Eric Dye: Lance Owners of America

This week, the Lance Owners of America (LOA) introduced their brand new website.  To learn more about the LOA, we talk to LOA President and Co-Founder, Eric Dye.














Since day one, we have treated Truck Camper Magazine more like a community of friends than a magazine.  We were inspired by the spirit and camaraderie of web forums like RV.net, NATCOA, Wander the West, and Expedition Portal. 

Today we turn our focus to another online community, the Lance Owners of America (LOA).  After a few challenging years, the LOA is back with a brand new website and a renewed focus.  To get the inside scoop on what's new at the Lance Owners of America, we interviewed the LOA President and Co-Founder, Eric Dye.

 

TCM: How did you get into truck campers?
 
Eric: My truck camping career, if it could be called that, started at age five.  We had a Datsun pick-up with a Six Pac camper on the back.  We would go on camping trips all the time with that truck and camper.  My fondest memories are riding in the cabover with my face pressed up on the front window, watching the world go by.  That’s not a good or safe practice anymore, but back in the seventies it was accepted.  Those experiences are where my love of truck camping came from.
 
TCM: Tell us about your first truck and camper.
 
Eric: In 1995, I had a new Chevy pick-up and wanted to put a camper on it.  It was the first truck I owned that could carry a camper.  I paid one hundred dollars for a used camper and it became known as the hundred dollar camper.  
 
TCM: A hundred dollar camper?  What make and model was it?
 
Eric: I honestly don’t know.  We still call it the hundred dollar camper.  It had the crank up winch type jacks, which were very unstable.  I put in a new refrigerator, hydraulic jacks, and an air conditioner.  I used it for a couple of years until I sold it for five hundred dollars.

 

TCM: That’s a nice return.  How did you get into Lance Campers?
 
Eric: After I sold the hundred dollar camper, I bought a 1999 Lance 1010.  I had that Lance 1010 for ten years until I sold it in 2009.  Now Lance is preparing an 1181 for me.  I’ve also stepped up the truck to a 2003 Chevy 3500 dually with a diesel engine.
 
TCM: You’re really making a big step-up with each new camper.  Where do you like to go truck camping?
 
Eric: I like to go to the Colorado River and tow my boat behind my truck.  Boating is the biggest interest I have.  That’s why I have a truck camper instead of another RV.
 
We’ll also go to the Mohave Desert for motorcycle riding and dry camping.  And I use my camper a lot for day events like going to the beach, paintball field, or lab retriever field trials.  I’ll take my camper to anything where I want that extra level of accommodation.
 
TCM: What’s a retriever field trial?
 
Eric: A retriever field trial is a simulated hunting experience where the dogs obey commands at a distance and retrieve items.
 
TCM: You certainly have a lot of uses for your camper.  What are you looking forward to once you get your new Lance 1181?
 
Eric: I would really like to see Alaska with my Lance camper.  That may be a long term goal.  In the short term, I will visit some favorite local spots while I get familiar with my new camper.

 

TCM: This week you’re announcing the new website for Lance Owners of America.  Tell us the history of the Lance Owners of America.
 
Eric: After I bought my Lance 1010 in 1999, I began searching for a Lance owner’s group on the internet.  I found several active truck camping web forums, but there was a lot of hostility on those forums.  
 
Later that year, I wrote a proposal to Lance corporate for the Lance Owners of America and pitched the idea with Steve Holland at the Lance factory.  Lance loved the idea and gave us the go ahead for a website and forum.
 
The Lance Owners of America was a moderate success for about seven years.  The membership grew, but not enough for all the time I had to put into it.  There was a lot of administrative stuff with renewals and new members and it became quite an ordeal.  To eliminate some of the load, I scaled back the site in 2006 so people were no longer required to pay to participate.  Then the drama started.  
 
In 2007, we lost our lanceowners.com domain name.  The URL got hijacked by our ISP/web service company.  They were very inexpensive to work with and now I know why.  What this company does is take websites and extort money from the owners.  They have been repeatedly reported to the Better Business Bureau.  It’s been a terrible thing and I still don’t have our domain name back because they won’t release it.
 
TCM: That is a terrible thing.  What did you do to get the LOA back on track?
 
