17 Oct
2000
17 Oct
'00
4:15 p.m.
Sellam Ismail wrote:
I wasn't
there, but I take it that some vendors dumped stuff they couldn't
sell? What is the problem with that?
Well, personally, I think it demonstrates
poor character (the mentality is
"if no one will give me money for this then I'm not going to give it away
either"...basically like the type of people who would rather scrap
something than sell it for less than they think it's worth) but that's
just my opinion. However, since in this case I get to call the shots, I
won't allow this to
happen at the VCF. It happened this year and last because I didn't have a
policy about it and I didn't know it was happening until this year.
I really think it would have been very easy to anticipate the problem - maybe
not the extent - and if small it probably would not matter. But even if it was
or is small, I personally find the whole idea unreasonable.
However, you will also find that if you actually have a standard policy that
stops dumping, at least a few people will just take the junk with them
after all and dump it somewhere else - which you should also consider.
If that policy is also unreasonable, but you feel it is out of your hands if
that happens, then you really need to re-think what should and needs
to be done.
From now on, I'd like the vendors to leave with
what they bring, or if
they choose to leave it behind, it will have to be made free, first-come,
first-served. However, finding a way to enforce this that won't tick off
a vendor will require some thought.
Maybe have the vendors decide by a vote. I suspect that most people
will not want their names associated with deliberate dumping. The
question of taking stuff home could also be on the agenda - along with
reserve prices, etc. However, since I have never been to a VCF and
don't know how the vendors and customers feel about such things,
I am just bring up some questions. Why not poll this list for some answers
and give particular weight to previous vendors and customers.
I brought a bunch of Apple //e systems to sell and
only managed to hawk
one. I didn't want to go home with the rest of them, and I certainly
didn't want to trash them, so I yelled "FREE APPLE //E SYSTEMS!!!" and a
few people came running. Problem solved :)
I would agree that is one of the most reasonable methods. Another might be
tagging an article if it does not sell - maybe with a minimum donation to the VCF
and having a window during which the item can be claimed. I don't know what
the VCF budget is, but those donations could be used to provide a vendor
with a credit for the next event - that way everyone seems to win. Maybe
at least 10% of the items left unsold must be made available in that manner -
vendors choice of course.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine