Future mail-ins and shipping

I didn't realize that's how the mail-in shipping worked, interesting...I'd say your idea is solid.

Entrants should ship they cars to the first host, and then he ships to next and so on until the end. All hosts have responsibilities to manage and organize cars, not just the person that came up with the idea of the series. If entrants provide all the info along with their entries (names, address, etc) then it should be less of an effort and worry.

The series organizer should be keeping track of series points and making sure each stop on the line has everything they need to get stuff done and reported. Ultimately they are responsible for making sure things run smoothly and that the results are as true as they can be.

I have to respectfully disagree, It would end up costing more money for the finals host to have to send the entries back to the 1st host just to send them back to the racers. It would also take more time, seems a little pointless to me.

the finals host runs the 1st heet [gets the boxes] and races the cars, then ships the cars to #2 and then  #2 to #3 etc. they are then shipped back to him for the finals, he races them... but now he has the small boxes and the addresses from heet #1... instead of the 1st host tossing the boxes and the finals host having to find some small boxes and find the addresses...the finals host would run 2 heets ... 1st and last... I think most of our hosts would not have a problem running 2 heets...

and It costs $3.50 to ship 2 cars, if the racers are sending $5.00 to the finals host for return shipping then the finals host isn't being hurt by the extra shipping cost of sending the cars to heet #2...about $14.00

not running for office here... just trying to explain the theory...

 before I retired from G.E. finding boxes was easy they threw out hundreds every day

Lets not overthink this (because in the end it's pretty minor) but what's the problem we're trying to solve?

• Are we trying to reduce cost of shipping?
• Are we worried about saving boxes?
• Are we worried about addresses and tracking?
• Are we worried about who's responsible for points and brackets?

And the answer cannot be "all the above"

Shipping cars to Guy #1 twice seems like an extra step. Every host should get the cars once, right? Starts with first host, ends with last host. I don't want to worry about shipping cars twice. I want to take in cars, have some fun racing and then be done. I know getting the cars and organizing them for racing and returns is a pain, so once is enough.

The last host should be responsible for getting all the cars back to their owners...and that's where the return shipping fee comes into play. If you don't pay, you don't get your car back (unless someone wants to be nice).

When it comes to shipping - in my understanding - the cost is the burden of each host and that's an accepted part of the gig. No reimbursement for anyone. If you're Stop #3 in the series, you know you're going to ship cars to Host #4. How they're shipped and what that costs is entirely up to the sender. If you don't want to pay for shipping, don't host a race. Simple as that. 

Having the whole process be as simple as possible is key to keeping people involved. Once we start worrying about extra shipping costs for each host, blanket entry fees, saved boxes, whatever...that's the minute things become too much trouble for the pay off.

There are easy and free solutions to all the problems with the exception of actual cost of postage. If we need more tools or forms to help track cars, names and points then lets work on creating those.

Brian, well said. I agree with you 100%. I think it is absolutely unnecessary to have to send them back to the 1st host. It takes more time and more money to do it that way.