As far as I know, the yearly fee goes towards printing and mailing the members list and the Concourier magazine. You also get a bit of a discount on Group ride registration fees. Soon paying the yearly fee will be the only way to participate in the COG Forum.
To me, the printing and mailing seems to be rather costly and old-fashioned, in this era of pdf files and the internet. Maybe in 1992 it made sense.
Yes I agree but there are some members (many I'm told) that want it to stay that way (paper based). So what should COG do?...I think it's important for the organization
to take care of the members it has rather than worry about attracting new members. The money collected does mostly go to printing but the most important thing it does is give the club financial viability or identity. Before a National rally can take place, contracts must be signed with the venue and insurance must be procured, before a volunteer officer of the club can do this (sign on the dotted line) he or she must know that their personal assets are protected by the club and the insurance. I currently only host one local event a year for COG (and zero in 2020) but I insist on seeing the insurance documents before the event takes place or I will cancel it. It only takes one idiot and his lawyer to take you and your retirement savings to court.
Now the MSTA has a publication which in my opinion has always been far superior to the COG magazine and yet their forum (despite Lather's excellent administration there of) has very low participation by the membership. It isn't unusual to find that the most recent post is several days old. However they too have regional events and a National Rally and the needed insurance to protect the event hosts/coordinators from potential financial ruin. To me these are the most important things that happen with your dues if you join either or both groups. Additionally there are going to be other costs associated with having a financially viable club. I don't know it for a fact, but I'm assuming that the clubs have to file IRS forms yearly and postage costs etc., not just for magazines but for internal club functions when the volunteer officers are scattered all across the country.
If you don't ever go to events and have no intention of ever going then I don't know why you would join either group despite the low cost of dues.