[JONAT] RE: FYI

[Mark Stephenson]

Perhaps I had a misconception of JONAT from the beginning, but I thought we
were doing three things:

1. setting up a proposed route that JONATers could take if they chose,
2. suggesting lodging, perhaps arranging some special rates, and,
3. maybe, suggesting some eating spots along the way.

People would be responsible for their own expenses, paying for things
themselves. Operating under that assumption, the only thing I can think of
that SCs would have to front money for would be Route Books. They would be
on line, available for download. Since most of our communication with the
world has been on-line, I expect that is how most of the participants will
hear about us. 

Is anyone planning a route book longer that 20 pages? Most copy places in
Arizona are 5¢/page. That would be a buck a book. I'm expecting 50
participants. That would be $50 if no one downloaded the book from the
website. For the people who don't download it, I'd set the charge at $5.00.
That would encourage them to download it, and if we have the checkboxes as I
suggested in my previous e-mail, we'd have a good idea of how many people
will not have their own hard copy. So, if 40 people indicated that they were
planning to download and print out the route book, that would leave me 10
that I needed to print. I'd print up another 5 just in case. My actual
outlay would be $15, I'd sell 10 books I knew I'd sell for $50, and perhaps
a few more. If I needed extra copies, hotels always have a copier and will
make copies for you for more than a copy shop, but that would have to be
25¢/page before I'd lose on the copying.

The few bucks I'd make on the route book would defray a small part of my
costs of scouting out the route.

I'm not sure where the whole thing about renting a room for a get-together
at each sector hand-off came from, and while it would be nice, we're not
running the Copperstate 1000 or the California Mille. People pay $4000+ for
those 4-day trips. All their accomodations are arranged for them --
including vans to haul luggage. They attract about 60 cars. By comparison we
have a two-day trip in Arizona called the British Euro Auto Tour (BEAT).
It's $50 which covers coffee and doughnuts and lunch Saturday and pays for a
sag-wagon to follow the route. There is a designated hotel Saturday night,
with special room rates, but entrants make their own reservations, they
choose their own restaurant for dinner Saturday and all meals Sunday. The
last couple years they've averaged 160 cars.

If people want to get fancy on their sector, I think it would be up to the
SC to either front the money and be repaid by the participants, obtain
sponsorships, or come up with some creative way to finance it.  In keeping
with the philosophy expressed all along, attendance at a scheduled event
dinner would be voluntary. Some people may prefer a quiet dinner on their
own. So it isn't a sector fee, it's the participant paying for their dinner.
The Route 66 Fun Run is the last two days of the Arizona Sector, and there's
a charge for that. It's not much, but if you are going to join us, we'd
certainly expect that you pay the Fun Run fee to support preservation of
Route 66. The roads are public, so there's no reason why you would have to,
but ethically, it's the right thing to do. I'm not going to pay for a block
of people for the Fun Run and expect to be reimbursed when they show up,
that's going to be up to the participant.

We can charge a JONAT fee if we decide it's necessary, but I really think we
should provide some nice mementos that people will want to buy. The most
obvious one, IMO, would be a binder, especially one that would fold back
flat, for the navigators. Supplied with it should be tabbed dividers for
each sector. People may only take one or two sectors, but if they really
enjoy them, some will probably download and print out the entire route.
Keyrings would also be nice. The fobs can be engraved or imprinted. They
make them with an imprintable tire pressure gauge. I think there would be
some national parts suppliers (the usual suspects) who would love to have
their company on one side and the JONAT logo on the other. We could date
them, to make them specific mementos for each year, or leave them generic.
We could use the route-book dividers as full-page ads for vendors who want
their name in front of JONATers for years to come. We could get route-book
printing paid for by reserving a small bit of ad space at the bottom of each
page. In short, we could get sponsors to pay for all of the memorabilia.
Anything we sell could be used for more lavish plans in two years. If we
have lots left over, we could donate a portion to charity, but I'd keep a
chunk for seed money for 2006.

The advantage of a JONAT fee? You lock people in. You can set a deadline
after which we keep some or all of their entry fee. The problem is that it
has to be small. In the case of the Arizona Sector, I suspect that half of
our participants will drive up from Phoenix and meet us in Williams Friday
night, then return to Phoenix from Lake Havasu Sunday Morning. They will
have the Rt. 66 Fun Run fee, so I don't know how excited they would be about
paying a JONAT fee, especially since 90% of their part of the run will be
organized by the Fun Run folks. I'd rather have them participating with the
rest of the local club and forego the JONAT fee rather than have them
deterred by a second cost for half a sector.

See what I'm getting at? Fees complicate things. Based on the realities of
our sector, if we're going to have a JONAT fee, I think that fee should be
requested from anyone doing two or more sectors. For the people only doing
one, it's more of a club function (at least it is in my case).

Mark Stephenson, Sector Coordinator - Arizona
Jaguar Owners North American Tour (www.jonat.org)
April 15 - July 4, 2004

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jonat-admin@autox.team.net 
> [mailto:jonat-admin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Bob
> Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 6:44 PM
> To: jonat@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [JONAT] RE: FYI
> 
> Gregory
> 
> If you are having a dinner in these centres, and you do not 
> have a sponsor,
> then the participants will have to pay (am I following you 
> correctly?).
> Then, you will need to collect money from participants, and 
> hence a Sector
> fee and back to where we started.  Or collecting money at the 
> door - still a
> form of sector fee but more of a user-pay type approach but 
> tougheer to
> predict numbers.
> 
> I'm suspecting (or hoping?) that 25-30 people might be a 
> light for your
> area, but it all depends upon how much PR you do locally, and how much
> national and international press we can get.  It's a good 
> place to start
> though.
> 
> Bob