Teams Selling Items to Other Teams at Regionals

[sanddrag]

Is selling items (like tether extension cables) to other teams at Regional events prohibited? I don't know the rules on this. I don't see it in conflict with any other vendor since no one else has these for sale in the vicinity. I currently sell them by mail but the shipping cost I incur is only passed on to the customer. We can avoid this cost and gain more exposure if we were allowed to do this.

Or perhaps it would not be a "sale", it could be "make a donation of x dollars and receive a cable"

I can already forsee some of the replies this thread might receive saying "If you can sell that my team wants to sell tools and that team wants to sell shirts, etc, etc." But I was just thinking that a long tether is something EVERY team could use and most teams want and I simply want to provide a service for the benefit of all.

[KenWittlief]

you need to check the manual, I think its section ten the has the rules for what you cannot do at events. I know that teams cannot have fundraisers at the events, so there is already some precident that is against you.

I think FIRST might have a problem with anyone trying to set up 'shop' in the pits, or at the facilities. Best to ask them directly.

BTW - when we want to test our bot with a longer tether, we hook several of them together - every year you get a few in the KOP so after a few years you end up with a box full. It is a cool idea though.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Is selling items (like tether extension cables) to other teams at Regional events prohibited?

You know, you could always donate items to teams in need in the spirit of a little thing called Gracious Professionalism instead of selling it to them.

For example in 2000 my team set up what we called a H.E.R.O. booth at the UTC regionals in CT.

H.E.R.O. stood for Helping Every Robot Organization and it earned us the sportsmanship award that year!!

[sanddrag]

Good point in the above post.

We always offered to fix our opponents robots after the match.

I don't know if we can give the cables for free because they cost us too you know, and we have always struggled with money. Also, I don't know that we've been around long enough to set up something like HERO. I had thought about running a full service repair shop but I don't think we have enough members for that. Last year at LA we gave programming help for anyone and everyone in need and actually got beaten by our own code a couple times. Now that is a good example of GP.

I'll have to think this over a little more. Maybe we can rig up something that really shows a lot of GP this year. The only award we've ever one is Regional Finalist.

I remember at the LA regional in 2002 there was a team from Hawaii who gave a box of Macadamia nuts to everyone. That was really cool.