Posted July 24th, 2009 by Zach
So I know this blog is a litle late but hey, better late than never.
Now that GES & EG have combined and Freeman already doing something very similar, is this a case of unfair trade?
What do I mean by that? Well, think about it for a second. EG goes up against say Derse. They both have competitive designs, the price is very similar, and in fact the client may even be leaning towards Derse. Then all of a sudden EG pulls out the show service card and cuts their price by 20-40% by giving the drayage to the potential client for free.
It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out who the client is going to sign with, obviously EG.
But how is that a fair competition? I mean, you think of any other business who tried to do this and RED flags would be raised right away.
The only reason the show service / union rates are so high is because these companies like GES and Freeman are giving the services away for free so they need exhibit houses to pick up the tab.
What can be done, it's not like you can't order show services?
Could we maybe do our own drayage, perhaps just pay for the rental of the forklift to unload the truck? Or maybe these organizations like EDPA, TSEA, IAEE, etc... should step in and say enough is enough.
Now I know BigM (a user on this site - Check out Trade Show Transit - www.tradeshowtransit.com) has mentioned that it has been a topic that the EDPA has had on their plate, but how much longer do the exhibit houses have to wait?
Will things ever change? Can things ever change?
In my opinion this would be a drastic change to the trade show industry. One we may need!
Zach
