[Ansteorra] Re: TRF Costs and other related topics

[Joel Schumacher]

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OK, now I'll have to dig out the published costs.  I don't remember
what they were and I might be wrong, but I remember being surprised
that TRF was so much more expensive than other ren-faires.  My wife's
comment was "They sure must think a lot of themselves".

No doubt it is costly to run, but other ren-faires have pretty much the
same features: wandering performers, stage performers, a joust,
maintenance, and so on.  So why is TRF so much more costly than similar
venues?

Do they have greater expenses?  More entertainment?  More expensive
entertainment?  More upkeep due to the humidity?  A bigger chunk of
land to maintain or pay off?  More taxes?  The higher costs may indeed
be required with no greed involved.

On the other hand, being similar to other ren-faires, maybe their
expenses are similar too.  Which begs the question, "why the higher
fees for TRF"?  It's possible that it's greed, pure and simple.

Either way, we don't generate money.  We may be a tax writeoff, but
it's a misconception to confuse that with income.  If I writeoff $500,
that means I just don't pay taxes on that $500.  At, say, 28% tax,
that's $140 I save.  If instead, I made $500, I'd pay $140 in taxes
and end up with $360.  $140 savings or $360 after taxes?  I'll take
the $360.  And as long as taxes are below 50%, that's the profitable
way to go.

If they convert the SCA space into retail space, they end up with a
bigger bottom line.  Which, judging by their fees, they either need
or want.

I'm not blasting TRF.  It's a great faire.  Even *IF* the owners
*might* be greedy, it's still a great time and they pull in a lot of
people.  And they aren't so costly as to drive away merchants.


> Joel Schumacher wrote:
> ======================
> Either TRF is very costly to run or TRF is a greedy organization.
> In either case, "needing" or "wanting" so much money, it is impractical
> to have a large space like the SCA booth that draws no income.
> ======================
Gerald Norris wrote:
> ======================
> If you'd ever watched the "back-end" of TRF you know that it IS costly to
> run.  The groundskeeping, the paid performers, on top of the regular
> maintenance, security, medical personell, etc.  It adds up.
>
> Are they being greedy?  No more than any other corporation trying to make a
> profit.  Those people who don't like the fees and such are more than able to
> not show up at the faire.
> ======================

______________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                    JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at jcpenney.com              12700 Park Central Pl   M/S 6021
(972) 591-7543                     Dallas TX  75251
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