Pat: Thanks for the info. Around here, the second type of show you mention
simply would not work. Or at least, no professional grower would
participate. They might be able to fill it with backyard growers.
Professional growers already have sales tax accounts, credit card
processors, etc., etc. [that we already pay for, every month]. And I, at
least, have my own culture sheets to hand out -- the ones from AOS are not
real accurate for the So. Fla. environment, so I'd rather any purchasers use
mine.

At the better OS shows, we do still have member volunteers asking to help us
with set-up and break-down. These offers are much appreciated (sometimes I
get stuck or stranded), but I prefer to bring my own help, when at all
possible, even tho I have to pay for it -- the OS volunteers, despite their
best intentions, tend to do as much damage as good. At my last OS show, I
just barely managed to keep some of my equipment from being broken by one of
those eager volunteers ... No way I'd let them handle the $$. And even if I
relented on that, 20% would definitely _not_ work. I don't have enough
margin in the plants to pay that kind of commission, and I can't raise
prices to cover it (as you've mentioned), because the plants just won't sell
at prices raised to cover that.

I do understand the risk/reward aspect. Even tried it once or twice, years
back. Never again. I agree with you that it SHOULD give the show sponsor
an incentive to advertise, etc., but it has never seemed to work out that
way, down here. Hope that your luck with it continues. Kenni


"Pat Brennan" wrote in message
...

Around here we have two types of shows. The first is much like yours in
that the society sells sales tables. The cost of tables at these shows
have risen like every thing else over the years.

In the Mid Atlantic area we also have a second type of show, the
commission show. They are part of the legacy left by Merit Huntington.
Instead of vendors taking money, the society runs a central checkout. The
society collects money, handles sales tax, processes credit cards, packs
the purchases, and provides culture info (thus the booklet Al was talking
about for the DC show). Instead of receiving a fixed table fee, the
society takes a percent of the sales (20% in most cases). These shows are
cool in that a society's financial success in not measured by the number
of tables they sell and the amount they charged for them, instead the
society's financial success is measured by how successful the show was for
its vendors. The society is directly rewarded for advertising the show
and getting out the people.