Mike: I agree - the greed factor has really moved in at Veloswap Inc. I'm all for Capitalism, but...... It's almost all outside mega-dealers now, that do maybe $30-50,000 worth of closeouts of clothing and other high-margin leftover stuff in six hours. It's not a swap anymore, IMO. VS's marketing plan has created what they hoped for, I guess. Now they have decided that Chicago might never make mega-bucks, so that show is no more, after one (pretty decent first time) effort. VERY short-sighted decision, IMHO, but there you have it. Had they stayed with it, I think Chicago would have been very profitable in a couple more years (recall that they bought out the Denver Swap after it had been built up from nothing to a money-maker...). I would also be interested in something that is a real vintage lightweight event in Denver in October (I'm not going to Chicago as was planned, unfortunately...). Greg "also less than thrilled" Parker Ann Arbor, Michigan
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 21:45:21 +0000 From: hersefan@comcast.net To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR] Denver Veloswap Party Event Alternative?
Hi CR folks,
I just looked at the Denver Veloswap pricing and it is getting very expensive for individual sellers - every year there is less cool stuff as the corporate "expo" booths take over the event. They really seem to want to push the little guys out.
I'm wondering if folks would be interested in getting together on the Veloswap date for an alternative in the Denver area - something ride/swap/party/show related.
Most of the cool stuff at the swap is from myself and others selling cool stuff among ourselves.
We could also donate some money to Bicycle Colorado too. Veloswap runs the event as a profit maker and only a small amount of the proceeds go to the listed charities.
If there is interest, I'd be willing to put a little time into organizing it. If not, I'll just suck it up and go to Veloswap.
It isn't the money that bothers me, its the principle. Veloswap charges Clubs $175 and NonProfits $150 for a table at the event. Seems just a bit too greedy. If all profits were going to the charity (after paying a few staff members to actually do it) I'd understand. But this is a bit much.
Mike "ranting away" Kone, in Boulder CO