Swag Bags
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Posted by braewe
#51

I still want to see where it says in policy that swag bags are included! Not to mention the misconception so many people have that GEN CON supplies that Crystal Caste d6.

Posted by octaviancmb
#52

I was disappointed we didn't get a bag, too. They're good keepsakes!

Hopefully we'll get one next year, for 50.

Posted by galahadkoa braewe
#53

braewe wrote:
I still want to see where it says in policy that swag bags are included! Not to mention the misconception so many people have that GEN CON supplies that Crystal Caste d6.
I would like to have seen the swag bags I remember from years ago, but I would also like to see where they said they were giving them out at this years convention

Posted by hawkeye
#54

Not sure why you think there was a swag bag. I havent seen one given out since 2010. IN 2011 they switched over to just having the coupon book. last year they gave out an empty cloth bag, but there was deffinetly NO swag at all. Perhapes that it was was meant when you were told that the bags were not delivered in time.

Posted by rbree
#55

OK Some facts about swag bags.

The only people swag bags are guaranteed to are the VIG's.  It is/was part of the VIG package.  It's in the VIG description.

Gen Con was not paying for / providing the items in the swag bags.  A company needed to be a sponsor or pay a premium to put items in the bag.   On top of that fee they had to supply the items at cost.  Currently if wanted put something in the bags you would have to provide a minimum of 60,000 "freebies" ... so the cost in addition to the bag fee might be a much $60,0000 if your item cost you $1 to make and ship to Gen Con plus the bag inclusion fee.   

Not everybody wanted everything in the bag so a company with a sizable investment in the bags might see a lot of their product go to waste with very litll foot traffic driven to their booth or after increase in after con sales... the point of putting stuff in the bags.

Posted by rbree
#56

And apparently not much swag / or swag bags at  Dragon Con either- https://www.reddit.com/r/dragoncon/comments/2aw7pa/its_gotta_be_askedhows_the_convention/
 

Posted by ryric
#57

I miss the swag bags too, but rbree has it right...Gen Con is too big for swag bags to be worth it to the companies involved. Every item in the old swag bags had to be provided by the company that sells them, which is a loss for that company. Then they also had to pay the convention to include the item, because swag bags don't stuff themselves - each one has to be packed by some Gen Con employee. Not many companies can afford tens of thousands of donated items, plus a fee. The return on investment just isn't there.

Did I like getting free booster packs and minis and dice and so on? Sure. Did I ever go buy stuff from those companies? Rarely.

Posted by ckell daveculp
#58

daveculp wrote:
utherpend wrote:
galahadkoa wrote:
rhone1 wrote:
What's a swag bag?
Seriously, those haven't been around for a few years now.  A coupon book is the new swag.  There were also program books on Saturday at a few locations as late as Saturday in the afternoon.
You used to get swag and coupon books, but with gen cons attendance doubling over the last five years im sure getting enough actual swag is a problem. Far more expensive now.
So because GenCon is getting MORE people and making double the profit they did in previous years means they should eliminate them?  I am guessing you didnt take economics, but I am sure you mean this SAVES Gencon a lot of money which means MORE profit for them and less value for the membership I purchased.  I am taking all of that into account which is why I WILL NOT BE ATTENDING next year.

I really hope that you are not saying that because a swag bag with mostly useless material was not included you are going to skip one of the best weekends in gaming?1.  A swag bag is not mentioned anywhere as a perk to your registration.
2.  They have not been given the last couple of years that I remember.
3.  Increased attendance actually means increased expenses.  Gen Con has now taken over the entire ICC, moved into Lucas Oil Field Stadium and further expanded into the surrounding hotels.  That expansion takes money.
4.  The swag bags might have been give out at a loss.  So if Gen Con loses $5.00 per bag they might be able to absorb that loss with a low attendance, but with a higher attendance and associated costs with expansion maybe they cant absorb the cost?
5.  An attendance uptick of 20K-30K over the last few years means that they have to come up with enough materials to put in that many bags AND have the time and/or money to have someone stuff that m,any bags.
In the grand scheme  of things a swag bag is minor compared to the amazing awesomeness that is the best four days in gaming!
Not taking any side here.  But yes, they did in fact give out bags last year and every year for the last 9 year, that I have attended.  This is the first year they did give out bags.  Just getting the facts accurate is all.

