Hershey 2024 space costs

[oldford]

"assign the spots to another member" could mean that the current, vacant owner retains 'ownership' of the spot' but the spot gets re-assigned for one year. This would allow for legitimate vacancies you describe above. But just a caution -  if there are too many loop holes in the vacancy policy, the same situation would rear its ugly head...

 

Frank

Edited December 26, 2023 by oldford (see edit history)

[greenie]

Interesting discussion, disregarding the “radical” ideas the Region will never want, or be able, to accomplish. I’ve been a vendor for over 20 years and first attended about 45 years ago (ouch!). So I guess I can speak from  some factual basis.

 

Hershey is a living, breathing thing that changes each year, but somehow remains the same. The years and inflation in our economy mean that costs: spaces, hotel, parking, meals- will continue to rise in cost. 

My particular situation might be typical. I started with 2 spaces; and as selling ramped up I picked up a third space nearby. It functions as a parking space for my pickup that tows the trailer that holds the parts. If I had just 2 spaces, there would be less room for sales. NTL, I put out some self-service” parts in that third space- to be respectful of the Region’s rules. As the years ticked by, selling for 4 days supplanted my first love- walking and buying.

 

So as the space fee has crested $100, I think it’s time to relinquish that third spot, reduce the parts brought for sale to what will fit in the pickup- and leave the trailer home. Yes, I won’t make as much $$$ selling; but I’ll spend more $$$ buying- and probably enjoy myself more. 

And so that “extra” space will go back in circulation and hopefully someone younger will start their Hershey adventure. I’ll still be happy continuing mine. 

[3macboys]

I'm amazed that the region can actually pull off loading in the swap meet, then the show and then clearing the grounds all in 5 days.  There's a local outdoor farm show to me, 3 day show with around 50 000 visitors a year.  It takes the better part of a month leading up to the show for set up and a couple of weeks after for the complete tear down.  I mentioned the comments about the empty spaces at Hershey to my father, who was there this year and his observation was there were a few but in his mind, not enough to be off putting as they moved through the fields.  Maybe a little bit of vendor creep (displaying your wares into a neighboring space) where there is an empty space or two would help.  

[mikewest]

$100 per space is a bargain. Today 2 couples cant hardly go get a nice lunch for 100 bucks unless your at a popular chain place with a clown on the sign. Then you need to question the origin of the meat!. The group doesnt chatge general admission  and im betting that is a discussion  that has been had. 

[A Woolf]

6 hours ago, Steve Moskowitz said:

Frank, I personally like the solution if it is used with some common sense and is not completely dogmatic.  In case of instances of family tragedy, weather issues, illness, etc. that is legitimate I would hate to see a long time vendor lose their space. In some instances this could take two years to resolve. The only issue I see is the manpower to walk the entire field and then keep the database.  Still maybe this is where the region could head in the future.  I will bring it up to them.

 

I do, however, hope the club can entice more vendors and our members can help with this task.  I know the majority of AACA members on this site love Hershey and want it to be successful.  

One of the best ways to motivate change is to provide a financial incentive for Hershey Region.  If a space is empty for more than a couple of years set up a method to bid out the space to a new vendor while the current owner is allowed to have future use of the space.  Hershey Region could charge he new vendor a fee to set this up.  The advantage to the new vendor is the possibility of getting a space with a desirable location in the flea market.  

Alan 

[Restorer32]

Here is a hypothetical situation.  Fellow, whose business is antique auto related, has had the same 8 spaces for 10+ years.  Every year he advertises his business on 2 or 3 of those spaces. Some years he sells parts on 2 spaces and some years he displays a car or 2 for sale.  What about the years when he does not have parts to sell or cars to market, meaning a couple of his spaces will remain empty?  Is he to be denied rental of those 8 spaces, the location of which he likes because his customers know where to find him?  Suppose, the years he does not need all 8 spaces, he allows his customers who have never experienced Hershey to park on those spaces.  Many of those "first timers" go on to become loyal AACA members.  Is the renter of those 8 spaces to be penalized because folks have to walk past a few "empty" spaces?  

