Codgers

[msmemory_archive]

Color me Old Codger. I'm having sticker shock today over the prices of Twelft [sic] Night and Birka. Yes, I know that each is charging just a smidge more than a first-run movie ticket, and I couldn't eat anywhere nicer than Friendly's for a sum like that feast fee, but I am unused to these numbers - or to the notion that advance registration doesn't give a discount.

(If anyone knows for sure that the 12th Night feast is sold out, let me know so I won't bother sending an onboard reservation.)

Comments

[wingblaze.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you. I'm rather disturbed of late when I am getting charged $15+ just for a day trip appearance with no feast. It's not like I'm broke, but it has occasionally weighed into my decision when I was on the fence about going to an event.

It's not just you.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Out of curiousity, how much is it? I'm used to Drachenwald prices now, of course, which may seem shocking. Most of our events in the UK run about 25 pounds for the weekend (includes crash space and all food for the weekend), but we're attending an evening only event in London next month -- 6 PM-10.30 PM with a feast -- that's charging 20 pounds -- just over US $40. (Sites are expensive over here.) The last event I attended on the continent was 45 euros for the weekend, but it did include a bed in a youth hostel. (It was in Germany.)

[artisticphoenix.livejournal.com]

You are not the only Old Codger. I have been trying to fight the increasing costs of Twelfth Night for years to no avail on the Exchequer's council. Each time I keep getting told, well, it is in the winter and ohmygawd we might lose money if we don't charge enough, and that event site prices and food amounts are increasing and increasing and increasing. And each year the event makes an obscene amount of money even if it has to split the profit with the kingdom. The only way the price is going to come down is for people to vote with their feet.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I believe there's an additional cost at the door... don't remember what it was though, as we sent in our reservations. Which hopefully got there in time (we're singing at the feast, so we figured we might as well pay for it).

Site fee is US$10, Dayboard is US$3, and Feast is US$15.

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

If you're an old codger, then so am I.

I find it a little outrageous that they are charging those prices AND THEN charging an additional fee for dayboard.

[silme.livejournal.com]

$28 total? Well, considering I'm paying over $40 for a 4-1/2 hour event with one meal (feast) next month, it seems cheap. I know, I know. It's what you're used to. Things were cheaper when I lived in the Outlands, but sites are very expensive in Drachenwald. North Americans do tend to experience sticker shock over here at first. :)

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Twelfth Night is $10 in advance, $12 at the door or after the postal deadline. Plus $3 for dayboard. Feast is $15 in advance, $17 at the door. I just look at paying $64 at the door for the two of us and flinch.

Market Day at Birka is $12. No food is included. Site's hotel rooms are available for $110.

I've found the way to look at UK prices is to treat them as dollars and just not think about the conversion ratio. The prices of things make sense if they were at par.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Or more restrictive laws! (She cackles with evil glee, knowing that more laws are evil.) Like setting the price for the current year based on the overage from last year, so that there's as little "profit" as possible.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Well, the UK just has a better economy than the US, so the pound is particularly strong. We do tend to offer cheap crash space, as people travel so far. However, sometimes it's just that -- floor space, and you have to carry sleeping bags, air mattresses, etc. (Events with actual beds or bunks are liked a lot. :) 12th Night in Sweden is a big splurge for us. 130 pounds each to fly to Stockholm, hire a car to drive 1-1/2 hours to site, stay in a hotel two nights as it's just floor crash space -- and it's difficult to cart sleeping gear on the plane. The hotel was a deal at 60 pounds a night, including breakfast, so we won't have to pay for breakfast on site nor to crash on site. Site fee is 110 SEK each, lunch is 40 SEK each and feast is 100 SEK. So that's 20 pounds each, which isn't bad. However, added to plane fare and the hotel, eek!! We'll be able to sightsee in Stockholm on Sunday, though, and there are things going on I want to be there for... *sigh*

Over here, no matter how much site fees cost, transportation wil cost more. For that 20 pound each fee for that evening event, our train fare there will cost more each. :( (Driving would cost more also.) Oh well. The SCA never has been a cheap hobby, alas. :(

However, that said... One year, back in the Outlands, some folks ran the most expensive twelfth night the barony in Denver had ever seen. The barony made sooooo much money, but there were sooooo many complaints. And the food wasn't that good. The next year, Francesca and I wound up running it. We decided, after last year, we just wanted to break even -- we didn't want a profit, as the previous autocrats had been accused of price gouging. Fees were a lot lower that year. Alexandre d'Avigne was our cook, so you know the feast was good. :) And guess what? Because people were so pleased with the lower fees, more folks turned up and we made $700 profit without even trying! :)

[laurion]

Yep. This year, instead of Birka, I'll be going to the Unity Games one day board game convention. Closer, cheaper, and to be honest, I haven't found too many things at Birka lately that have made me say 'I should get that'.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

(I didn't know the Viceroy could cook!)