Posted by nikki
#59

I am so happy this person is never coming to Gen Con again.  If this is how he gets over something that was never promised or even mentioned as a perk of the con, can you imagine how he would react over something truly important going wrong?

Also, kudos to everyone else in this thread.  He keeps being insultive but everyone else has been respectful to clever to helpful.  Good on us.

Posted by ckell
#60

I prefer just the coupon book, which is what we got this year.  Crystal Caste did give out free dice for a portion of the cover of your coupon book.  They told me that they got the request in too late to get the free dice coupon in the book.  There were several old favorites that did not happen this year.  Things change.  I threw my bags away with 90% of what was in them, in years past.  The gaming community is spread over D&D, C&C, board games, horror, super-heroes, war games, cosplay, crossplay, gaymers, vegan gamers, meat-eating gamers, True Dungeon, films, books, miniatures, Steam-Punk, etc.  You cannot pack a swag bag that will interest everyone.  Just aint happening.  It became land-fill anyway.      

Posted by vutpakdi
#61

I only remember getting the nylon, pseudo-messenger style bags for the last two years.  

From what I remember of the bags from previous years, there was "swag" in the bags (mostly flyers), but the bag was a heavy plastic flat shopping bag style.

I'm happy with the coupon book only: less waste.

Posted by remnant
#62

From what I gather from the OP there was supposedly a swag bag (free non-disposable bag) that should have been there on time and was not and they couldn't find a program book when they checked in one location.

If you're deadest on getting the bag, I don't think anyone got one.  Email possibly Gen Con find out who was suppose to provide the bag and get an email, offer to pay the S/H and see if you can get one.  If this doesn't work or fit into what you wanted what would you do to get this bag?

For the Program Book it's too late now but I would have checked around at other locations or if you wanted to just look something up I guess ask someone if they had a program book borrow it and give it back, there was also the digital pdf version on the Gen Con site.  If you wanted one as a souvenir now I guess Email Gen Con and offer to pay S/H if they have extras now.  If this doesn't work or fit into what you wanted what would you do to get this book?

 

Posted by rhone1
#63

My wish here is that this thread stays open and the OP keeps talking about how screwed over he feels for not getting a swag bag.  Keep going OP!  Pure comedy.

Posted by a dark rider on a pale ... unicorn?
#64

They do seem to have had a dreadful time, as they've also voiced displeasure over the way the Will Call line was handled where it intersected with corridors, and at having to pay for video games.

Posted by bith ckell
#65

ckell wrote:
 
Not taking any side here.  But yes, they did in fact give out bags last year and every year for the last 9 year, that I have attended.  This is the first year they did give out bags.  Just getting the facts accurate is all.
No they haven't.  Last year was an empty bag.  two years ago was a bag with some adds in it.  Three years ago, and for a few years before that, it was just a coupon book with no bag at all. 

All that said, this whole thread is pretty silly.  It's an obvious troll, and a bunch of people feeding it.

Posted by brotherbock
#66

I must say that I am TERRIBLY upset at the lack of a jetpack being included in my nonexistent swag bag. Gencon PROMISED every attendee a jetpack, and then when we show up...no jetpack. 

Look Gencon, a jetpack is a PART of the badge cost that my mom pays for, and IF I don't get a jetpack, then my Con IS wasted. 

Unbelievable. I can't believe ALL of you fanboys defending Gencon WHEN they go back on their jetpack-based promises. 

I asked some dude on the street about the jetpacks, and he said "can you buy me some food?" Clearly Gencon doesn't train their people to BE knowledgeable ABOUT the promised jetpacks. Incredible. 

