I have used BBE since the fist year and it is by far the best run part of the open
Butch it was a great idea and is run great
will be seeing the guys from BBE in a week
Butch,
Thanks for the history on the BBE and let me say for one that you did a great job. All the right ingredients went into the mix to create what it is today. Dana and her crew are a great bunch. I met Dana this year on opening day and she spent a lot of time with me personally searching all the nooks and crannies of the convention center to find my equipment which was misdirected at the loading dock. She eventually found it the next day.
Thanks again Dana and keep up the good work. The service you provide is indeed a convenience to the bowlers and you do it well.
Thanks for the comments, but after many thoughts, all I gave you was the operational history, the creation was something else. It took me 9 months of in depth coordination to complete the process.
My vision was pretty simple, but finding someone to discuss it with was difficult to say the least. I started with the regional distribution center manager in Rocklin, CA who then directed me to an account manager. Let me say here that UPS is a very"structured" organization. Once I established contact, I was referred to the programming group in Sacramento. Living in that area at the time helped tremendously, living somewhere else might have been a nightmare.
My initial meetings with very professional guys like Mike Dutra, Brian Frincke, Ejimo Bealum and Don Williams who literally took the ball and ran with it. UPS had NEVER done this before and as it turns out, this application is being used by many other organization applications. Geez, I should have worked up a retirement program with them. UPS was and is a great organization to work with as they listened at every opportunity.
Even though the program has progressed to the point of offering the service to other tournaments, the individuals mentioned above were the the ones who created the software to make it happen in each situation.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the name of Diana Matheny who was the special person who helped keep me on the straight and narrow with claims processing, advice and direction. I can't thank her enough.
There you have it, the creation history of BBE in a nutshell. I know that all of you support it for different reasons; it was created and still is, the BEST SERVICE available for ANY tournament application.
Butch Wittman
IM NOT EXPERIENCED IN THE SHIPPING OF EQUIPMENT DEPT,IVE ALWAYS TAKEN THEM WITH ME ON THE FLIGHT,BUT THIS YEAR WITH ALL OF THE RESTRICTIONS OF FLYING IM CONTEMPLATING SHIPPING THEM OUT VIA WHOEVER,JUST READ YOUR SKIT ON BBE AND WAS WONDERING WHERE THAT IS AND HOW I WOULD GO ABOUT USING THEM,I WOULD GREATL APPRECIATE THE INFO
THANKS ALOT
RICK,
http://www.bowl.com/tournaments/usbcopen/national/shipping.aspx
I ended up shipping 2 balls directly to the hotel, and bypassing the BBE handling charges for $20 each way (from Ohio) using my companies UPS machine.
If anyone can take advantage of that service, it beats the pants off of the BBE services. Just print a return label before you go out, slap it on the box, and ship it back when done. It worked out great, and was way more affordable.
Several bowlers who plan to bowl the side tournaments have shipped their stuff to me at Leisure Bowl and everything has worked out for them. No fee. We just want to help the bowlers save money and not have to go to the convention center to get their equipment before bowling the side tournaments. Call me if I can help you.
Rick Ramsey
1-800-218-1667
oldhoop2: Several bowlers who plan to bowl the side tournaments have shipped their stuff to me at Leisure Bowl and everything has worked out for them. No fee. We just want to help the bowlers save money and not have to go to the convention center to get their equipment before bowling the side tournaments. Call me if I can help you. Rick Ramsey 1-800-218-1667
Rick what will you do for me if the balls are lost by ups will you file the claim drill me new equipment for free? THINK NOT
Last year we had a case of balls lost BBE took care of use we had new equipment drilled for nothing they took care of the claims.
BBE is the best run part of the open the guys at BBE were there till every one on our 11:30 squad was done and had their balls shipped.
I've never said anything negative about BBE and never will. It is a great service. I am a bowler and just offering to help bowlers if they need help. All I am doing is giving them the opportunity to have their equipment available for practice or participating in any of the side tournaments before they make a trip to the convention center. Sorry that you have a problem with my offer.
Rusbersuks,
I don't think Rick was intending to say anything bad about BBE. Having met and talked with Rick, he is a good guy and is looking out for the bowlers, not only in this light but also in others. He offers the service as an alternative to shipping the balls to the tournament city but unless I am mistaken, you still have to make the arrangements for the shipping back to your home. I don't think he does that for you. The bowler will also have to make the determination, as you point out, whether or not you want to tote the empty box around for a couple of days, take the time to box the stuff up, carry or buy the tape to seal it, arrange for pickup or drop off your equipment at the local shipping vendor's office.