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

Being from the Barony this is being held in, I feel as if I am less entitled to an opinion on this, since I haven't been going to the BBM business meetings in the past few months. Archery is off-season, and my only reason for attending at this point would be either 1) nosiness/local awareness, 2) keeping up to date on local demo and prac info, 3) discussion about Acorns and Pearls which I am running archery for with Ryan, or 4) promoting a scribal workshop - even though my door is always open.

In my own blog, I can tell you there are many people disenfranchised with the event's cost.

Last time I saw an event that charged for Dayboard, it was in An Dubh, and we deliberately did not go to the event for that reason, and an enforced 'theme' with 'taxes' involved. Might be fun for some, but not our cuppa.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's a fantastic cook. I think he's cooked at some small events in Whyt Whey. There were a number of folks trying to get him a Laurel in cookery before he left the Outlands -- it's a long story as to why he didn't get it. His focus in the East has been different, but he cooked a lot in the Outlands. His personal website features various recipes; he used to write a cooking column for a local newsletter.
http://www.panix.com/~nexus/cooking/biblio.shtml

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I hate that there's always that conflict.

Have you been to Unity before?

I know you're not a newbie, but it's the newbie-friendliest event (of almost any sort) I have ever been to.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

From what little opinion I can give:

Event sites aren't getting cheaper, no, but the price of the feast on top of that makes me wonder at the prices of the ingredients and/or difficulty of the recipes being used.

I really REALLY missed Simplefare this year. Wish we weren't headed further north for entourage duty, but what can you do....?

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oh, the 12th Night he cooked for me wasn't the one mentioned in the articles. It was a later 12th Night, for 750 people. He learned a lot after his first one -- and we were using a different site with a better kitchen. :)

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I think Nataliia has an excellent point about the paranoia of losing money.

It's something she and I were railing about more than a decade ago in our local group and barony.

I wish local groups --especially those with large bank accounts, could simply look at that "loss" as, rather, an investment to have a nice event that more people can attend. It gets really fustrating to have the "make-money-at-all-costs" attitude all the time.

Please note, I am *not* singling out either of these events specificially.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

I don't mind a pay-as-you-go dayboard. If one of the subgroups in the barony, or a neighboring group, want to run the dayboard as a concession (eggs 25 cents, slice of mushroom tart $1.25, etc.).

This time I'll probably pack a picnic lunch. The odds that dayboard will overlap with one of the peerage meetings for me or jducoeur, or that court will run late and we'll be peckish, are excellent.

[laurion]

Well, it hasn't always conflicted. Yes, I've been two or three times.

It's very newbie friendly. They have a few sections especially friendly for newbies (I think). First is a teaching area, where there are people most of the day teaching a variety of games. Second is a game launch point, where you can pick a game, go to that point, and announce your intent to play said game, and find other people to play with you. Very useful if you don't have a group of associates with you.

Plus, I've always been surprised to find people I know there, so I usually end up with a group of gamers/lunchers for the day. One time I ended up hanging out with Walter Hunt for most of the day, and that's been a pretty good two-way acquaintance since.

If you show up, look for me.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

We weighed the option of feast vs going out - since blaecstan and melvh will be spending the weekend with us, it seemed more feasible to plan in advance for dinner out.

It's not that I don't want to support my own Barony, but it is simpler to go out when guests are staying over so we can spend time with them, if that makes sense... Plus the cost of this feast plus site fee is the cost of a dinner at one of the chain restaurants. I know we're talking apples and oranges for food taste, but it's more of a budget issue for us.

[(Anonymous)]

And we wonder why our numbers are going down...

[artisticphoenix.livejournal.com]

That would end up hurting only the areas that came after a higher charging area, not the original high charging area.

The main concern that most sponsors of the event have is that because it is in deep winter in the East Kingdom there is a chance of a blizzard/snow storm that will affect attendance and make whatever barony/shire/area take a deep pocket loss. Their attendance figures are based upon the worst case scenario, rather than the most likely scenario, thus the figures are usually high.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I think they do it a couple of times a year, so it does not always conflict, but I know there have been conflicts with Birka before. (I remember Pryder skipping Birka one year because of it).

Well-done event.

Walter Hunt is very cool.

[artisticphoenix.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the option to pay the dayboard either. In most instances if it is included in the site fee, I never get the chance to eat it because I am in a meeting, or on the fencing field. There are some rare events that actually brings the dayboard to these places and I am eternally grateful (Mudthaw comes to mind). But otherwise, for me, I would much rather pack my own lunch rather than pay and not get any, or the last remaining bits.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Although I do note that, for the entire time that I've been paying attention to the Exchequer report, the number seems to be steadily going down. I do not think that will be able to go on forever.