FRC Blogged - FIRST Choice Issue (And Part II)

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Tubatroopa

Yeah it would appear some teams got the shaft...but what can they do?

The only thing I think FIRST can do is make every item from FIRST Choice free for every team in the BOM.

Peyton

That doesn't really help all teams though... the teams that don't have the funds to purchase some of the items that were available through FIRST Choice are the ones who will feel this the most. It doesn't matter if it becomes free in the BOM if you could never afford it in the first place.

FIRST is taking steps to make things right... we lost half of our order to the restocking issues, and FIRST is offering help with some common items. I got this email the other day after I responded with having troubles with the system:


Hello Mr. Basse,

Thank you for your response. Again, please accept our apologies for your frustrations.

To compensate, we offer your choice of one of the following items at no cost to you (dollar or credit): Power Distribution Board, E12 Classmate, 4-slot cRIO chassis (no modules), battery, or Rev B radio. Due to our limited inventory, we can only accommodate so many requests of particular items. For that reason, please let us know your first and second picks. We'll do our best to give you your first pick and the item will ship for free (FedEx Ground or track-able USPS).

Take your time discussing this with your team, but please let us know your decision by January 25, 2013 (but if you let us know by December 28, you should have it by Kickoff).

Thank you for your understanding.

Kate

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Kate Pilotte


Kudos to FIRST for taking steps to lessen the burden on teams that were adversely effected. I am happy to be a part of an organization that recognizes the need that teams have and respects the entry fee that we all pay does indeed need to be respected. With that said, we will take the cheapest option on the list because it is what we need. We would have suffered without a battery to make it through the season, and it seems like a small price for an item but when $70 buys you two batteries and that is a around 10% of your budget... I just hope this will result in less of a chance of me or our lead mentor footing the bill for our robot build personally again. With the way Michigan politics are going, I need to keep a close eye on my paychecks...