It is time for the business of the activity to evolve

[Spatzzz]

The logistical hurdles that a food company would need to jump through to schedule food deliveries for 22 separate contracts across the country in different locations would be a complete nightmare and would most likely drive the costs up to no better than what the corps already get now. I think the person's heart is in the right place by bringing these things up but again I think people close to the activity over-value it's scale and value to other businesses.

 

 

[rpbobcat]

1 hour ago, Spatzzz said:

The logistical hurdles that a food company would need to jump through to schedule food deliveries for 22 separate contracts across the country in different locations would be a complete nightmare and would most likely drive the costs up to no better than what the corps already get now. I think the person's heart is in the right place by bringing these things up but again I think people close to the activity over-value it's scale and value to other businesses.

 

 

Actually,if this was handled the way I originally suggested,the logistics wouldn't be that difficult.

My recommendation was that this be handled through DCI.

DCI executes one contract with each supplier.

DCI pays the suppliers.Each corps pays DCI.

DCI knows each corps' schedule (shows,practice sites, etc.)

Based on this,they set up set up mutually convenient "drop off" /"pick up" locations for each supplier the

the corps.

DCI could even make adjustments in corps' schedules,before the season,to

simplify "droop off"/"pick up" locations.

If you're talking about non-perishable items,you'd need a limited amount of 

pick ups during the season.

Perishables would be a bit trickier.

But, if DCI gets a contract with a company like Walmart,it should be 

doable.

More then anything,it comes down to DCI and the corps wanting to do this.

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by rpbobcat

[garfield]

1 hour ago, Spatzzz said:

The logistical hurdles that a food company would need to jump through to schedule food deliveries for 22 separate contracts across the country in different locations would be a complete nightmare and would most likely drive the costs up to no better than what the corps already get now. I think the person's heart is in the right place by bringing these things up but again I think people close to the activity over-value it's scale and value to other businesses.

 

 

I beg to differ until someone does the diligence.

My math shows something along the lines of 150,000 meals served in a season.  22 corps x150 = 3300 mouths to feed every day.  Times $6 per day (ballpark) times 40 days is, ballpark, $800,000 per season for food.

Logistically, this is done all the time so I don't think it's a bother at all.  The issue will be finding a sole supplier that covers the whole country.

Also, the regionals are fairly evenly spaced throughout the season.  An alternative might be for the food delivery to be made in the host city of the regional.  I'm sure the company (Sysco for example) delivers city-wide in the regional cities.

A single drum corps buying for only for itself has no buying power at all and has to dedicate sizable resources to procurement that potentially could be handled better, faster, and/or cheaper on a national scale.

 

[garfield]

6 minutes ago, rpbobcat said:

Actually,if this was handled the way I originally suggested,the logistics wouldn't be that difficult.

My recommendation was that this be handled through DCI.

DCI executes one contract with each supplier.

DCI pays the suppliers.Each corps pays DCI.

DCI knows each corps' schedule (shows,practice sites, etc.)

Based on this,they set up set up mutually convenient "drop off" locations for each supplier.

DCI would even make adjustments in corps' schedules,before the season,to

simplify "droop off"/"pick up".

If you're talking about non-perishable items,you'd need a limited amount of 

pick ups during the season.

Perishables would be a bit trickier.

But, if DCI gets a contract with a company like Walmart,it should be 

doable.

More then anything,it comes down to DCI and the corps wanting to do this.

 

Food companies already deliver food to school cafeterias.  Drum corps stay in schools.

Seems a no-brainer for a truck to pull up to the housing site.

This is standard practice for each corps multiple times during the season.  We're only talking about centralizing it and the corps will want to do it when/if they are shown that they can have the same/better food at a cheaper price that frees up a volunteer to to something else.

A Walmart/Sam's club contract would be golden.  Thirty-three hundred kids swarming local Walmarts to "resupply" is an attraction in addition to a food contract.

 

 

[Ghost]

I'm waiting for the day when a corps converts a 26' box truck into a rolling laundromat.

[rpbobcat]

19 minutes ago, Ghost said:

I'm waiting for the day when a corps converts a 26' box truck into a rolling laundromat.

That's funny.

My wife and I were talking about the same thing this weekend.

The only potential problems:

1.Would the schools charge you for the water use ?

2.Where do you dump the waste ?

Its not like you can put in into a school sink.

 

[Ghost]

8 minutes ago, rpbobcat said:

That's funny.

My wife and I were talking about the same thing this weekend.

The only potential problems:

1.Would the schools charge you for the water use ?

2.Where do you dump the waste ?

Its not like you can put in into a school sink.

 

The Laundro Truck parks next to the kitchen truck where the water hook up and street type drains are located.  Water usage (showers/kitchen truck) is probably part of the daily rate corps pay.   Corps would not use this truck every day, so it would take a few years maybe to recoup the start up costs.  Or, they have other corps in the area pay them for the four hours to do all the uniforms and maybe staff/volunteers clothing.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Ghost

[LabMaster]

Would it be possible for corps (or DCI on corps behalf) collectively to negotiate discounted purchasing for fuel:  all corps use the same petroleum company card for busses, trucks cars etc., etc.  Do the same for airlines, hotels, SAM's Club or BJ's or Costco or WalMart for other items/supplies/services.    If DCI doesn't want to be the conduit for this, the corps could rerach out to one another to create a way to do it.  If all corps bought supplies through Amazon, with their purchases going through the Amazon 1% program right back to themselves.  I may not have that quite right.   That may be a way to leverage some buying power.  And you could do something with uniform companies as well. 

Someone with Procurement experience for a large corporation could figure out some kind of a bulk purchasing program with vendors.

[dcifanforlife]

34 minutes ago, garfield said:

Food companies already deliver food to school cafeterias.  Drum corps stay in schools.

Seems a no-brainer for a truck to pull up to the housing site.

This is standard practice for each corps multiple times during the season.  We're only talking about centralizing it and the corps will want to do it when/if they are shown that they can have the same/better food at a cheaper price that frees up a volunteer to to something else.

A Walmart/Sam's club contract would be golden.  Thirty-three hundred kids swarming local Walmarts to "resupply" is an attraction in addition to a food contract.

 

 

DCI tried this centralized purchasing a few years back for peanut butter, jelly and cereal.   Fuel and field-ling paint were separate contracts.   Main reason it didn;t work was because corps would not    commit to any volumes before season started and they would not pay in advance.  How corps manage expenses while on tour is widely different.  Some pay with cash, some pay with script and many pay with credit cards.  The person on tour that is managing finances is the key.  A combination of all three methods is the best.  You don;t want to have a lot of cash on hand for obvious reasons.  Corps use the cash from souvie sales to pay some expenses daily.  Problem with credit cards is that the people in home office don't get a clear picture of what is being spent regardless how fast the expenses are loaded into their accounting system.  Basically corps are broke before the season starts, during tour and hopefully they are not broke at end of tour.   Having a solid budget and keeping within budget is the goal for every corps.  Corps are not very good at paying their bills in advance.

[LabMaster]

4 minutes ago, Ghost said:

The Laundro Truck parks next to the kitchen truck where the water hook up and street type drains are located.  Water usage (showers/kitchen truck) is probably part of the daily rate corps pay.   Corps would not use this truck every day, so it would take a few years maybe to recoup the start up costs.  Or, they have other corps in the area pay them for the four hours to do all the uniforms and maybe staff/volunteers clothing.

A laundry truck?  Would a corps buy a laundry truck?  I think this might be a logistical hardship.  MM's do laundry at a laundromat with many washers and dryers and they get the day off too.  Who is going to do laundry in the laundry truck?  How would it be done?