Eric: Eventually I decided to continue the LOA by creating lanceowners.org.  That was a big turning point for LOA.  I put a splash page up and gave a link to the existing forums.  You can actually find every post in our forum back to 2002.  The LOA has existed this way for the past two years while I figured out what to do.  
 
TCM: Which brings us to your big announcement.
 
Eric: Yes.  Last year I started to strategize how the LOA can make a serious come back.  This week we’ve finally announced the all new Lance Owners of America website and forum.
 
TCM: So what is the Lance Owners of America?
 
Eric: LOA is an online community and forum where you can talk to different Lance Camper owners about issues, modifications, and what you can do to your camper once you bring it home.  We have an online store, a links section, and the forum.

 











TCM: Does Lance Campers participate with LOA?
 
Eric: Lance Camper provides us with full use of their branding including the use of their logos.  Lance also helps us with mailings to prospective members.  They have helped us with anything I’ve ever asked for. 
 
In the early days, we used to do a chat night where everyone would be in a conference call type internet chat room.  Lance would participate with ideas and suggestions.  That happened monthly.  I’ve kept the transcripts and they will be on the new site so that our members can read transcripts from the old chat nights. There is valuable information in there.
 
We had an annual truck camper rally with a Lance factory tour and BBQ.  Lance had filets, ribs, and chicken for us.  They also had giveaways where every single person left with something from Lance.  If they had it in the parts department, they gave it away.  We didn’t charge our members anything except for the camping fees at the campground.  The annual rally hasn’t happened for many years, but we’re hoping to do it again sometime this year.
 
TCM: Let us know when you firm up a date and we’ll promote it here in TCM.  Do you read and moderate the LOA forum?
 
Eric: I don’t moderate everything, but I read everything.  There are certain catch phrases that get flagged.  Most of the time it’s false alarms.  
 
If someone is bashing Lance, I take that as an opportunity to keep a customer and call them.  Everyone is a hot head on the internet.  By talking on the phone, you can get to the bottom of things.  If necessary, we talk to people at Lance and have them step in.  My main point is that I don’t delete something that’s Lance bashing if it is legitimate.

TCM: What is the Lance Glance newsletter?
 
Eric: The Lance Glance is the LOA’s newsletter.  Originally, we published the Lance Glance quarterly.  Now it’s periodic, meaning we publish a few times a year.  
 
TCM: It was originally in print?
 
Eric: Yes.  The Lance Glance was originally printed, stapled, and mailed to every LOA member, every quarter.  Unfortunately, printing and mailing the newsletter was a higher cost than I had anticipated.  In 2006, we stopped doing the newsletter.  Now, in 2010, we are going to deliver our Lance Glance electronically as a PDF.  There will also be the back and current issues in the forum.
 
TCM: Is there any cost to join?
 
Eric: I’ve restructured the club to a hybrid approach.  I am allowing people to join and not support the club.  Non-members have limited access to the forum where they can converse.  For members, there will be a members only section including the Lance Glance newsletter, classified section, suggestion box, and a Lance priority technical support area.  Non-members can see the classifieds but can’t reply or post.  The cost to join the LOA is $10 per year or $25 for a lifetime membership.
 
TCM: Is LOA your full time job or a side project?
 
Eric: It’s part time.  It’s more than a hobby, but not my primary business.
 
TCM: Is LOA only for people who currently own a Lance Camper?
 
Eric: Anyone who has an interest in truck camping can join the LOA.  And you don’t have to own a Lance Camper or any truck camper to join.  Members who own other brands of campers can join.
 
TCM: What does someone who’s interested in the LOA need to do to get involved?
 
Eric: There’s an online application at www.lanceowners.org.  It just requires your name, address, phone number, user name, and password.  It takes two minutes to fill out.  You can also select your level of membership from a one year membership to a lifetime membership.
 
TCM: What your vision for LOA moving forward?
 
Eric: I want to see us have regional chapters with chapter heads in each region.  We will support regional chapters with their own events in their own areas.
 
TCM: That would be neat.  Is there anything that we didn’t ask you that you want included in your interview?  
 
Eric: I would like to personally thank all of the members who have kept the LOA going for the past ten years.  I also want to thank Lance camper manufacturing for their support.  Without their product, we wouldn’t have our group.  And thank you guys at TCM for what you do.
 
TCM: You’re very welcome.  And thank you for the LOA.

To learn more about the Lance Owners of America, visit their website at www.lanceowners.org.