life Members got their own series of membership numbers, which maxed out at 4 digits. No more. I have retained my old ANA number, but it is now a Life Membership. My card shows I become a 20-year member next year. My first membership, back in the mid-90’s, had six digits. When my lapsed membership was restarted in 2002, a “1” was added to the beginning of my previous number, making it 7 digits. That is now my Life Member number too. But wait, is the ANA “allowed” to change things, or are they ALSO obligated to keep things as they were in the mid-80’s? Anyone?

[Moxie15]

1. They  can do whatever they want. 

[Henri Charriere]

 but inoffensive...

There is a 20-year old "HERMAN" cartoon which features two men sitting opposite each other in a prison visiting room, bars on a nearby window indicating where the interview is taking place.

The attorney asks two single, simple, self-explanatory questions:   "So you left school in1937 and became a bank robber"  What happened after that?"

The number stamped on the back of the prisoner's shirt is 1239... 

"The first person imprisoned at Auschwitz on June 14, 1940.... "Numbers were tattooed on prisoners' arms in the order of their arrival. The first 30 numbers were given to German criminal prisoners who would serve as camp guards. My Ryniak's number was 31. [He died in 2004 at age 88.]

I have very strong opinions on this seemingly minor matter as I am sure older members do.  If certification numbers, along with other numbers signifying coin series, etc., can extend to and exceed a dozen numbers, there is no reason why members cannot be similarly accommodated.  The first federal inmate admitted assigned and admitted to the Administrative Maximum (ADX) (supermax) in Florence, Coloado with a life sentence, and subsequently released, was assigned Re. No. 00001-000, a number which remains if he violates release conditions but changes only if re is re-committed a new offense. 

Numbers matter.  In many cases they allow others a sneak-preview of exactly to whom they are directing their remarks and whether appropriate deferential treatment is called for.  My best advice to all newcomers is familiarize with the Guidelines governing the Chat Board and allow yourself ample time before speaking up.  🐓 

[RWB]

Doesn't really matter. My 500-year gold medal and pin have my regular membership number as assigned when I joined - of course it's in Roman numerals. My membership card is signed by King James I.

Edited September 25, 2021 by RWB

[VKurtB]

About 100,000 people’s voter registration cards in Pennsylvania are signed by… ME.

[zadok]

On 9/24/2021 at 7:47 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

 but inoffensive...

There is a 20-year old "HERMAN" cartoon which features two men sitting opposite each other in a prison visiting room, bars on a nearby window indicating where the interview is taking place.

The attorney asks two single, simple, self-explanatory questions:   "So you left school in1937 and became a bank robber"  What happened after that?"

The number stamped on the back of the prisoner's shirt is 1239... 

"The first person imprisoned at Auschwitz on June 14, 1940.... "Numbers were tattooed on prisoners' arms in the order of their arrival. The first 30 numbers were given to German criminal prisoners who would serve as camp guards. My Ryniak's number was 31. [He died in 2004 at age 88.]

I have very strong opinions on this seemingly minor matter as I am sure older members do.  If certification numbers, along with other numbers signifying coin series, etc., can extend to and exceed a dozen numbers, there is no reason why members cannot be similarly accommodated.  The first federal inmate admitted assigned and admitted to the Administrative Maximum (ADX) (supermax) in Florence, Coloado with a life sentence, and subsequently released, was assigned Re. No. 00001-000, a number which remains if he violates release conditions but changes only if re is re-committed a new offense. 

Numbers matter.  In many cases they allow others a sneak-preview of exactly to whom they are directing their remarks and whether appropriate deferential treatment is called for.  My best advice to all newcomers is familiarize with the Guidelines governing the Chat Board and allow yourself ample time before speaking up.  🐓 

maybe just maybe be a good idea to start a new thread called "off topic" to preserve the continuity of threads with serious questions...im equally guilty of engaging in off topic comments, usually in response to others, but guilty the same...however, the break in continuity disrupts a flow of thoughts n dialogue.....

[zadok]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:01 PM, VKurtB said:

About 100,000 people’s voter registration cards in Pennsylvania are signed by… ME.

u should have been more vigilant......but to get back to ur original topic, my first registration, mid 1970s was a 6 digit number, i allowed it to lapse in late '80s n when renewed in early '90s they gave me a new number altogether...but ur update informative n poses interesting question.....

[VKurtB]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:42 PM, zadok said:

u should have been more vigilant......but to get back to ur original topic, my first registration, mid 1970s was a 6 digit number, i allowed it to lapse in late '80s n when renewed in early '90s they gave me a new number altogether...but ur update informative n poses interesting question.....

