Not quite on my way to worldcon, living the Cold Equations

[nancylebov]

When my ride got here, it turned out that we really should have thought about weight and volume a little earlier. The car (a Nissan Maxima) can't carry the whole business , even a somewhat shrunken version, and three passengers.

At this rate, I can't bring all my trays, and I'll have very limited ability to restock.

It would take 48 hours to get a trailer hitch, and the weight of the hitch and the trailer would eliminate any advantage gained by the extra volume.

It might have been possible to borrow my housemate's car, but while it has more room, it doesn't can't carry any more weight.

If I had an experienced person to run my business at Worldcon, I'd send the business and not go myself. Are any of my loyal staff going to be there?

If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know.

Addendum: If there's anyone who's coming from Philadelphia who's willing to take a box or two. please let me know.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Can you ship the business, or a portion of it, for a low enough rate that it won't become a money-losing proposition?

Suggested amendment to the addendum: "from or through Philadelphia"; folks from Boston or NY might well be able to assist.

Not heading west myself, sorry.

Good luck; fingers crossed and thumbs pressed for you!

[carbonel]

Shipping was suggested; the other possibility is to find a low-cost van rental. It'll up the gas costs (plus rental cost, of course), but I don't know enough about your profit margin to know if it's worth it.

Shipping probably makes more sense if you're talking a body's worth of weight. The UPS Store (formerly Mailboxes Etc.) will pack stuff well (for a price).

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

The problems are that I don't have a lot of money to play with nor time to do research. I have no idea whether I'm being reasonable about this or just panicKing.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Worldcon is a long con. Is there anyone at home who could FedEx you specific supplies on Friday when you've had a chance to see what's selling? It might be worth the shipping for things you're selling out of if it's not for shipping it all.

Also, could you take orders there -- though I suppose buttons are mostly an impulse purchase.

I wish I could help.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the thought. It's better to send a more complete set-up than to try to finetune it. I can explain the reasoning later.

At this point, I'm researching the possibility of renting a larger vehicle. No matter what, I'm not going to do much more than break even, I think, and I really needed to do better than that.

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

When are you leaving (or have you already left, in which case never mind)? I could ask a few NY/NJ/CT people who are flying if they could take a box. Not guaranteeing they'll help, but they're all people who know your buttons.

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Of course, getting the buttons TO any of these people might be a bigger hassle than you're up for. Ugh. Sorry, it looked like a decent idea at first....

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

There's a lot I could have done if I had a week to work with, but--oh well.

[velvet-wood.livejournal.com]

Uhaul sometimes rents cartop carriers that can attach to a luggage rack or via straps fed through the windows. This would distribute weight over all four wheels, so can hold quite a bit more than when you just pile it in the trunk... when I moved from my parents house in Texas to go to college in New Orleans, I packed pretty much everything I owned into one of them on the top of a _Gremlin_, and both my parents and my dog drove me down, none of us even vaguely lightweight, so they're pretty useful things. When they have em, they're fairly cheap. Another option might would be a rental car one way to Atlanta, then another one way back home. I haven't a clue what that would cost, but the only time I rented a car, it ran about $30/day, with unlimited mileage, as long as I returned it with a full tank.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Sorry, we are going by plane, and can't deal with the weight issue either.