Ya know, if you were well-off and wanted to proselytize (had to look that one up--only got two letters wrong), it would be both productive and useful to do the above mentioned food-truck conversion.
The mental picture of Mikey's Train Emporium parked in a string of Mexican, Tai, and etc. trucks is surely amusing.
And it would surely reach more newbies than a brick and mortar.
Ed
maxman,Yep, that plate is the one! What are the round ones? Are they tank ends?
Enzoamps,I worked 25 years in my family's independant bookstore. We never closed early (or opened late) unless it was an emergency: family, weather, medical, car crashing into the store, etc. When we saw we had slow hours or slow days, we'd change the times on the door. But a set-up retail business is not a train show. The retail business doesn't have to be packed up and carried away before one goes home hundreds of miles away.
However, if you think even retail businesses don't "pack up early", go to a small restaurant/deli and ask for hot food 30 min. before their closing time. At my local deli, they close the kitchen about an hour before they lock the doors, spending that time cleaning the grill, etc. Sure, you can still get a bagel 15 min. before they close, but don't ask for a grilled cheese because the grill is cold and cleaned.
7j43k,I agree that as long as what is advertised is present at the train show, then there is no violation of any contract. But if the only thing advertised is that it is a "train show" open during certain hours, a Brio train set would qualify. It would be on the level of a P.T. Barnum flimflammery, but it would be legal.
As for taking a promoter to court over dealers packing up early... Hey, anything is possible. I'm sure one could be sued for breathing these days.
If a promoter closed a busy show early, I'm sure dealers would complain. They aren't getting paid to be there; instead the dealers are paying, remember? But the result would be easy to predict: no dealers the next year. Dealers do talk to one another and if it got out that a promoter was messing around with their dealers, there would be few if any dealers there next year.
bing&kathy,But you'd like to put a gun to our heads and force us to stay until we're allowed to leave, right? Again, most of the show contracts I sign say nothing about packing up early. Still, if you did force a dealer to stay, or punish them for packing up early by not inviting them next year, how long do you think you'd have a show? Again, this is about small shows. Big shows like Springfield have a multi-year waiting list for dealers; dealers will not make waves there because they make a lot of money at that show. But small shows are dying off. There are fewer and fewer dealers willing to make a trip to a small train show these days. As such, dealers have much more leeway.
Seriously, if you want dealers to stay at a small show until the end, discount some of their table fees. Most of them would probably stay for one free table at the show they are at (rather than for next year).
However, the sign idea? Um, no. Again, dealers do talk to each other. If one that stayed told one that left early that the promoter was bad mouthing them, do you honestly think they'd be back the next year? I doubt it.
Andre,I recommended to Jason Shron of Rapido that he should sell trains out of his new bus like an ice cream truck. He thought it was an interesting idea..
Must be nice to have so many dealer overrun train shows so close in proximity. Why else would so many people complain about them? I'd settle for just one.
CG
Paul3Yep, that plate is the one! What are the round ones? Are they tank ends?
Yes. I call them "domes" to cover a bunch of uses.
Made from Coke can ends.
Well, if you want to go along with the ice cream truck idea, I have an idea what kind of tune it could play to attract customers. I'm more inclined toward the Fuller Brush Man (or Walthers Train Man if you will) door to door idea. Commission only.
It's a variation of the old Dinah Shore song "Shoo Fly Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy". Unfortunately, only a small segment of the lyrics will pass muster by the powers that be. The rest of it, not so much.
Train show beef and gas station sushi
Makes your stomach churn and your intestines get gushy
The last time I was at a train show, I didn't bother with the gas station sushi. As it was, the train show beef (in the form of a burger) was quite sufficient to do the job.
Andre
Most movie theatres are required to roll the projectors, even if the theatre is completely empty. If someone shows up 5 minutes after the film starts they can still see the rest of it. If they show up 70 minutes late, they still get to see how it ends. Because they paid to see it. That's a classy way to run a show.
No we were not required to run it. especially the last show of the night. Box office closed 15 mins after show time, if no one bought a ticket we did not show it. If someone showed up right before box closed I would splice out the previews and run the show when the person got in the auditorium the show would then get out early.
during the day we ran everything, but there is no requirement.
The show here in Lansing is over 500 tables. In the grand scheme of things I don't know if that is large small or in the middle. They are only asking $22 a table in advance, and only $27 a table in the last month before the show. Sounds dirt cheap to me. I pay more for a table in another industry. So there is the context for the vendor.
The vendors pay, the customers pay, the promotor pays. Everyone pays to be there.
Any analogy breaks down if pushed, so movies, or a Sears store, or whatever won't be EXACTLY the same.
As an old guy who dines cheap, when I went to the local buffet place, they not only kept all the cafeteria tables full and open until the doors closed at 9PM or whenever, they even kept the food out a full half hour after the doors closed. Come in at 8:59, you can still eat the full menu. Across town was a Chinese buffet I liked the food at, open until 10PM. But after about 8PM, they let the steam tables get empty, and food they might have replaced earlier in the day would be left out getting dry. So we never patronize them in the evening. Plenty of restaurants have hours in their ads that say "Kitchen open until 9PM." Problem solved. I don't care if they close at 9:30 or 10:30, I know when the food stops.
So how about this: ask your vendors to remain at least until time X, then advertise it. "Open 10AM to 4PM, vendors open until at least 3PM." That way guys like me who are not worldly enough will know there is no point attending the last hour.
