What's the deal with day before the race packet pickup?

Several reasons:

1) Get people to the expo. Expo's have become a revenue stream for race organizers. If you think race organizers make a lot of money, you need to be on a committee to see just what they actually do net.

2) Fewer volunteers needed the morning of the race. Volunteers can be hard to come by. Getting the race set up like aid stations, start and finish areas take manpower. If the RD needs only 1 or 2 people to handle packet pick up that morning it frees up labor.

3) If the running store hosts packet pick up, that drives people to the running store. I doubt this generates a lot of business. The LRS that I frequent hosts packet pick up and from what I have seen people come in, get the packet, and leave (some may make small talk with staff).

4) Potentially provides a chance in case something is wrong with the bib (age entered wrong) and time to get it corrected before the morning of the race. (I helped time a race once---that was a good bit of work. The setting up of the electronics takes some time and troubleshooting).

As long as they let Nick Symmonds advertise his Instant Tanning Gum I'm all for it.

Art Vandelay wrote:

As a runner, it makes no sense to go out of your way to make a special trip to pick up a packet versus getting it race morning when you're already on site anyway. It is NOT a convenience.

Help me understand.

All about logistics. Once you've directed a race you'll realize the more you can get done before race day the better. Too many things can go wrong, and the fact is if the race starts late EVERYONE is pissed off, but having you pick up the packet the day before only pisses off some people. Pre-race day pickup is heavily requested and has been for a long time, so my guess is you're in the minority of people that don't like it.

Another reason is an increasing number of cities are getting extremely rigid on permits. That means if they're going to get traffic enforcement (which often includes extra officers before the race to deal with people coming to the site) they not only have to pay for that time, but also stay within the window of the permit.

So if you have a permit that says you have traffic support from 8-10am and the race goes off at 9 that means you better start on time or else police will force people onto the sidewalk at 10. Having been on the receiving end of the shitstorm when that happens I can sympathize with RDs that want to take every precaution to stay within their permit.

Another thing I see with increasing regularity is race starts at a location where registration / pickup is impractical. So having race day and/or packet pickup means shlepping all the registration materials to the site (and of course having the volunteers there to deal with it). For example Cooper River hasn't had race day pickup for a couple decades since it's a point to point race, but they do have a mail option.

this isn't so complicated. and it's definitely not one-size-fits-all. there are too many variables at play. providing choice is the win-win answer, with (my opinion) a bias towards prior-day for the convenience of the race organization. forcing to one or the other will inconvenience a number of people, and that's generally going to be a lose-lose.

Don't even get me started on the Dallas Marathon. I ran it several years back - of course they require packet pick up at their expo. After paying $10 to park at the expo (grrrr...), I then had to walk all over the Dallas Convention Center. Way over in this corner for the race bib, way over in that corner for the timing chip, way over in another corner for the shirt. All strategically laid out to parade you in front of as many vendors as possible. All I wanted to do was get out and get off my feet...because, you know, I was racing a marathon in the morning.

Dallas Marathon can suck it wrote:

Don't even get me started on the Dallas Marathon. I ran it several years back - of course they require packet pick up at their expo. After paying $10 to park at the expo (grrrr...), I then had to walk all over the Dallas Convention Center. Way over in this corner for the race bib, way over in that corner for the timing chip, way over in another corner for the shirt. All strategically laid out to parade you in front of as many vendors as possible. All I wanted to do was get out and get off my feet...because, you know, I was racing a marathon in the morning.

Same thing for the Georgia Marathon. ...and the expo sucked from what I had to walk through.

Dallas Marathon can suck it wrote:Don't even get me started on the Dallas Marathon. I ran it several years back - of course they require packet pick up at their expo. After paying $10 to park at the expo (grrrr...), I then had to walk all over the Dallas Convention Center. Way over in this corner for the race bib, way over in that corner for the timing chip, way over in another corner for the shirt. All strategically laid out to parade you in front of as many vendors as possible. All I wanted to do was get out and get off my feet...because, you know, I was racing a marathon in the morning.

GAMAN wrote:Same thing for the Georgia Marathon. ...and the expo sucked from what I had to walk through.