I think Rick's suggestion works best if you know for a fact the first thing you will bowl when you get there is the BTM, you could have the stuff shipped to his location. You could then use BBE to ship it home. That's probably the most economical. Problem for my group is that no one wants to make plans ahead of time on what we will bowl when once we get out there so everything is a last minute decision.
I am with you when it comes to using the BBE. It is a little more convenient for me and I don't think the difference in price warrants a lot of looking around for an alternative and I am sure that Rick takes no offense to that.
turkeyboy and Rick
After hitting the post I thought I really should have quoted the first guy before Rick.
Rick I hear you about shipping to your center. and it may be good for bowlers that are bowling your event first.
But what would you tell the bowler that shipped to your center and UPS lost the packages? which has happened haveing been a person that UPS lost his balls. Would you have drilled up free equipment for me if I had shipped to your location. While it is a great service you are offering the bowlers what would you do in that case. and if it has not happened I hope it does not.
Because I am sure the backlash you get from that bowler in person and here on the forums will not be very nice.
Yes it is $39.44 from my location in Columbus, OH to the convention center in ABQ. This is double what I paid to have it shipped through my company. It's not about the $20, it was about cutting a particular expense by 50%. I also shipped 4 balls in total (2 for a teammate), so that becomes a $40 saving. This can be rolled into 4 additional brackets, and at $50 to win, that is even a potentially greater return on investment where at worst you break even over using BBE.
As you said, the nice part about BBE is that the USBC does cover your shipment up to $500 automatically if something were to go wrong. However the rate that I received through the company I work for also was insured enough to cover the expense of getting new equipment. This becomes a wash at still half the price.
I am not knocking BBE either. My comment was that if you had this option available to you, it could save you some money. If it's not available to you, then using BBE is a safer bet to make sure that your equipment is covered.
Everything is about weighing your options and getting the best bang for the buck without sacrificing quality of service.
Not to belabor the point, but I agree that it is all about, saving money, time, and frustration. I also believe that it is also about convenience. The old expression time is money fits here as well. In that light, I am curious to know what process you think you have to go through with UPS or others if your stuff is lost in shipment. My understanding is that, in the case of UPS, you have to go to the UPS office or go on line, fill out a claim, wait for them to do some tracking, and you would get reimbursed later if they could not find it. Your reimbursement could take days or even weeks. You would then have to go get new stuff drilled on your nickel. There goes the bracket money. Am I wrong? On the other hand, when my stuff was misplaced this year, all I had to do was provide proof that I shipped to the tournament using the BBE link and they walked me over the ball booth of my choice and told them to drill me what I needed. No money out of my pocket and literally less than 3 hours of my time.
On the return side, they box it up the equipment while you stand there. You don't have to do that and you don't have to go to a drop station after bowling to get it sent out.
I agree that it is a matter of personal preference. For me, less time, less frustration, nothing more than the extra $20 bucks out of pocket. It is worth it to me.
turkeyboy: Not to belabor the point, but I agree that it is all about, saving money, time, and frustration. I also believe that it is also about convenience. The old expression time is money fits here as well. In that light, I am curious to know what process you think you have to go through with UPS or others if your stuff is lost in shipment. My understanding is that, in the case of UPS, you have to go to the UPS office or go on line, fill out a claim, wait for them to do some tracking, and you would get reimbursed later if they could not find it. Your reimbursement could take days or even weeks. You would then have to go get new stuff drilled on your nickel. There goes the bracket money. Am I wrong? On the other hand, when my stuff was misplaced this year, all I had to do was provide proof that I shipped to the tournament using the BBE link and they walked me over the ball booth of my choice and told them to drill me what I needed. No money out of my pocket and literally less than 3 hours of my time. On the return side, they box it up the equipment while you stand there. You don't have to do that and you don't have to go to a drop station after bowling to get it sent out. I agree that it is a matter of personal preference. For me, less time, less frustration, nothing more than the extra $20 bucks out of pocket. It is worth it to me.
Well said turkeyboy Rick may be ofering a great service and you may be bale to save 15 or 20$ using you company.
but if something is lost or damaged it is BBE's ickel not your own and they do the claims.
plus we have 10 people that ship togther so our cost oges down by shipping more then 5 4 ball boxes our cost per ball going out as 14$ and back was about 12$
thats how we saved
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