Here’s why we do groups: in theory, they’re easier.

The theory goes that people group together and make one payment. Then we batch them together, and a group of 5+ people can now pick up their badges all at once. This moves the line faster.

We give discounts to encourage this, BUT I’m starting to think it’s only easier on paper.

First off, many groups add a person, pay, then add a person. This adds work as far as bookkeeping, and we get charged more in paypal fees that we would otherwise be charged for one large payment. I understand when you decided to add a person later, but I’m seeing four and five payments made by the same person on the same day, one after another.

The headaches really come when people want to split their group (especially once payments are applied). Then someone in the group who did not pay wants to volunteer to “make” money, which we don’t allow, so then there’s a headache there. Then someone in the group shows up to pick up their badge but the leader isn’t there and they don’t know what to do, and if they beg enough, we might split them out of the group and let them pick up their badge…

It’s actually becoming nightmarish. So, why should I be giving a discount to encourage people to do something that actually creates more work for me and my team?

I think in 2014, we won’t give group discounts. Depending on how that goes, we may remove the grouping option all together some day (if the headaches continue).