Anytime I pay to get into an event, could care what it is and its open for 6 hours or so, it should be available for those hours promist in the advertising. These vendors cry that they have to drive home, well Mr Vendor some customer drive from towns perhaps further then you...also people work, to plan to get off work eary then have everyone packing up is a slap in the face to the customer who just paid to get in. I quit going to shows for this reason
Paul3 Seriously, if you want dealers to stay at a small show until the end, discount some of their table fees. Most of them would probably stay for one free table at the show they are at (rather than for next year).
Either that or charge them when they leave. If they pack up at noon, charge 'em $40 a table. if they don't lift a finger to pack up till 4:00, ten bucks.
So I just did my last train show of 2016, a large 2-day train show. We stayed there until closing on Saturday (5PM), and then yesterday we started packing up at 3:35PM (the show closed at 4PM on Sun.). My last sale before starting to pack was around 3PM. The ticket taker table at the entrance to the show was empty (indicating free admittance) before 3PM (probably 2:30PM).
I did have one more sale after we started to pack. It was for $12 and it occured at 4:05PM. Since the cash register is one of the last things to get boxed, I was able to ring him up and make change. We were out of there by 4:30PM. We had a great weekend; easily the best show we do every year.
I did see one dealer leave very early, like around 2PM in fact. But it was only one out of many. The rest of the dealers stayed set up through 3PM, then still making a few sales but wrapping up some of the more delicate items and boxing them. By 3:30PM, packing up was started for most of the show. At this time, dealers outnumbered attendees.
Generally speaking, if you came to the show by 2:45PM or so, you got in for free and had about 45 minutes to shop around the vast majority of the dealers. Sure, a few were really early packers, but considering you weren't paying to get into the show by that point, what does one expect?
jwar41,Yeah, some customers come from further away than a lucky dealer that happens to live next door to the venue, but I doubt that is the case on average. Dealers tend to have a larger range for going to train shows vs. attendees. For example, one of the big dealers at this weekend's show here in Massachusetts lives in Kentucky. That's only 1000 miles away. I doubt too many attendees came from futher away than that. I mean it's a good show, but it's not Springfield or Trainfest or Timonium or the NMRA National.
Milepost 266.2,I still think going around at the end of the show with a bunch of $20 bills would be the best method for keeping dealers in place. $20 per dealer at the end of the show would be a partial refund for the tables. It's gas or dinner money for the trip home. It would make most dealers happy to be there late. Charging them for leaving early, even if it equals the same amount of money, would not result in happy dealers.
Milepost 266.2Either that or charge them when they leave. If they pack up at noon, charge 'em $40 a table. if they don't lift a finger to pack up till 4:00, ten bucks.
Do you know these dealers has been at the show 3-4 hours before the doors open? Why stay if there is no sales after 3 pm and 3 or 4 attendees walking around not buying and nobody walk through the doors in the last hour??
Let's face the facts..Why not attend the show early? All that requires is getting up and going..Cutting grass or holding your wife's hand can wait upon your return.Who knows she may even enjoy the time you're gone doing whatever she likes..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Let's face the facts..Why not attend the show early?
<sarcastic rant> Because they want to attend the show when they darned well please and still have everything just as fresh and attractive as when the doors initially opened. Because ALL the vendors should be required to keep everything that hasn't been subject to prior sale out until the doors actually close, even if the vendors outnumber non vendor attendees by a large margin. Because the vendors have a MORAL obligation to cater to the Johnny-come-latelies on the off chance that, in a field of 75-100 vendors, one or two of them might actually make a last minute sale, even if it's only $3.50. Because it's all about what's convenient for the late attendee because the late attendee is king and, at least according to Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the king" (History of the World, Part One).
And finally, because it's just as much an outrage for vendors to start packing up inventory before the doors close as it is for Lori's Cafe on Route 3 in Liberty, ME, to refuse to provide waffles after 11 AM even though they serve breakfast all day. I want waffles when I want waffles and Lori's admant refusal to accommodate my demands is an outrage of the highest order. Of course, Lori's won't poach eggs after 11 AM, either, but the poached egg crowd is mentally unbalanced by definition.
</sarcastic rant>
Well, at least you didn't waffle before 11:00 am.
Well, at least you didn't waffle before 11:00 am
True. As for the poached eggs, there's a nice restaurant in Roma Termini https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Termini_railway_station where they serve superb Eggs Benedict. After all, everybody knows that there's no place like Rome for the hollandaise.
andrechapelonAnd finally, because it's just as much an outrage for vendors to start packing up inventory before the doors close as it is for Lori's Cafe on Route 3 in Liberty, ME, to refuse to provide waffles after 11 AM even though they serve breakfast all day.
Lori must be related to those folk that operates our local bake shop-if you are wanting any donuts be there before 10AM because they don't sell them after that time. If you want donuts after that time then go to Kroger or to our new Tim Horton's.
So,go early to get bakery fresh donuts or head for Horton's or Kroger if you're a late starter.
My neighbor isn't allow to eat any unhealthy foods because his wife is a health food nut so,when she heads out to school (she's a teacher),he heads out to the closest junk food place. Dunno what he will do when she retires after this school year.
OUTRAGE? What about McDonalds? A restaurant founded on selling cheap hamburgers but try to buy one before 11AM. They'll sell breakfast 24/7/365 but hamburgers are not allowed to be sold anytime. Sucks when you work graveyard shift and want one when you get off work at 7AM. They act like you're crazy for asking.
Just my 2¢ to this silly discussion.
Roger Huber
oldline1 OUTRAGE? What about McDonalds? A restaurant founded on selling cheap hamburgers but try to buy one before 11AM. They'll sell breakfast 24/7/365 but hamburgers are not allowed to be sold anytime. Sucks when you work graveyard shift and want one when you get off work at 7AM. They act like you're crazy for asking. Just my 2¢ to this silly discussion. Roger Huber
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com