TRADE SHOWS PART 14 - MOVING IN AND OUT THE FREEMAN WAY

The buyer shows add another layer of complexity to the trade show experience. It is called Freeman. Freeman is a company that contracts with the company actually organizing the show. Freeman corners the market for handling the freight, booth building, electrical, video and other services for trade show exhibitors at shows across the country. They utilize union labor for all of their activities, which works well for Stanley Tools, not so well for startup entrepreneurs. I have no problem with unions and one of our products, the Bin Buddie, is and will always be made with American labor.

Chicago

We had to ship our booth to Chicago. As mentioned in an earlier posting, it was quite easy! We packed our boxes, called Freeman, the Roadway truck came and loaded the boxes, and the next time we saw them was at our booth space in Chicago. Our boxes were taken away and stored for us during the show, then returned to for repacking. We repacked them, left them at the booth, and about a week later, they were delivered back to our doorstep in Seattle. It cost us $1000 for this. We have researched a cheaper way to do this, and it’s not the shipper that’s the problem—they were about $200-$400 of the bill. The other $$400-$800 was what Freeman charged to unload the boxes at the loading dock, take them to our booth, store our boxes, and then get them back on the truck after we had repacked them. In reality, we paid $400-$800 for what amounted to maybe an hour’s worth of work for a couple of guys, since our stuff was in six very manageable boxes weighing a total of 300lbs. Not a lot of stuff. At this rate, someone is making a ridiculous amount of money.

Las Vegas

Freeman bled us dry in Chicago, so we had no more money to feed them in Las Vegas. The man on the other end of the phone was nice, but he had trouble understanding the concept of PacEasy being a startup and not being able to pay $400-$800 for loading and unloading 300 pounds twice in the span of six weeks.

Freeman indicates that you can indeed haul your own stuff in and out at these shows, and herein lies the tale. You show up at the loading dock, but you can’t haul your own stuff in from there. Because the loading areas are controlled by union labor, you can only watch helplessly as they unload your stuff, put it on a cart and take it to your booth for you as you walk beside the cart. We had one cart load of stuff and the bill for the 15-minute load and walk job would have been approximately $300.

Alternatively, we were able to move in through the front doors. So, were able to park and move in just fine with our handtruck (which handtruck we had been told we could use) no problem. It was a longer walk, but that $300 we saved was the price of our hotel, so for us it was a no-brainer. We got our stuff in, got set up and had a very successful show.

Our decision not to utilize Freeman's services was confirmed when, on my trips to the booth, I kept passing a Teamster member and Freeman contractor napping on a roll of carpet. This might have been fine, except that this guy was on the clock, and the people standing in the nearest booth did not seem too happy that he was napping on their dime. Apparently and through no fault of their own (a Freeman problem, they explained), their boxes had not arrived at the booth. Mr. Teamster, apparently having nothing else to do, decided to nap until the goods arrived on the scene. His nap lasted 45 minutes. There was a great deal of activity occurring all over the place, so I find it hard to believe that there was nothing else for this man to do other than to take a nap on this exhibitor’s dime.

Moving out, was pretty much the same. We had our handtruck, a smaller cart, and as Thomas broke things down and packed boxes, I wheeled them out. For an hour we did this. On my last trip into the building, a young man began shouting across the lobby, then whistling. No one could figure out what was going on. Apparently, my handtruck was not “allowed” in the building. I found it rather odd that, after using it to move in and move most of my goods out, it would suddenly be a problem. In addition, many other exhibitors were doing the same thing. I checked with one of them and he indicated that he does this for most of his shows and this was the first time there had been a problem.

Apparently, we were all supposed to utilize the cart service. You know, the one that previously quoted me $300 for 15 minutes of labor. Additionally, the people running the cart service were to decide when we would be able to utilize the service, which could have been the next day if they felt like it. Remembering the napping Teamster, I informed the young man that I did not have $300, unleashed a verbal torrent of logical argument at him, and then turned and walked away, leaving him stunned and speechless. Gee, was it the logical part?

Freeman does have a rather vague definition of handtruck it uses to attempt to force you to pay $300 or more for 15 minutes of cart service, but since we had been approved on the way in, and we had loaded in and almost completely loaded out, I could not see what this person’s problem was. If he was concerned about a safety issue, one guy was using an electric cart with a plywood platform tied to the back of it with what looked to be a shoelace. The man would put the cart into high gear, and the platform would swing wildly from side to side, smacking aside anything in its path. No Teamster in sight showed the slightest interest in this man.

Overall, our best advice to startup entrepreneurs would be to keep your dealings with Freeman to a bare minimum and watch every fee they want to throw at you. Do as much as you can do yourself, and if you do have to utilize Freeman/, have someone at the booth at all times supervising to make sure you are not paying for nap time.