[Bill Gold]

sanddrag:

You've got to look at all of this from FIRST's point of view. It takes on the order of $250,000 to run a regional event, plus they have to pay people to work for them. They've got to look at any way they can cut a few expenses here and there. The battery chargers and the compressors are extremely expensive parts of the kit.

If they only had to hand out ~250-300 chargers to 3yr veterans and younger that would save them a ton of money. The compressor is also very expensive to supply, which is why at the SJ Forum we suggested that with regards to 3 yr+ teams, FIRST only send out the compressor to teams who order cylinders. So basically, what we suggested wouldn't necessarily be a "rookie kit", but a 3 yr and younger kit, in which a team would receive every component. What are your thoughts on that?

-Bill


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btw, if you feel strongly about these issues then you should probably attend yourself, or have your team send a representative or 2 to the Forum next year. You're from CA, San Jose isn't that expensive to visit for a day. It's kinda like $@#$@#$@#$@#$@#ing about taxation w/o representation, but in this case it's up to your teams to represent yourselves. It's not as hard as it used to be when the single forum was held in Manchester.
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