AAA Central Penn: Moving ahead for 100 years!
By Grace Palsgrove, Editor

In 1902, nine automobile clubs nationwide joined forces to create the American Automobile Association. Just five years later, in 1907, the Motor Club of Harrisburg was born.

Now, 100 years later, the club has evolved from the Central Penn Motor Club in the 1960s, when with offices in Harrisburg, Carlisle, Gettysburg and Hershey, it grew with the addition of the Lebanon-Palmyra Motor Club. Now known as AAA Central Penn, the club represents the interests of more than 337,200 members in nine Pennsylvania counties, who have access to their club at 12 offices and on the Internet.

"We began the organization to be of service to our members in the automotive venue, providing maps where there were none, lobbying for better roads and assisting members when road service was necessary," Mitch Hillman, president and CEO of AAA Central Penn said. "We have evolved into a multi-faceted service organization, providing our members with the ability to avail themselves of our financial services, insurance services, travel expertise and discounts on a myriad of services and products through our ever-growing Show Your Card and Save program to name a few. The Club continues to explore new ideas and benefits for our members, keeping exceptional service for our members and clients in the forefront of all our endeavors."

Former President and CEO Thomas G. Miller, whose father, William E. Miller, was also the club’s president from 1946-1972, said part of the evolution of AAA Central Penn was the addition of the travel and insurance agencies.

Miller, president and CEO from 1972 until his retirement in 2003, said before the agencies were added most of the club’s mapping and membership business was handled from March through September. In the winter, road service requests would increase. With the expansion into insurance and travel, he said, "we were able to establish branches very close to where people live. Our philosophy was always to have branches and real live people close to our members."

Hillman said that as with most aspects of our lives, the computer has had a great influence on our mode of operation. "AAA has improved the service level in all areas with the use of computers," he said. "Our member service is more expeditious and accurate and our emergency road service providers are able to respond to our members more rapidly than ever before due to information gathered on and relayed by computers."

Miller said that although the internet is also another evolution the club has gone through, Central Penn continues to have people available to members whenever they need them and added that Central Penn has always had one of the best branches-to-members ratios in the country.

"The reason for our club’s existence has always been to be of service to our members," Hillman said. "That has remained constant through the last 100 years and will continue onward."

Community has always been important to AAA Central Penn. Miller’s father, who was the potentate of the Shriners in Harrisburg, made sure children received free tickets to the circus held by that organization every spring. The club also took school safety patrol children to Washington, D.C., for an overnight trip. One of the stops was always the National Zoo. Miller said this tradition stopped, however, when one boy became homesick, called his parents and they drove down and picked him up - without the knowledge of anyone else on the trip. A huge search was begun in the zoo and continued until they found out where the boy was.

A more pleasant, and an exciting memory was when the Concorde visited Harrisburg. Miller said Central Penn reserved 70 of the 100 seats on the special aircraft. Tens of thousands of people stopped on roads and highways near the airport to get a glimpse of it. The club arranged for the Concorde to be at the airport overnight so people could see it. Miller explained that when it took off, it went straight up in the air, did two pass overs and made a huge racket. "That was something I won’t forget for a while!" he said.

Miller also related that the people who work at AAA Central Penn are key to the club’s success. "There’s always been a really good group of people dedicated to what they’re doing," he said. "They like people and they like their coworkers and it was always a good environment."

One of those employees, Jim Seltzer, has recently started his 50th year with AAA Central Penn. He remembers his interview like it was yesterday.

"I was hired (at the Palmyra, Lebanon County Automobile Club) on a Friday. Frank Horst was manager at the time," Seltzer said. He accepted the job and Horst asked him if he wanted to know the pay rate. His reply: "It makes no matter to me. This is a job I want for life." He wasn’t kidding. Seltzer worked in Member Services creating TripTiks and working on billings for dues. He said he remembers membership information in a card file, then using an address-o-graph and fiche, making plates for memberships. He eventually worked in the accounting department on the payroll as the assistant secretary of the club. All cash reports were done by hand. He said the biggest difference was the change to computers, although he still has a manual typewriter at his desk to fill out forms.

After his club joined Central Penn, an office was opened in Lebanon, where Seltzer became the manager for 24 years. In the late 1980s, he transferred to Hershey, where you can find him today. "Four years ago I went part-time," he said, and is now completing license and title work for members. And he enjoys every minute of it. "I still don’t complain about going to work," he said. "I would do it all over again. I always say the job was not that bad because I still have my hair!"

"I worked with good people in most cases," Seltzer said. "Very honest, very considerate. We were more like family. I was very fortunate because you spend more time with the people you work with."

In 100 years, the need for some services haven’t changed but the delivery has become more efficient and, in many cases, for more technical issues. Miller said when he was president the problems with cars who called for Emergency Road Service were usually for batteries and wires. Now, with more technical systems in cars, the problems are more difficult to diagnose. Of course, batteries still die and now AAA Central Penn will bring a battery right to the car. This is just one of many AAA services to uphold the level of members’ expectations.

"Our quality of service has always a very important aspect of our organization; it is now and has always been the cornerstone of our Club", Hillman said. "An organization such as ours can only progress as we have by making sure that cornerstone is secure and constant."

"We are proud of our organization and its 100 years of continued service," Hillman continued. "We will proceed as we have in the past, never ceasing to find new ways to serve our members. While we have just celebrated 50 million members strong nationwide, we are committed to serving our members to the best of our ability, one at a time with the personalized service they have come to expect and deserve."