[Namron] You Merchants

[Ulf Gunnarsson]

Wolfon and Flowena wrote:
> Can you wait three months without a pay check?

Nope.  And though it won't make you feel better to hear this, I'm not
quite as worried about you two.  You'll look at the calendar, find
events in non-Oklahoma Ansteorra or Calontir or Gleann Abhann, talk with
the other traveling merchants, change all your plans, and at a slightly
higher expense head out into uncharted waters to try to keep out of
debt, maybe with success.

I am more worried about the small scale merchants who are not set up for
bouncing about so far afield.  This will hit them hard, if it isn't
resolved soon.

I have faith that it will be resolved soon.  It may mean more work for
the event coordinators, or it could be a simple as handing out the
necessary forms at gate. The Kingdom Seneschal apparently just became
aware of this, and will be working on a solution.  Please give her a
little time.  As this is a money thing and involves potential corporate
liability, she is the only one who can make the policy on this.  And
since it is a legal thing, she probably needs definition "in writing"
from the Tax Commission.  A phone call usually won't do for things where
someone can go to jail, and in this situation it is not the individual
merchants that are targeted but the hosting organizations themselves.

I am most worried about long term effect.  Namron has tried very hard to
be good for merchants.  We provide a coordinator for the merchants, we
charge no merchant fee (though some merchants occasionally donate
prizes), and we consider the needs of the merchants when planning an
event.  We in Namron know how much we depend on merchants.  Heck, some
of us are merchants ourselves.  Our seneschal is.  Our herald is. Our
chronicler and our archery marshal run taverns. And we have friends,
like you, that are merchants.

I am not asking you to pretend this will be fixed by Wiesenfeuer
Baronial or Mooneshadowe Guardian or even Namron Protectorate.  Please
look at the calendars for other SCA and non-SCA events.  Go ahead and
make contingency plans.  But please assume that an agreeable resolution
WILL be reached, and that those other plans can be cancelled then.  We
do not want to lose any of you folks.


Ulf Gunnarsson
Baron of Namron, a barony in a grand medieval kingdom.
Citizen of a sometimes annoying modern-day state.