My first guess is that they were running out of the special four digit numbers for LM’s and decided to redo the system completely.

[zadok]

On 9/24/2021 at 11:46 PM, VKurtB said:

My first guess is that they were running out of the special four digit numbers for LM’s and decided to redo the system completely.

makes sense, sort of like issuing auto license plates they have ran out of numbers so many times....we may have to get a bigger alphabet....hopefully the sheldon system doesnt run out of numbers as well....always decimal points....

[RWB]

I wonder if ANA is also changing the numbers for dead members? Remember, they vote, too!

[VKurtB]

On 9/25/2021 at 8:22 AM, RWB said:

I wonder if ANA is also changing the numbers for dead members? Remember, they vote, too!

Only if they vote and THEN die. Given the demographic, that probably happens more than we’d like to think about. In governmental elections, dead voter ballots ARE SUPPOSED to be removed and not counted. As if…. When I was in the field, we DID remove them. They were all excuse-required absentees. There was no “early voting”. One day - 13 hours.

Best thing about Alabama elections? Still like it was. No early voting. No mail-ins without a valid excuse to NOT appear in person on a single Election Day. Yes, even mid-pandemic. No automatic ballots, no automatic APPLICATIONS for ballots. No drop boxes. You know, actual secure elections. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by VKurtB

[LNCS]

When I converted to Life Membership in 2004, I did it as they were going to change the way the give out Life membership numbers. So unless something change, it has been this way for a while.

[Henri Charriere]

1. This isn't the telephone system where a run on numbers and those that have exceeded their dis-use result in a new Area Code, such as NYC's 212, 718, 347 and 917 which was originally dedicated to cells.

And it is not like those issued by the SSA, where the.middle two (unless since changed) referred to the State of issuance. 

I believe numbers should begin with one.  Roman numerals, even if rarely understood or incorrectly rendered, should be appreciated.  The decision to mint coins with them was brilliant.

Side note:  I understand the Mighty Conder @Conder101 recently contributed a rarely acknowledged and accuate comment on the certification numbers used respectively by the TPGS.  

[DWLange]

My original ANA membership number is just five digits, and I have it engraved on a silver membership medal that the ANA no longer offers. When they discontinued these medals about 20 years ago I bought half a dozen remainders with their boxes, and when silver went up around 2010 I sold them on eBay for quite a profit.

The ANA's numbering system with prefix numerals has baffled me for years, but I suppose it's necessary for computer processing. I haven't checked recently to see whether my life membership number has been retrofitted with additional numerals.

[Conder101]

On 9/27/2021 at 3:42 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

And it is not like those issued by the SSA, where the.middle two (unless since changed) referred to the State of issuance.

If the middle two stood for the state of issue then they are hiding more than 20 extra states someplace.

Actually the first three numbers refer to the location of issuance, and that location is the office the application is submitted through and is not related to where you were born or live.  In 1972 they made changes and it relates some how to the zip code of the office location.  

The last four digits are the actual serial number and are issued consecutively for location and group (second two numbers).  When the serial number rolls over at 10,000 the group number changes.

The group numbers are assigned starting with 01, then the odd numbers through 09.  Then the even numbers 10 - 98, then the even numbers 02-08, and then finally the odd numbers 11-99.

Since the Group and Serial numbers would only allow for 999,999 people I don't know what they would do once a office submits more than 1 million applications.  Maybe close the office and all applications would have to go through a different one.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Conder101

[RWB]

On 9/29/2021 at 3:20 AM, Conder101 said:

Since the Group and Serial numbers would only allow for 999,999 people I don't know what they would do once a office submits more than 1 million applications. 

I suspect there would be a celebration with free Spanish "champagne."

(Super info....save for future reference and tombstone cutting.)

[Henri Charriere]

[Afterthought:  As it is tantamount to committing a sin to contradict the Mighty Conder, with whom no one has ever won an argument, I researched all the material available on SSN's and then checked my own records and was horrified to learn I had gotten my own SS card in 1964, when I was only 13 (and original Morgan Dollars were still available at a local bank for the asking.)

It goes without saying the SSA has undergone a number of cataclysmic changes since then.  Accordingly, I would like to apologize to those members who privately questioned the veracity of what I had written.  🐓 

[bstrauss3]

The SSN hasn't been doing this type of assignments (by office) for quite a while, since June 2011...

https://www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html

[Conder101]

Which means that for number issued after June 25, 2011 the number groups don't mean anything, but they do for numbers issued before June 25, 2011.  Of course since you can't tell by looking at the number when it was issued......

Edited October 6, 2021 by Conder101