Shipping vouchers for teams pre-registered for Championship

[giantmidget31]

Our team is pre-registered for St. Louis. We do not have shipping vouchers, and are wondering where we have to get them (if they are provided). I know that teams who qualify for the championships usually get their vouchers at the regional where they qualified.

Do we get vouchers? If so, how?

If it matters, we are in NJ, so we are doing MAR.

[Mike Martus]

I have been thinking about this same question. Many teams are per-qualified

I did not see anything in the manual???

[Ricky Q.]

Here is what Section 5 says:

All teams competing at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis will be issued a voucher because teams must ship robots to Championship.

If you attend the FIRST Championship, you will receive an additional FedEx voucher (bill of lading) at Championship to ship your robot home.

So perhaps they will be sending them out sometime in the next weeks to teams who have pre-qualified and registered?

[Chef Jeff]

5.8.2 If You Are Attending Championships

All teams attending the Championship will receive one (1) shipment home for their robot under the FedEx donation. The Bill of Lading for this shipment will be distributed at the Championship in the team’s registration packet.



Additional shipping details may be found in the “How to Ship Your Robot” document in the FRC Administrative Manual web page: www.usfirst.org/frc/competitionmanual. If you are shipping your robot, you must read this document to have a complete understanding of the process.

[Joe Ross]

Administrative - Robot Transportation » Robot Shipping - For Teams Granted an Exemption or Attending Championship » If You Are Attending Championship
Q. What is the deadline to ship the robot to Championships after a team's final Regional Competition? FRC0100 2012-02-16
A. Greetings Team: Thank you for writing. We will be receiving more information on Championship robot transportation next week, and will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible. In addition, we will be posting other Championship specific documents on our website shortly. I apologize for any inconveneince. Sincerely, FRC Team Support

It sounds like they didn't have everything settled on the 16th, maybe there's still stuff up in the air.

[Chef Jeff]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

It sounds like they didn't have everything settled on the 16th, maybe there's still stuff up in the air.

Its not only for Championship we are still waiting for a Name/address to ship to the Seattle event, Lots of changes this year

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Chef Jeff

IMPORTANT II: DO NOT ship your robot to the CMP event unless you qualify at your regional event! Teams not registered for the CMP will be responsible for all costs associated with shipping their robot to and from the CMP. Only teams officially registered to attend the CMP will have their shipments home covered by the FedEx Donation.

Looks like only those that win at a local regional will get fed ex docs to ship to CMP, will have to wait

I don't think that this means that only teams that win at local regionals get shipping for CMP. Other teams are also "officially registered" when they have paid for CMP. In all other years, any team registered for CMP was given free shipping both to CMP and home. I would expect that teams will receive their Fed Ex materials either at their last event or in the mail.

If FIRST had decided to not pay for shipping for all teams registered for CMP I am quite sure they would have mentioned that change during registration.

I believe the statement quoted above was to make sure that no one shipped to CMP who was not officially registered either through advance registration eligibility and payment OR for those teams that will "win their way in."

In other words, Don't ship your robot to CMP without being officially registered unless you are willing to pay for shipping back on your own too.
(Those teams would just ship their robot to CMP and back without uncrating it...)

[waialua359]

For those that are still concerned about shipping vouchers and where to send your robots, I suggest you contact FIRST and soon.

It wasnt until I contacted FIRST yesterday that I received info about where to ship our robot to the Lone Star event. Even the RD for the Houston regional didnt have the answer and had to check with FIRST as well. With the info received, I noticed that Shepard is handling the robot to and from drayage once again. It was a different vendor when we did NYC last year, so teams should check.
As for CMP, I also noticed that they still had the 2011 CMP info up, and some of the info on there is outdated, such as the contact person for Shepard.
Paula doesnt even work for them anymore.

Perhaps FIRST should have ironed out the CMP robot shipment instructions earlier given that many teams have already shipped out robots under certain exemptions and are traveling out of state.
Its a big deal when you go from the traditional shipping methods to all bag/tag regional tournaments, then to have every team have to ship via a crate to CMP.

[Andy Brockway]

FIRST sent out an email Friday. Due to competing this past weekend at GSR I did not see this email until this morning.

You have to ship on the Tuesday following your last event. (DId anyone else see this in any communication prior to Friday?)

I received my Fedex voucher while I was at GSR.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by Andy Brockway

FIRST sent out an email Friday. Due to competing this past weekend at GSR I did not see this email until this morning.

You have to ship on the Tuesday following your last event. (DId anyone else see this in any communication prior to Friday?)

I received my Fedex voucher while I was at GSR.

Andy can you post the entire message. I did not get one.

[Andy Brockway]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Andy can you post the entire message. I did not get one.

Hello Team,

You are receiving this email because your team is registered for Championship and will need to ship your robot. Attached to this email you will find detailed information on how to ship your robot and where to ship it to. Please also read section 5.8 in the FRC Administrative Manual “Robot Shipping” here: http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/7#5.

Please note: Your team will need to ship your robot by the Tuesday after your last event.

If your team used the Bag & Tag process to bring your robot to your event, you will need to Bag & Tag the robot home. From home, you will need to schedule your pick up from FedEx to Championship.

If your team was granted a Bag & Tag exemption, you will need to Bag & Tag your robot and crate it up at your event. You will then need to complete your proper shipping documents. The drayage location that you shipped to will handle scheduling your pick up from FedEx to Championship.

It is important to remember that if your robot exceeds the 400lb weight limit, your team will be charged for weight overage fees. There are more details in this regard in the attached documents.

Please note robots will need to arrive to the drayage location by the Tuesday before your event. Also please remember that if you are using the FedEx donation voucher and are shipping to events that are back to back, FIRST does not guarantee that they will arrive on time for the second event. We strongly advise not shipping from one event to another, if they are back to back. You are responsible for making sure your robot arrives on time.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions by phone at 1-800-871-8326 ext. 0 or by email at frcteams@usfirst.org.

Sincerely,

FRC Team Support

[Mark McLeod]

Thanks, I didn't get that message yet either.

[JohnBoucher]

Thanks Andy. Perhaps they email you as you start your first event. What if you only had one event??

[Mark McLeod]

The email might be intended to coincide with receiving the pre-paid FedEx voucher at the event. We'll see if we get one this week, eh John?

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

The email might be intended to coincide with receiving the pre-paid FedEx voucher at the event. We'll see if we get one this week, eh John?

Here we go. I think we'll put you near each other in the pits...