Comments on: Black Friday – Mike

By: Evan K. Summers

Evan K. Summers — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:37:31 +0000

I’m 4 months late to this thread but my question is this:

Which will be the first summer camp to offer a Groupon, Daily Deal, Living Social Deal on their program?

I work with a ton of retailers (majority restaurants) that have been burnt by the lure of easy customers. My crystal ball prediction is this: There will be summer camps that try to capitalize on the mass market coupons out there only to get burnt bad.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:53:10 +0000

I think we actually agree George, we just have a different “means to an end.” We want people to sign up early, but we want parents to do so because the camp is AMAZING, not because they get a discount. Any incentive to get campers registered early is good, but don’t do it just to fill up your camp. Your camp should be full because it’s a great camp, not because it’s a great deal.

By: George DeTellis

George DeTellis — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:10:31 +0000

Wrong. I totally disagree with your post about discounts. You story does not correlate with early bird discounts at camp. You give no statistical facts relative to revenue or camp attendance. Early bird discounts are for parents who pay in full for camp, months before the first day of camp. Sometimes they pay thousands of dollars in advance to earn the early bird discount. The reason why camps should do early bird discounts: 1. Because we want parents to complete the paperwork in the winter and early spring when our workload is slow compared to 16 hour days in June. 2. The earlier we start filling up camp and selling out weeks the less money we have to spend on last minute marketing. In conclusion, why should a mother charge $3000 on her credit card in March when she can wait until June? Answer: To save $200.

By: Curt "Moose" Jackson

Curt "Moose" Jackson — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:55:13 +0000

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Personally, I love sales and see it as the stores trying to get me in and purchase other, regularly priced, items as well (loss-leader items).

I think a post on incentives would be great. And I’m glad you found an even better necklace for your niece, which was a great idea for a baptism gift, by the way.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:10:42 +0000

Curt, I see you’re point, and I completely understand that many people love early bird discounts and getting a great deal. I, on the other hand, am part of a different group of people who think discounted items are only discounted because it means they are only worth the discounted price.

I hate using coupons, and I don’t like sales. And the point of this post was to illustrate that there are indeed people like me at there. We only hear about the ones who camped out all night at a Target to be the first one to buy a cheap TV at 4 a.m. because the media loves this story. They never talk about those of us who slept in and paid more on December 20th.

Maybe the focus of my next post will be on what type of incentives we can give to parents who register early that are not financially related.

Oh, and I bought her a similar — but nicer in my opinion — necklace from Helzberg Diamonds, for the same price as I would have gotten the other at 60-percent off without a sale.

By: Curt "Moose" Jackson

Curt "Moose" Jackson — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:46:30 +0000

Hey Mike, I have to disagree with you. I think it was a nice thing for that salesperson to tell you about the sale. She could have screwed you and taken 100% without saying a word. Wouldn’t you have been more upset if you found out later that you could have gotten the necklace, that you paid full price for, at a discount, but were never told about the sale? That would not have been good customer service.

How about this one, just because ACA has early bird discounts that I decide not to take advantage of doesn’t mean I won’t be going to their conference because I have to pay more. I don’t see the conference as not being worth the full price anymore.

I think that many parents who like a specific camp will pay the full price even if they knew there was a discount months prior. Their kids are worth it. Just like your niece is still worth that necklace, on sale or not. By the way, what did you end up getting her?