Hockey Leage Wants T&I Free

[Rob_Ganzeveld]

I have to agree with Mark on this one. Where will it end. Next time they will want 2000.00 and unfortunely someone will do it to get their foot in the door or to make a few bucks. This is the thinking that devalues what we are doing and is sh*t kicking the industry. If parents get photos for free they will not make a effort to purchase more. A friend of mine went through this a few years ago with a minor soccer association. They added $10.00 to the registration for outdoor soccer and everyone received a memory mate(They did not expect them for free). A total of 1500 kids at $10.00 a kid and he was thrilled with $15,000 from the association. He did a few thousand in extra sales but when he added it all up no one really bought. Now this may sound like a lot of money and it is until you subtract all expenses. We talked about it and I convinced him to get out of the deal with the soccer association and his sales went up 40%. They have stayed up .
We can work the numbers anyway we want to make them look good( the government does it all the time) but the bottom line is giving anything away for free without getting anything in return is just bad business and bad for all our businesses.

BTW I am not just talking about the 45cents it costs to print a memory mate on a Noritsu, I am thinking of the total expense it costs to keep a business running , not to mention wages for the 10 people needed to make this type of shoot run smoothly.
Rob

[DougAxford]

We've gotten out of all 'league pay' situations as of this month. Our experience was similar to what Rob G. says - far too many parents take the freebies. The real hard part for me to comprehend is this: leagues want more $$$ every chance they can, so why do some of them insist upon including T&I in registation fees?? Why not save the thousands of $$ and let parents pay themselves??
I've got a friend an hour away that says he makes big bucks on 'league pay' and hates 'parent pay' - I'm the opposite - go figure.

It all comes down to whether you need the business and are willing to wheel & deal or are you turning down better deals. My goal is to maximize my staff with the most profitable leagues that I can get. Each year I drop the least profitable (or biggest headache)league and add another 1 or 2. A lot depends upon the sport and how well you can organize your shoot on the day(s). Some photogs boast they get $40./per player, but shoot 30 an hour. That's great, until you compare it with $30./per player and 100 or more/hour per photog. But then, some are much happier with less $$ and shooting stuff that makes them happy. You can argue pretty well any scenerio.

There are always idiots willing to do your job for less money, screw-up the job and leave the market in a bigger mess.

DougA

[Joe_McCary]

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I was offered to shoot T&I for a 500 kid hockey league next year. Only catch is they want a team photo 5 X 7 and 3.5 X 5 individual on matt frame for free for all the kids. I told him no way.

[/ QUOTE ]

At first glance your response is the right. But maybe there are ways to please and still put a few bucks in your pockets. In my mind there are no firm rules. But obviously you are not in the business of giving away your work. But if there is a way to fill his request AND satisfy your needs then you are both happy. Suppose you suggest that the T&I ARE free "IF" the family purchases X amount of reprints. Then you have fulfilled your obligation and make your money as well. The trick is to place a print rate that meets that need. The second possibility is to have the team guarantee a base amount to cover your expenses and a small profit and then the reprints will give you your profit. Both take some figuring and some knowledge of both the team's history in buying AND what you can get the prints made for. I just bet you can find some place to give you a price break on 500 copies of a 5x7 and 500 3½x5 prints and matts.