The Many Ways Of Getting Stuffed Animals In A Pinch

Concessionaires sometimes have limited space to haul their stuffed animals around. I am one of them. Because of this they often run out of supply during an event and have to get more. It is a tough task sometimes. I have found myself driving 600 miles round trip to and from a supply house on more than one occasion. A whole bunch of times their just isn't enough time to do this drive. On these occasions a person has to find other alternative ways to get stock for their games. One of the main ways is to go to another vendor and try to purchase teddy bears or whatever else they need from them. Many times this is a really hard task, after all the other vendor is also your competition. They sometimes don't want to help you simply because it costs them money every time they do this. You almost have to be friends for them to sell you, the competition, an oppurtunity to take money off the same midway they are running a business on. Another option is to drive to another carnival set up near your festival to get your supply. These concessionaires are way more apt to sell you stuffed animals directly out of their truck. If they are playing a festival that isn't really kicking then they are even more apt to sell you some. They want the cash flow at that point. So it does help to go to the festival nearest you that you know isn't too hot of a commodity. You can also go to a dollar type store and get animals. Often times you be able to strike a special deal with the manager providing they are on duty when you show up offering this proposition. They like it when you aren't discussing the purchase of just one stuffed toy. You are, after all, needing to supply more than one game and will need several. Sometimes I have actually needed every teddy bear in the store. If the manager isn't on duty you will be paying a much larger price for this escapade than you ever wanted to. But you have to have the product or you won't make nothing at all when your supply totally runs out. I have seen this happen to, not only me, but several other small time vendors. Of course there are always second hand shops, goodwill stores, salvation armys, and other places like this as a last alternative. I have had to, or actually wanted to, buy from these places. Whenever I buy from these places I will always get a deal on the whole. I will ask what they want for all these bears. Most of the time these places get the bears donated and will darn near give them to you. Several look all to obviously used. I usually separate them and give them away or even take them back to the second hand shop I bought them from. One time in Alabama I was doing a festival basically totally supplied with these types of prizes. Towards the end of the fest I was down to the last of these second hand items. Of course you don't really want the customers to realize they are used. People aren't stupid like some carnies like to think. In this scenario the ones I had left were starting to look pretty pathetic. Me and my friend were packing up and a young couple walked up. The lady plays and wins and picks a rabbit. It looks like the play is over with this boy friend and girl friend so we resume packing up. The guy says to me and my partner in crime, "Hey! Why you guys packing up? Wonder if my girl wants a bigger Goodwill rabbit?". I am laughing right now at this young comedians smart remark. When you are about out of material you can call a supplier and have the bears stuff you need shipped over night. Thus paying a large over night shipping fee. This fee is usually so strong that it will be over double the normal price per animal. This isn't a wise decision and I have made this decision before. Ouch! That smarts real bad. Not to mention it hurts the net a whole bunch. I wouldn't advise this strategy unless you knew you were going to hit real big. It would be way handier to actually have the storage space to have all the product you need all the time. But with the price of gas these days you don't want to haul an extra vehicle or trailer for the few times that you get in these particular binds. Even before the gas prices went up it was not an easy task unless you had the route that required the extra equipment necessary. It is way better if you have a glossary of all the stock companies in the area you are in, and their hours of operation. Just in case your spot hits larger than your regular allowable amount of space for prizes. That is the best alternative in these tight spots. They are the cheapest way of reproducing your games and novelty stands. That's why they are the same places you call and order from in the first place. I created the web site http://uscarnys.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Staffen

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Carnival Real Estate
By Sam Staffen
In the outdoor amusement industry, otherwise known as carnival, there is a whole bunch of real estate being sold all the time. Every fair, committee, and other entities sell the real estate for a wide range of reasons. Nonetheless it is being sold, sold, sold, and in great volume.
A concessionaire new or old to this business often buys real estate that just flat wasn't worth it. On many occasions a concessionaire would not have paid anything for the real estate they received had they had any kind of hindsight. The rent was too high for the net profit to be anything of value.
I have been in this industry for nearly 20 years and have purchased locations for my games that just did not pan out. I have worked for other people that i was unable to get any significant amount of net profit for on several occasions. Some of the worthless occasions have happened a year after that same location at that same exact festival had been successful. Go figure.
Many times when a person does good at a fair they brag about it. They tell everyone how good spot X or Z was. The next thing you know everyone knows about this jam-up spot. Many times the information of this jam-up festival doesn't come back to haunt the poor fella that went back looking for the same rewards. But many times it does.
One of the main reasons is that real estate has to be sold. I have figured out sure fire ways of knowing if a fair or festival will hold out the following year through many trials and many more errors. My ways of knowing take the word of mouth factor right out of the picture. My ways of telling totally eliminate the vast real estate sales going on at every event.
Let's start by factoring in how it came about that you even booked this event to start with. Was it a carnival or the committee that you booked or the person you were working for booked with? If it is a carnival it factors in quite differently than a committee.
The committees are harder to figure out because they often times don't really know the business as it is a one time a year position for them. Most committees handle just that one fair and just are not as prone to know why your location hit or did not and can some time screw everything up the following year by placing a new stand or walkway that totally kills you location unknowingly.
Carnivals on the other hand are way better to know what can and probably will happen the following year. They know every move. But will this particular carnival even make those moves? Some carnivals only book one of a kind games while others book the same concessionaires all year. These are the ideal shows for knowing you will do well the following year because they generally won't have many more or too many repeat concessions the following year.
There are many more of the shows that will be more than willing to book the many EXTRA VENDORS THAT WILL BE CALLING because word is out that everybody hit at that festival the year before. I have seen spots, like the Mardi Gras in Lafayette, Louisiana, quadruple the number of games from one year to the next. Or maybe quadruple the food like a committee will from time to time. Or simply put 14 of the same item in their real estate sales pocket.
There is a way to know that even when you are on a show that "overbooks" that the spot will still hit the following year. Look around during the good year and see if their is any more space available to rent. If there isn't much more room to put too much more equipment in then chances are the spot will be just as good the following year based on the theory that there is no more space to sell real estate.
Take for instance the IX Center in Brookfeild, Ohio. I have done that fair when it was at it's capacity and done reasonably well. I have never made enough to write home about but it remains consistent because the building doesn't get any bigger so the carnival simply doesn't have any extra space to rent if they wanted to. That is a bad example in this nature in that the shows that usually get the IX don't usually overbook when given the opportunity anyway.
my name is Sam and I created the web site uscarnys.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Staffen