It seems to me that the most cost-effective way of shipping to bag and tag events might involve very little other than organization from FIRST. If a team was coming to 10,000 Lakes from out of state and wanted to ship, for example, it would make a lot of sense to pair them up with a local team attending the regional (for example, 2177
). They ship their robot to our build space and we stick their crate in a corner. Being FIRST teams, they could trust us to take care of it once in our possession, better than they could the corner of some random warehouse being actively used for other things.
Then, having that local connection, the teams could meet at the build space before the doors open, the robot could be un-crated, and both team's robots stuck in the back of a truck to make the trip together. At the end of the regional, the reverse. The host team would then take the shipping papers and get the robot out to Fed-EX.
This method would be a great way for teams to work together and help each other out, form lasting bonds of friendship across the nation, and save FIRST a lot of headaches/money. They would just need a way for teams to volunteer to host and other teams to ask for volunteers. The teams could do the rest of the arrangements. At least, this would solve the worries Dale listed