[Steve Moskowitz]

Registration is a solved problem. Other clubs have been doing this for a decade or more. We discussed this earlier in the year in another thread and the Harwoods talked about how they switched to online registration five years ago for their Stan Hywet event. Having showed a car there, I can speak to the large scale and complexity of the event. It's a huge undertaking. Both said it improved the process considerable. Melanie also mentioned she volunteered to help implement something similar for the AACA, but her offer was not accepted.

 

Shaun, here is where the disconnect is.  The club has wanted to have online registration for many years but registration for a one time event or with an organization that does not have the need to tie into custom software is an entirely different matter. Our data gathering is extensive and far more complicated than most.  All our events are different and require different fields and many of those fields have to have a correlation to our membership database.  Last year our software guru finally came up with a solution that made sense. We also needed the cooperation of our regions, we have it now.  A test site has been built and final tweaks are being made.  Along with this we made renewing membership a snap now.  We do listen but some do not want to listen to us.  What seems so simple to many is not so simple to the staff that have to work with these programs.

[CChinn]

Steve, thanks for your reply on the registration question and all of the other replies you have provided to questions from the membership on other threads on the forum. It’s greatly appreciated. Glad to hear you say that “renewing membership is a snap now”. If that is the case, I am still perplexed as to why my AACA chapter in NC asked all members to pay $70 in September for 2024 chapter, region and national renewal fees directly to the chapter and let the chapter submit individual renewal fees and registration to AACA HQ and for members to forgo the new online renewal process you have implemented at our national headquarters. As I stated in my earlier post on this thread (and I am sure you have read it) those fees and registration for our chapter members have not yet been submitted to AACA headquarters despite the cashing of my check in October. Perhaps this is a question better suited for my chapter &/or regional president and not the Executive Director, and I did direct the question earlier to the chapter president and have not received an answer other than to ignore the AACA renewal reminders that was sent to all chapter members. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by CChinn (see edit history)

[61polara]

49 minutes ago, CChinn said:

Steve, thanks for your reply on the registration question and all of the other replies you have provided to questions from the membership on other threads on the forum. It’s greatly appreciated. Glad to hear you say that “renewing membership is a snap now”. If that is the case, I am still perplexed as to why my AACA chapter in NC asked all members to pay $70 in September for 2024 chapter, region and national renewal fees directly to the chapter and let the chapter submit individual renewal fees and registration to AACA HQ and for members to forgo the new online renewal process you have implemented at our national headquarters. As I stated in my earlier post on this thread (and I am sure you have read it) those fees and registration for our chapter members have not yet been submitted to AACA headquarters despite the cashing of my check in October. Perhaps this is a question better suited for my chapter &/or regional president and not the Executive Director, and I did direct the question earlier to the chapter president and have not received an answer other than to ignore the AACA renewal reminders that was sent to all chapter members. 

AACA Regions and Chapters have quite a bit of flexibility in how they operate within the AACA National system.  Your issue is a local one that needs to be addressed with your Chapter/Region.  If you address it in a constructive way and offer solutions to solve this issue you may succeed in creating a change.  Your Chapter/Region requirement is done so that they know that all Region members are also paid members of National.  This is a National requirement.  My Region does the same things, so I am familiar with the process.  Perhaps your Region would accept a printed copy of your online National dues payment receipt sent in with your local dues.  Your Region has to have a process to accommodate AACA Life Member who no longer pay annual National dues.

[Peter Gariepy]

Having built online registrations for car club events I can tell you it's complicated.

 

Every event is different with vastly varying requirements.  For the most part you need to start from scratch with each one including:

• Dealing with people, events, cars and judging registrations
• complexity of attaching it to existing management systems (member, cars, judges, and judging)
• region registration person's level of technical skills (or lack of)
• chief judge's level of technical skills (or lack of)
• money and security issues
• changes (like throwing a nut in an engine)
• Creating reports
• ... the list goes on

 

I sympathize with the national office. It can be a complicated mess so forethought on how to do it right the first time is paramount.

[Steve Moskowitz]

1 hour ago, 61polara said:

Your Chapter/Region requirement is done so that they know that all Region members are also paid members of National. 

Dave is 100% correct on this.  We appreciate the region's diligence on this but it does require more work for our staff and also some delays on processing. Some of the delay is caused by our office as we get these at the busiest time of year and this year we have been decimated with illness.  As Dave also said, this is a decision solely made by our regions and chapters.  No mandate from national.

