How many of you have received a phone call, text, or email the day before, or well after a tournament deadline
for the early rate, with a request of " hey, good buddy, ole friend of mine, could you let me in for the early fee, I
promise ya I will register on-time, next time.??"
As a new TD, I did not think it was a big deal t reply “sure, be glad to help”. I even thought that, for the most part,
I was helping the organizer “get people in”.
Then it occurred to me that really, what I was doing, for the most part, was simply enabling many who refused
to plan ahead, and causing considerable delay difficulties in starting tournaments for the organizers. In short,
really, i was not doing them much in the way of favors.
So, the question I have for you gals and guys, is this: How often do you get these requests??
I actually never rec’d one of these requests, although I haven’t directed/organized nearly as many tournaments as you.
During my “active TD” period, I would direct six one-day tournaments and four two-day tournaments a year. For the one-day tournaments, there was no reduced EF for registering early, these events were small (<25 players) and only one section.
My two-day events were usually in the larger area of Category D (25-45 players) and there was a $5-$10 early EF discount for registering early. The TLA stated that the EF had to be RECEIVED by the Wednesday before the weekend tournament. Our club met on Wednesday nights, so I could take entries in person there too.
I said “received” mostly just so I would be more likely to receive the entries before Saturday morning. I think there was only a couple instances where I received an entry in the mail on Thursday rather than Wednesday, and I let those couple slide with the early fee.
I was involved for 25 years with an event that had no on-site registration and an advance registration deadline that usually ended a week before the event. Nearly every year I would get calls, sometimes from some of the best players in the state, with their excuse as to why they missed the registration deadline. Most of them quickly learned that the deadline was inflexible and they remembered that in subsequent years.
Yep, I have done it. Players have called me after deadlines to enter. Took their entry. Good thing, too, as I did not have to reduce prizes.
I also have let a couple of players play for free, as I knew they had no money. One guy helped me to set up tables and chairs for a tournament and said he would stick around to watch the games for a while. I knew he really wanted to play, but disability checks can be stretched only so far during a month to cover expenses. The chess club board did not like it, but then they were supposed to be there to help out and failed to show up.
A couple of organizers have let me in after deadlines. They know I always show up and pay, and I usually bring more players with me. I also post their tournament flyers in our club. Professional courtesy.
I’ve done events that not only were advance registration only, but also had a limit on the numer of entries. For such events it was common for people to start to register multiple weeks prior to the advance registration deadline as a way to secure a playing spot and not have their advance registration declined/returned. In such events a no-show would NOT get a refund of their entry fee (since their entry kept another person from playing).
When you give refunds of advance entries you run into something I often see with IHSA events where a high school will register their entire club and then only pay for the 10% that is actually playing in the individual section (and often it turns out that the 20 players from that school that you entered into that section becomes zero players since they are only able to get the eight players needed for the team section).
Personally I still find it easier to advance enter 250 players into a section knowing that I will pull 130 than to enter 120 players on the morning of the event (the pulling of the 130 delays the first round pairings less than entering 120 would). Of course, it would be even easier on me if the various organizers could get the coaches to send realistic rosters.
I get these requests all the time and I almost always grant them, up until the time I print the advance entry list Friday night, usually around 9:00 PM. As long as they aren’t going to cost me any extra time on Saturday morning I have no problem doing this. I usually tell them however, that they have to arrive before the end of registration to turn in the entry fee, as I won’t pair players for whom I have no EF in hand. In a very small number of cases (for players who are regular “customers” I know personally and consider reliable), I’ll even accept just the promise to appear, pair them and start their clocks when Rd. 1 begins. I can’t remember ever being burned by a no-show or a failure to pay a promised EF.
One of the main reasons I do this is that we (the NH Chess Assn.) have been promising people an online credit card entry option for almost three years now. For various reasons, it didn’t get done (though it looks like that is about to change). I am really, really convinced that tournaments with advance entries only by U.S. Mail are costing themselves a LOT of entries. These days, it’s not just laziness or poor planning that causes players to decide only at the last minute - people are busier and frequently can’t be sure they can play until late in the week. Many of these players will decide not to come if faced with the late fee. So I accept almost all e-mail entries - and will keep doing it until we get online entry implemented. Once that option is available, anyone will be able to enter and pay instantly, even at the last minute, which is what people have come to expect these days.
In Utah, we have tended to operate a bit like NH. We do our best to try and get paid early, but often wind up accepting late entrants up until Friday night.
Hal, what are you going to do to accept credit card payments in NH? I agree that tourneys that accept advance entries only via snail mail are hurting themselves. We were in the boat until recently but we know have an option to pay via paypal and to register online using googledocs. I’d like to get to the point where we can also take credit cards. I’d be interested to hear what you plan to do in NH or what others have done so that I can steal any ideas that could work in Utah.
The short answer is that we are going with “Square.” The orginal plan was to implement PayPal but that turned into a bureaucratic/logistical nightmare spanning two years. I got the Square account set up in two days. I haven’t had a chance to test all the features yet but so far there haven’t been any issues I can’t handle. If I get some free time tomorrow, maybe I’ll PM you with more details.
Agree with you on that it is a lot easier to delete than it is to add. For quite often, even coaches do not have
the information you need, at least immediately, to register. I have met k-3 graders with really long names who
could not even begin to spell it. Understandable, but not helpful when the crowd is lining up. And this is certainly
easier than dealing with a coach upset that her kids are getting a bye because they showed 5 min before tourn
starting with a busload of 50.