Posted by austicke
#67

Now that's a protest I can get behind, brotherbock!

Posted by lanefan
#68

Damn...given how delayed my flights ended up being, if they'd given me a jetpack (preferably fully fuelled up) I would probably have got home faster.  Way more fun, too!

OK, GenCon, there's your challenge for next year: free jetpacks for all! :)

Posted by mhayward1978 daveculp
#69

daveculp wrote:
 
4.  The swag bags might have been give out at a loss.  So if Gen Con loses $5.00 per bag they might be able to absorb that loss with a low attendance, but with a higher attendance and associated costs with expansion maybe they cant absorb the cost?

Not if Gen Con is competent at all.

Any convention, including Gen Con, sells sponsorships to their exhibitor for things like:

* Lanyards
* Swag bags
* Wifi sponsorship splash screen
* Program adds / inserts
* Various levels of signage
* Entries in promotional emails
etc.

The most likely explanation is that GenCon had a bag sponsorship option that would have covered their expenses, and no exhibitor bought it.  Which also makes sense - with 10's of thousands of attendees it just doesn't make sense for an exhibitor to pony up for bags for everyone.  This isn't Oracle World...
 

Posted by doombunny ckell
#70

ckell wrote:
daveculp wrote:
utherpend wrote:
galahadkoa wrote:
rhone1 wrote:
What's a swag bag?
Seriously, those haven't been around for a few years now.  A coupon book is the new swag.  There were also program books on Saturday at a few locations as late as Saturday in the afternoon.
You used to get swag and coupon books, but with gen cons attendance doubling over the last five years im sure getting enough actual swag is a problem. Far more expensive now.
So because GenCon is getting MORE people and making double the profit they did in previous years means they should eliminate them?  I am guessing you didnt take economics, but I am sure you mean this SAVES Gencon a lot of money which means MORE profit for them and less value for the membership I purchased.  I am taking all of that into account which is why I WILL NOT BE ATTENDING next year.

I really hope that you are not saying that because a swag bag with mostly useless material was not included you are going to skip one of the best weekends in gaming?1.  A swag bag is not mentioned anywhere as a perk to your registration.
2.  They have not been given the last couple of years that I remember.
3.  Increased attendance actually means increased expenses.  Gen Con has now taken over the entire ICC, moved into Lucas Oil Field Stadium and further expanded into the surrounding hotels.  That expansion takes money.
4.  The swag bags might have been give out at a loss.  So if Gen Con loses $5.00 per bag they might be able to absorb that loss with a low attendance, but with a higher attendance and associated costs with expansion maybe they cant absorb the cost?
5.  An attendance uptick of 20K-30K over the last few years means that they have to come up with enough materials to put in that many bags AND have the time and/or money to have someone stuff that m,any bags.
In the grand scheme  of things a swag bag is minor compared to the amazing awesomeness that is the best four days in gaming!
Not taking any side here.  But yes, they did in fact give out bags last year and every year for the last 9 year, that I have attended.  This is the first year they did give out bags.  Just getting the facts accurate is all.
Not true actually., It was mentioned before that they had stopped all together and just used the coupon books around 2010* and the bags had been getting pretty skimpy by then anyway. last year and the year before that empty messenger bags were given out and sponsored by Ortus Regni (Not sure I spelled that right).

At any rate the OP is wrong as the bags have never been apart of ticket price since GenCon didn't pay for them. Gen Con just organized and filled them with the things the sponsores gave them to put in. Sponsors don't want to give away quite that much any more and would rather you came to the booth so that you are more likely to buy something. So no more swag bags. Just occasionally we get a loot carrying bag.

That being said. I did like them and do miss them even when they had stuff I wasn't really interested in.
It's also funny that the OP has declared his intention to go to Dragoncon instead when Dragoncon won't be giving him a swag bag either.

*I may have the exact year wrong, I don't remember exactly myself but there was a period of a few years at least between the swag bags and the messenger bags.

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