Tickets for Wait Staff

[Sassi3]

As tickets will be going on sale right around the bend, and are increasingly hard to get, I was wondering if the Borg has found a way to deal with group sales to camps who blatantly higher staff to entertain and wait on them. One article published shortly after the burn comes to mind immediately. I am sure I can dig the article up if the reference is necessary.

Has this been addressed?

Thanks

[motskyroonmatick]

I doubt you will find an answer to your question here. This message board is mostly social and helpful in nature and very few of us are connected to the ORG to such an extent to have such information available to us. This is the limit of ticket information at this time. http://tickets.burningman.org If you are wanting a discussion on this topic it has been fairly beat to death here and elsewhere and not many may want to engage.

[Roundabout]

The following email was sent out last Friday. It does not address ticket sales per se, but it does show that the bmorg is being proactive on the subject.

"Dear Theme Camp/Mutant Vehicle producers -

Last year, a company called Festivals Concierge Services (FCS) advertised concierge camping and travel package services at the Burning Man event. We informed FCS it was not permitted to operate at our event and published a blog post (http://journal.burningman.org/2015/05/p ... -rock-city) to notify participants. Although FCS denied it would be providing services, its CEO (Antoine Sepulchre) and another employee (Florence Defort) were found to be doing exactly that, which led to their citation by BLM and eviction from the 2015 Burning Man event for unpermitted commercial activities. We also learned FCS made deals with a small number theme camps to host FCS clients for a price.

Although we have already informed FCS it will not be permitted to provide services to Black Rock City in 2016, we understand the company has begun marketing Burning Man travel packages again and contacting air carriers and OSS vendors. The FCS website claims the company "collaborates with Burning Man Outside Services Program selected partners." We have let established OSS providers know that providing services to concierge companies like FCS will subject their OSS contracts to cancellation, as these companies directly circumvent the principles underlying the OSS program.

If you, or your OSS provider, are contacted by any representative of FCS or anyone identifying themselves as an FCS client, we ask that you please let us know. In keeping with Burning Man's Ten Principles, we do not want theme camps or mutant vehicle owners to support concierge camping or travel package services. That includes hosting FCS clients or providing services like access to mutant vehicles. Collaborating with FCS could certainly compromise your good standing with Burning Man, including access to directed group tickets, placement, and mutant vehicle licensing.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have regarding the policy outlined in this message. We can be reached by email at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Charlie Dolman
Event Operations Director
Burning Man

[Elderberry]

I think there was another article on the blog about this also, which if I remember correctly, says that they will not be placing those big PnP camps any longer. But don't quote me on this unless you look it up to verify. But other than that, I don't know of any way they can stop someone from going on-line and buying a ticket when they go on sale.

[Bless]

I like the idea of lie-detector tests for camp organizers. You would have to take one in order to enter the directed group or pre-sale.

[trilobyte]

I'm not sure how exactly Burning Man would be able to address it. They do not actually provide group sales to camps - just like the regular sales, it has been a limit of 2 tickets per person.
Other than making it clear that it goes against our culture, and Burning Man neither placing nor inviting turnkey/plug-n-play operators to participate in the group sale, I'm not sure what could actually be done. Even if Burning Man had unlimited resources (which they don't), I'm not sure how they could police how each pair of tickets purchased in any sale is used.

I think the honor system works for the vast majority of theme camps, for a couple key reasons. First, by virtue of investing the time and energy into creating a great theme camp, the organizers and members are investing in the culture of Burning Man. And second, creating a theme camp is neither easy nor cheap - it would be both foolish and short-sighted to risk the investment in time (in most cases we're talking years), energy, and capital (for art, infrastructure, etc) to risk that (turnkey operators have lost placement, been fined heavily by the BLM, and been evicted from the event). The vast majority of theme camps actually do a pretty good job.

That doesn't mean that there aren't some jerks out there. If you should see or come across evidence that a camp is running some kind of turnkey operation, send an email with details (and specifics) to [email protected].

[Elderberry]

I wasn't aware that that BLM had an interest in this and was imposing fines on the organizers. What does that fall under? Running a business without a license or permit? This is the first time I think they really deserve a compliment.

[Eric]

I wasn't aware that that BLM had an interest in this and was imposing fines on the organizers. What does that fall under? Running a business without a license or permit? This is the first time I think they really deserve a compliment.

It falls under the Outside Services Program initiated in 2015, I believe (#3 at the link). Because we fall under a "Special Recreation Permit" with the BLM they can control, or help control, the conditions that companies can operate under at Burning Man - seeing as we are 100% on BLM land, after all. By adding a need to be licensed through the BLM as an Outside Service it brings accountability to vendors, plus it gives a mighty big lever to get rid of bad apples while charging them fines.

