[Parking] [Logistics-leads] [why2025-orga] Message from On-site logistics

[Hans van Kranenburg]

Hi hi, o/~

I have some advise about this.

The main reasoning behind this advise is:
* When organizing things and providing services, make it a HIGHER
priority to make things doable and easier for yourself...
* If that's under control, only then start making things easier for others.

Visitors arrive and leave once.
Make it their primary responsibility to be able to handle their own
stuff, they have to do it only once.

OTOH, parking team sees hundreds of visitors arrive and leave all the
time. That quickly counts up. All extra stuff you have results in work
for the team.

You team health handling the thousands of things is more important than
the convenience for an individual doing one thing for themselves.

The luggage shuttle (golf cart + trailer) was invented by me (and others
around me) during SHA2017 build up (it was not planned beforehand),
because we realized that the distance from the parking field to the
terrain was really a lot more than what visitors reasonably should
expect and plan for at such an event.

For the WHY2025 field, this (distance) is not the case, and that means
that there would not even be a need to provide such a service, just like
during events before SHA.

However, if it fits into the budget, and because well, it's fun driving
them... of course, sure, let's do it!

My advise is:
* View it at such: an extra, a luxury, a fun thing.
* Do not advertise the luggage shuttle to visitors. In communication,
always tell them that if they park at the parking, they should only
bring the stuff that they can carry themselves to the field. [1]
* Do not provide hand-carts at the parking. Again, make it the
responsibility of the visitor to only bring what they can carry/move
*themselves*. That also means bringing their own foldable hand-cart or
dolly or whatever to accommodate themselves. [2] At our type of event it
is OK to expect visitors to have sufficient problem-solving capabilities
to at least handle their own stuff.
* Use at most 2 gator/trailer(single-axle-canopy) combi's. At arrival,
by default put them at the parking, open 1 up, drive to the field when
it's full or after a while if things are quiet. During departure, switch
it around, have them wait on the field by default, and drive/empty at
the parking and go back. [3]
* Use ONE designated spot to drop off luggage. This should be a location
that is already present on the map that visitors get. My advise: Ask
volunteers for a ~3x3m spot in a corner of the Heaven tent (a dry place
inside), and unload there. [4] Heaven is at a central place on the field.
* You can even do with 1 gator/trailer combi. If it's full it empties at
the field and is back within a few minutes. If there's nothing at the
parking, then problems will just solve themselves. People will decide
themselves between walking and waiting. Don't make that your
responsibility, it's really theirs. [5]

:-)

Knorrie

---- >8 ----

Extra optional stuff referenced from above:

[1] If you want to bring your huge fridge or heavy safe, then be there
during village build-up when you can drop it off on the field yourself.

[2] Hand-carts: This is like shopping carts without a coin. If you have
them, they'll be used, and after first use, you will not see them back
again. After rolling them to someone's tent location, there will
immediately be a new useful thing within sight to use them for etc. So,
this means: you have more hassle and an extra burden to search the whole
camping terrain for them and bring them back.

[3] At buildup before luggage shuttle starts, the 2 gator/trailer
combi's will be connected, checked for safety and locked together, and
will be disconnected after they've done their job during teardown.

Why? This is all so that YOU have less of a burden and less hassle with it:
* (Dis)connecting trailers by random people will lead to injuries,
electrical failures etc. Been there, done that, seen it happen. I have
escorted a luggage shuttle off of a public road (where cars drive
80km/h) in the middle of the night, which was driving around in total
darkness without any lights on the trailer, with people in it who had
really NO idea about what they were doing (safety-wise) etc etc.
* Other teams will not 'borrow' your trailers when they see them
standing somewhere, doing nothing.

[4] Why one location? Less hassle for you and visitors. Visitors don't
know the field when they arrive, and when asking someone random about
"do you know where the luggage shuttle unloads stuff" you don't want
them to be pointed to another place, and then having to deal with
visitors who complain that their luggage is lost etc etc.

[5] What will happen in reality is that visitors will not only have
sufficient problem solving capabilities, they will also have other
capabilities like, taking advantage of your service instead of solving
their own problems. This also means social engineering the luggage
shuttle driver to bring stuff to their tent/village, instead of the
drop-off point. "Yeah, wait, but I can see my village from here, it's
just a hundred meters, bla bla bla". This leads to situations where the
shuttles are held up etc etc. These are *normal* and expected and rather
innocent things to happen on an event like ours. But, this is NOT a
problem that is your responsibility to solve with more gators, more
trailers etc. :]

Have fun!

On 6/11/25 9:34 PM, konmei wrote:
> Hi Manduca,
> 
> highly appreciate your support and especially thinking along! To us, it 
> seemed the most sensible solution to reduce
> a) idle times of gators (they would be waiting if the trailors have to 
> be loaded / unloaded)
> b) angels needed at different spots (on the parking area and on the 
> target areas on the fields)
> 
> @knorrie: if there is any input you have for us I would appreciate a 
> quick chat, since the deadline for the boels order is approaching fast, 
> as I understand it.
> 
> @Manduca: are the handwangens still an option or are we too late for this?
> 
> Thanks a lot to both of you!
> 
> Best regards,
> konmei
> team:parking