Ford
is One Chatty Farker
Taste of Grand Rapids just sent out their applications and they are charging $125 for KCBS members and $150 if you do not have a KCBS member on your team. Anybody else heard of other contests doing this?
1st contest with $25 non member fee
- Thread starter Ford
- Start date
watertowerbbq
is Blowin Smoke!
not yet. real shame. 
Just Smokin' Around
Full Fledged Farker
Haven't seen one yet and I have about 5 or 6 entry forms sitting on my desk. Curious, how much was the event last year? Did they raise it $25 for non-members or reduce it $25 for members. Does anyone know? If they discounted $25, then I see that as a positive thing.
R
Roo-B-Q'N
Guest
Marshalltown, Ia and Lincoln Nebraska are both doing it. Lincoln however will be charging non-KCBS members $50.00 more.
Ford
is One Chatty Farker
raised the price for non members
CajunSmoker
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I have apps from Hammond, La and Columbus, Ms and neither of them are doing it.
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Why cant they say...........
$150 entry fee.
$25 discount for KCBS members.
sheesh....
$150 entry fee.
$25 discount for KCBS members.
sheesh....
Just Smokin' Around
Full Fledged Farker
That would make too much sense (and they probably didn't think about it). I think the message being sent was charge more for non-members. Much better marketing for KCBS if organizers gave a discount to members. KCBS has a great marketing firm.
CajunSmoker
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That would require someone with tact:icon_blush: a virtue that don't seem to be in abundance:roll:
R
Roo-B-Q'N
Guest
This was their intent and they fumbled it with their email and poor planning on the issue. It is hard for me as a kcbs member to say hey I did this contest last year for $125. and this year I am doing it for $125. what a great benefit.
However it is a perception thing and having a clear and concise set of guidelines for the organizers would have gone alot further. 150 entry, KCBS discount $25.00 would have given the perception of a benefit.
Yes it is a hair splitting issue, but one that has eaten a lot of time of a lot of people.
However as an organizer, that was not what I had issues with.
Just to play Devil's Advocate. How many organizers would have a problem losing a little over 16% (in the event that $25 was knocked off a $150 entry fee) of the money coming in from KCBS teams? For those without deep sponsorship pockets, or those benefitting a charity.... That percentage might be tough to manage without impacting the prize pool in some cases.
I've read the issues on organizers not having a way to effectively verify who is/isn't a member in good standing. Personally I'm not sure that this is a good idea to begin with. That being said, I'm not ready to point a finger at any organizer that is unable to offer a true 'discount'.
I've read the issues on organizers not having a way to effectively verify who is/isn't a member in good standing. Personally I'm not sure that this is a good idea to begin with. That being said, I'm not ready to point a finger at any organizer that is unable to offer a true 'discount'.
R
Roo-B-Q'N
Guest
That was my biggest issue with the program. They could not tell us how to verify membership.
That and this year the organizers got the money next year it would go back to KCBS.
As an organizer I am worried about my sponsors exposure, teams enjoyment and judges knowledge, not the benefit program of the sanctioning body I hired to provide me a service.
That and this year the organizers got the money next year it would go back to KCBS.
As an organizer I am worried about my sponsors exposure, teams enjoyment and judges knowledge, not the benefit program of the sanctioning body I hired to provide me a service.
stlgreg
Take a breath!
I think Salem, Ill is doing it too.
Racine, WI is going to do it.
I am not doing it on my contest. I need the teams
Racine, WI is going to do it.
I am not doing it on my contest. I need the teams
arlieque
Full Fledged Farker
There will be no real discount as you know it. If a contest is going to charge less it you are a member than they will go up first! I will be running 5 or 6 contest and do not plan on doing this and will try and keep the event management out of it. As an organizer it would be best to treat all teams equal, doesnt that sound better! You let this pass and the next thing will be charging judges to judge?
Poobah and I were discussing this very same subject the other day. The bottom line is to get more teams to become members. The way they presented it was to charge the non members more. This got a very bad reaction from everyone. It would have been much better if it were to be presented as contest fee xxx with a $25 discount for members. If the extra fees from non members sweet'ins the prize pot so be it. It was a matter of perception. I personally don't have a problem with it. Some NEBS contests have discounts for NEBS members. Nobody has a problem with NEBS doing it. It sounds to me like it's winter, and it's just something else to bitch about to pass the time.
J
jminion
Guest
Let's get real here, none of these contests are KCBS's. If they were then KCBS would be paying organizers to run then. KCBS is hired to officate the contest with a standardized set of rules for a fee. How does that give KCBS the right say you must be a member to compete. If the organizer has money problems does KCBS bail them out? KCBS has no ownership here and without it all they can do is raise fees to the organizer. Raise the fees then the organizer may have to come to conculsion they may want someone else to officate for them.
I'm not anti KCBS but this is just lazy and for the benefit of a contract that they signed that was a bad deal. Give the teams a reason to join KCBS.
Presenting this as a benefit to KCBS teams with a $25 discount is smoke and mirrors.
I'm not anti KCBS but this is just lazy and for the benefit of a contract that they signed that was a bad deal. Give the teams a reason to join KCBS.
Presenting this as a benefit to KCBS teams with a $25 discount is smoke and mirrors.
smooookin
is Blowin Smoke!
For me it is not a money issue. Now, I have never competed but was planning to get my feet wet this year as time allowed, However I can guarantee I will not spend a red cent toward competing if I am charged additional fees because i am not a member of the "club". From what I have been reading here is sounds to me like KCBS is in disarray. I have to say, only from what I have read here leads me to believe that KCBS is more worried about increasing revenue than recruiting members. There are plenty of other comps out there to enter that dont appear to have all of the politics tied to it.
Actually it is really quit sad, I would love to be active in the sport/hobby and had been thinking about joining the KCBS, but I refuse to feed someones greed to do it. Just my .02 and I may be totally off base.
Actually it is really quit sad, I would love to be active in the sport/hobby and had been thinking about joining the KCBS, but I refuse to feed someones greed to do it. Just my .02 and I may be totally off base.
Who is greedy? The KCBS wouldn't get any of the extra $25 collected from non member teams. If I am not mistaken, in your neck of the woods, the KCBS sanctions most if not all sanctioned contests. While I strongly disagree with what the KCBS is suggesting, it wouldn't affect our team one bit because we are members. We love cooking BBQ contests and that extra $25 would never stop us from cooking a contest if we were non members. We would just take a CBJ class and become members that way. As a newby team you should do that any way to understand how you are being judged. If you decide not to compete because of all this foolishness I think you never wanted to compete much to begin with.
smooookin
is Blowin Smoke!
Then why should the KCBS dictate the price? Seems to me that the one running the comp should have discretion to do what they want. KCBS or not.
The KCBS would get the membership fee when folks that pay the extra get tired of it and join up. Smells like extortion.
