Jul 26, 2016 3 min read

The website of AAA proudly states the following: “For more than 100 years, AAA has steadfastly represented the interests of its members.”

No longer if they are in Greene County, apparently.

Last week, AAA announced it was closing its Greene County office this Friday. According to AAA, membership is down and it is costing too much to keep the office open. Instead, AAA tells its members and would-be members to either go online or drive to Uniontown or Washington for its services.

Sorry, but speaking as a long-standing member, this is not steadfastly representing my interests. More importantly, it’s a serious disservice to Greene County, and it speaks volumes about what little regard AAA has for this county. AAA is supposed to be a “nonprofit member service organization,” but it is acting like a for-profit corporation that’s only concerned about the bottom line. “Member services” implies providing services to members equally.

Can it have escaped AAA’s attention that Greene County has one of the lowest-income and most economically vulnerable populations in this state? They are probably more in need of local AAA services than most. Does it not occur to AAA its Greene County members either can’t or don’t want to drive to another county for its services, let alone go online? Does it not occur to AAA this action will dissuade potential members from signing up if they are not steadfastly represented locally?

Furthermore, in my capacity as a university professor who has specialized in regional economic development for decades, I’m pretty sure a prominent national organization seen running away from Greene County will do no favors to the county’s uphill battle to redevelop its economy.

The regional office for AAA is located in Butler County, which is where the decision to close the Greene County office was presumably made. The income of the Butler County population is one of the highest in the state, diametrically opposed to Greene County. Here’s a suggestion for AAA if it insists on closing an office: Because the people of Butler County are so economically advantaged and would have no trouble going to a neighboring county to get AAA’s services, why not close that county’s office instead of the one in Greene County? Of course, AAA would never do such a thing. It wouldn’t dream of inconveniencing an economically advantaged population.

Robert Hanham

Carmichaels

Hanham is a geography professor at West Virginia University.