 

Peter knows our complicated Access based software far better than most since he helped advise us when we upgraded some years ago.  Our software engineer is a pretty bright guy but every year we ask more and more of our software and it has become a monster.  Every change we make has to be thoroughly tested so that the change does not break another link!

[Walt G]

Every day I read the comments /complaints about how AACA operates  - be it membership renewal, events , etc. NOW my opinion - I think that AACA is doing the very best it can to make everyone happy but also be as efficient as possible. They ask questions and seek answers before any change is made or new innovation on how to do something is added.

I don't see to many COMPLIMENTS when things go right because people expect that - Hey they are paying their dues for it.

Perhaps in the new year as a personal resolution - have more patience, don't be so quick to criticize, be sure you do know what you are talking about . Is AACA always right? No no one can be and they are open to help - but are you ALWAYS right ? 

For every complaint try to place a compliment for what has been done correctly and efficiently , it is not hard to do.

Happy New Year to all .

WEG

[Steve Moskowitz]

57 minutes ago, Walt G said:

Every day I read the comments /complaints about how AACA operates  - be it membership renewal, events , etc. NOW my opinion - I think that AACA is doing the very best it can to make everyone happy but also be as efficient as possible. They ask questions and seek answers before any change is made or new innovation on how to do something is added.

I don't see to many COMPLIMENTS when things go right because people expect that - Hey they are paying their dues for it.

Perhaps in the new year as a personal resolution - have more patience, don't be so quick to criticize, be sure you do know what you are talking about . Is AACA always right? No no one can be and they are open to help - but are you ALWAYS right ? 

For every complaint try to place a compliment for what has been done correctly and efficiently , it is not hard to do.

Happy New Year to all .

WEG

Thanks Walt, pretty much think we have wore this thread out.  The region and some national directors have read the comments.  From my meetings with the Hershey Region President and Fall Meet Chairman I know they are open to anything that will improve our beloved event.  As I stated before, it is going to take co-operation between the Region, AACA, HE&R and members to make this experience better.  We will be strategizing to see if we can make that happen.  Walt, you mean I am not always right?   I was raised by a father who had the motto " I may not always be right but I am never wrong".  Unlike a lot of the kids today, I said yes sir!

 

P.S. while I was typing this the fall meet chairman came in my office and we had a healthy discussion on some of your ideas!!  

[MCHinson]

5 hours ago, CChinn said:

Steve, thanks for your reply on the registration question and all of the other replies you have provided to questions from the membership on other threads on the forum. It’s greatly appreciated. Glad to hear you say that “renewing membership is a snap now”. If that is the case, I am still perplexed as to why my AACA chapter in NC asked all members to pay $70 in September for 2024 chapter, region and national renewal fees directly to the chapter and let the chapter submit individual renewal fees and registration to AACA HQ and for members to forgo the new online renewal process you have implemented at our national headquarters. As I stated in my earlier post on this thread (and I am sure you have read it) those fees and registration for our chapter members have not yet been submitted to AACA headquarters despite the cashing of my check in October. Perhaps this is a question better suited for my chapter &/or regional president and not the Executive Director, and I did direct the question earlier to the chapter president and have not received an answer other than to ignore the AACA renewal reminders that was sent to all chapter members. 

In our chapter, we encourage our members to submit their National, NC Region, and Cape Fear Chapter dues in one payment to the Chapter Treasurer (me) because it allows our members to simply make one payment rather than three separate payments. Typically, we start collectiing dues in October and get most of them in November and December. This year, I started in September, as soon as National sent an email about dues renewals out to the membership. Despite starting in September, as of today, I still have some who have not yet renewed. We do of course, also tell members that they can pay their Region and National dues themselves and to alert the Chapter Treasurer that they have done so, but we do encourage them to submit the dues to the Chapter so we can be sure that their Region and National Dues are paid. We submit payments to the Region and to National in the same month that they are received. Typically, one batch of renewals in October, one in November, and usually a couple of batches in December. I would encourage your Chapter Treasurer to submit those Region and National dues in a timely manner. Done correctly, it is a simply way to make sure that all of the members remember to pay their National and Region dues, and it makes it easy for Chapter members to handle their dues with a single payment. 

 

You should probably speak with your Chapter Treasurer about the delay in submission of dues. Your Chapter President probably does not typically get involved in that issue.