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Re: SPI Requirement To Purchase
Posted by Patrick Dingle at 2/9/2001 10:59 PM EST
Coach on team #639, Red B^2, from Ithaca High School and Cornell University. In Reply to: SPI Requirement To Purchase Posted by rob kelly on 2/9/2001 12:38 PM EST: Of course it is a "scheme" (i hate to use that word) to help out small parts. Just because it benefits a company (gasp!), why should we frown upon it? Keep in mind Small Parts is giving $200 catalog value worth of parts to each team, and the next $1000 is half price. Their partnership with FIRST is extremely beneficial to all parties involved, and I would hate to see it disappear. Consider the ramificiations of allowing teams to purchase parts from anywhere. It would become virtually impossible for FIRST to enforce caps on the amount of money that can be spent (such as $1200 for this season). Some teams would be able to "buy" parts from their sponsoring companies or through other connections at extremely discounted prices. Teams with huge 6-figure budgets to easily win by simply outspending other teams with only 4- and 5-figure budgets. Additionally, there would be no limit on types of materials that could be purchased, so teams could in theory purchase entire drive systems or major components of robots. I don't mean to minimize your point, but I think the Small Parts deal is more of a bargain than you could get anywhere else. Our team also is on a very tight budget, but the $200 and half price deal is saving us a lot! If this disappeared there would be no way we would have been able to afford some of the parts we got from Small Parts. Although this may benefit Small Parts and take business away from competitors, I think Small Parts and FIRST make an extremely good partnership. I applaud FIRST for rules such as these, which make sure that all teams have minimal advantages over others as possible. Patrick : We are a second year team, located in a very rural area. We have very limited machining capabilities. We have one engineer volunteering about 1-2 hrs. per week. The team is run by myself with another teachers assistance. This requirement has cost us time and we have no alternative. In addition this arrangement is more costly than for example buying bearings or sprockets from McMaster Carr. I don't believe this practice is reflective of commercial enertprize either. My partner believes as has been mentioned here that this is a scheme to prop up small parts. Teams similar to ours in composition are the ones footing the bill along with the rookie teams. This detracts from the positive elements of FIRST. If they were that concerned why not package all legal parts in the kits and make only those parts illegal. My team should not be penalized because we lack the facilities or hands on sponsorship of an engineering giant. I'll get off the soap box now. : Thanks : Rob |
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