Chief Delphi - What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

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Re: What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by artdutra04 (Post 825686)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fFoEYiM7lQ

If you look really closely, the train on the left has a bunch of team numbers on it and the one on the right has "GDC". What I'd really like to know is what color were the guy's pants at frame 0:34!

Re: What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

So, it looks like you have # options of taking your batteries

1. ship them in the crate with no leads on them
2. bring them to the competition
3. with leads on them, and count them as part of your 40lb
4. with leads detached, and the leads having ring terminals on them, counting as part of your 40lb
5. with leads detached, and unmodified leads, with neither counting as part of your 40 lb

So, unless you are counting them in your 40lb withholding allowance you must remove the leads.

kinda like the battery connector issue in 2004 (i think it was) crimped connectors were not allowed, you had to use the screw on type, lots of folks didn't like that rule, but it was the rule, and if you wanna play, you gotta follow them.

Re: What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Stiltner (Post 825723)

kinda like the battery connector issue in 2004 (i think it was) crimped connectors were not allowed, you had to use the screw on type, lots of folks didn't like that rule, but it was the rule, and if you wanna play, you gotta follow them.

There's a huge difference though. In 2005 the rule you mention was actually in writing from the moment the game manual was released. It was a rule nobody liked, but it was a rule the entire time and everybody knew about it (unlike this year).

Re: What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 825543)

They technically did let us know about this at the beginning of the season. The wording of the rule hasn't changed in 3 years, actually. So theoretically we've all knowingly broken the rules about it for two years now. It's not the GDC's fault that niether the teams, GDC, or inspectors thought to put everything together into this specific scenario with a question and this specific ruling. The GDC ruled correctly, and stayed within the realm of what the Q&A is for ... so dear God let's hope for an update out later today, as those are the only things that can change a rule rather than interpret it.

From a legal standpoint, the principle of estopple and the fact that the rule hasn't changed in three years, and that during those three years battery/connectors were not considered fabricated items (after all, how many teams used last year's batteries attached to last year's cables? Quite illegal if batteries+cables are fabricated items) does indicate that unless the rules WERE changed that past practices and interpretations should be carried out.

I would be pleased, however, if rather than arguing the point that batteries + cables should be considered COTS from a legal standpoint, we could settle this from an engineering and common sense standpoint by asking, "What is the point of making teams assemble their batteries on Thursday morning and/or disallowing battery cables assembled in previous years?"

The nice thing is that the legal, engineering, and logical common sense arguments all suggest that battery and cable assemblies should be COTS.

Jason

Re: What's going in your Withholding Allowance?

Thanks to the GDC for listening to and addressing this issue. Connected batteries no longer count as part of the Withholding Allowance per Team Update 15