[some seeing eye]

It is impossible to build a PnP camp without the Outside Vendor Program. RV delivery/pickup, fuel, food, gennies, construction equipment, container delivery, private portos. The Outside Vendors pay a gross receipts tax to the BLM. An underground outside service provider would be breaking federal law.

The Outside Vendor Program reports camp deliveries to the BMORG. Based on camp placement applications, outside vendor reports and BMORG visits to the camps, the BMORG knows where the PnP's lie.

I wouldn't be surprised that they are under very strict scrutiny and involved with communications and visits beyond everyday camps about upholding the BM ethos and offering interactive experiences open equally to all burners.

This is all just idle speculation on my part without any inside information.

But I would say this about the BLM. In my own home state we are involved in an intense standoff over BLM lands and the BLM role. So it's personal.

Some people criticize the BLM for the fees on BM, which BMORG has effectively challenged, for instance in ChacoTacoGate. But the appointment of a 35 year old former Sen Reid staffer at the head of the BLM as a result of ChacoTacoGate can only help BM. The BLM does a good job. But they need more fair pay for their work, and for the resources they manage, especially in the West, with a fair split to the Western states. The BLM considers BM as the poster child for fair negotiations over public, you and me, benefits paid for and by the beneficiaries, BM participants, you and me. ChacoTacoGate, ironically, was an attempt to build a base to communicate that. Now we should bring BLM visitors from DC into First Camp, nothing fancy. I, for one, would be happy to see USA graziers and miners pay their share, and I'm A-OK with campers and outdoors persons contributing. And personally, I think the mining law needs a complete rewrite, water on public land needs a greater than state overlay, our entire meat monopoly situation needs dismantling to a local meat farm to delivery model and I fully support a phase down of coal mining on public land in the West.

I don't have any inside info, don't speak for anyone, and all my posts are solely my own. But we are in a discussion about this on ePlaya which people outside the Western USA states may not understand.

[theCryptofishist]

I wasn't aware that that BLM had an interest in this and was imposing fines on the organizers. What does that fall under? Running a business without a license or permit? This is the first time I think they really deserve a compliment.

Some years ago, I got interested in the question, and did a little search engining. I didn't really delve into it, but the only place I could find that had concession type services was Imperial Sands? Invitational Sands? Well, something or other, probably starting with I Sands. The deal was, that after five days, you had to tow your stand out for a thorough cleaning. So, in the intervening years, there may have been changes, but the BLM isn't really in the business of providing entertainment space, it's in the business of leasing extraction industries, like mining, grazing, and huge solar plants. And when you think of the trouble the National Park Service is in in "Curry Village", who can blame them?

[trilobyte]

The BLM has been taking an interest in business activities on the playa since, well... Burning Man started. Hell, that's why we pay them fees... the special recreational permit is required when commercial activity involves federally managed land.

They started paying attention to the cottage industry a good 5 years ago. Initially, they started looking at the travel operators that were booking flights and transportation. The following year, they expanded it to include any business whose activities directly involve Black Rock City (which is on federally managed land). Anyone who's doing any kind of business either takes place or has a component that involves the playa (such as on-playa delivery of sold or rented goods) is required to obtain an SRP from the Bureau of Land Management.

[mudpuppy000]

It is impossible to build a PnP camp without the Outside Vendor Program.

Maybe a whole camp, but it'd be pretty easy to drop off RV's/trailers at random spots on the playa then people pay for their use. I guess that's not quite the same thing as a full on PnP camp though.

[trilobyte]

I don't think that's how outside services or pre-event entry works.

OSS deliveries either get made to a registered and placed project, or are made to a designated staging area outside the city (behind 7:30 I believe). The same is true for non-OSS deliveries (that is, the driver had purchased a ticket). OSS deliveries can be made prior to the arrival of the lead member of the project, but non-OSS deliveries may not be made until someone is there. In 2015 there was an issue with some non-OSS drivers apparently being instructed to lie to gate and convince them the camp had already been placed, or to pose as the lead camper so that their placer would take them to the parcel and walk them through the welcome process. That caused a number of problems, and I'm fairly certain will be addressed with deliveries in 2016.

Delivering trailers to random spots ahead of the gate would be difficult, since those vehicles would stand out like a sore thumb pre-event (the placement team has maps showing who should be where). It probably also wouldn't take long before a rogue rental operator was identified, since not only do many rental companies have their name/number on the side of the vehicle it wouldn't be too much trouble for BLM folks to look up the license plate to determine if it was connected to an un-permitted operation.

Attempting some kind of drop-offs after the gates open would be difficult for other reasons. First, gate and entry lines (every delivery run would presumably also need a chase vehicle to get the driver back out), and second because the space fills up quickly and in unpredictable ways making it difficult if not impossible to pre-arrange a location for the person they're doing business with.