I have a piece of advice both both of you, and to anyone else upset with a race's practices; don't run them. I'm not being facetious. A RD's only true responsibilities are to advertise what they will deliver and make sure they deliver that. Nothing more. They are under no obligation at all to specifically meet your needs. If what they advertise is not to your satisfaction, don't sign up, it's that simple. If you send the RD a note that says why, in a way that's not "I didn't sign up because your race sucks" you may enact some change. If people keep signing up for races then bitching anonymously on some message board then absolutely nothing is going to happen in their favor.

In the case of these marathons I'd be hard pressed to think of any of any size that have race day pickup because the logistics are too difficult. That said, both of you knew going in that there wasn't race day pickup and that pickup was at an expo but you still gave them your money. You're like battered wives handing hubby a bat. If it's that upsetting to have to walk an expo, then stop giving races that make you do that your money.

I actually took your advice...I haven't run that race since. And there are things they didn't advertise...like charging to park, or the 5k they'd require me to walk at the expo.

You certainly have an interesting business sense...that you're under no obligation to meet your customers' needs.

Race directors are the only business people I know who are openly hostile to their customers.

I work for a company that produces 4 races, a 900 runner 5k, an 1800 runner half marathon, a 9000 runner marathon/relay, and a 600 runner 10k. For all 4 races we allow race day packet pickup and we also allow a runner to pick up ahead of time - and with proper paperwork you can pick up for a friend. Only the marathon/relay has an Expo.

Offering pre-race packet pickup saves us A TON of time on raceday and allows us to process race day pickup a lot quicker. FWIW, only the 5k and 10k allow race day registration. For the 3 smaller races we do pre-race pickup at a local store. We usually get about 60%-70% of the entrants who pick up their packets ahead of time for those races. Although it does require us to have volunteers ahead of raceday, it cuts down quite a bit on the number of volunteers we need at registration on raceday. And after doing it this way for a number of years we have gotten the store to get on board to provide the volunteer staffing. They see it as a chance to get hundreds of runners in their door, so even if they have to pay an employee to staff the table they can easily make that back on additional sales they would not have gotten had all those runners not come in the door. They run specials for those with bibs too.

On the runner side, what we hear is that offering pre-race packet pickup is something they want. If you can pretty much guarantee you're going to stand in a line of 5 people vs a line of 50 people, I'll take the 5 any day. Well, almost any day. Like the OP, I wouldn't drive out of town too much to pick up a bib early, if I wasn't staying at that town for the race. The other thing is that when we offer it it's all hours the store is open, 10am-7pm. So you can go in at lunch time or after work, whenever it's most convenient.

For our largest race, the marathon/relay, we'd prefer runners get to the Expo to pick up early that way they can resolve any issues, but we do offer raceday pickup. Because there is no raceday registration at least we're not trying to handle both registration functions. Race start is 8am, you can pickup 5am-7am, after 7am no go because our registration staff has to get to the start line to help with timing. Out of 3600 marathoners and ~2000 relay teams I would estimate we have about 300 pick up on raceday.

Those of you who are saying MOST races require you to pick up ahead of time are overestimating. The largest races, for sure. But I believe that in my state ZERO races require pickup before raceday. I know that there are 4 marathons in my state and none require it. But we're certainly not NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc.

You certainly have an interesting business sense...that you're under no obligation to meet your customers' needs.

Race directors are the only business people I know who are openly hostile to their customers.

Now now. The race can't hurt you if you don't let it. :)

Races cater to their customers... which is why people come to run them.

If you personally don't like it, then find another race.

Race directors aren't "hostile" to their customers.

If you want a more "hardcore" racer experience, run some open track meets.

I take it you have never been an RD, if you think it is that simple.

Keith Stone wrote:

A RD's only true responsibilities are to advertise what they will deliver and make sure they deliver that. Nothing more.

Keith Stone, there was actually a useful discussion going on until you showed up. You're a jerk, and to borrow a previously used term, a hostile one. Get some help with your anger issues.

Art Vandelay wrote:

Just about every race now has day before packet pickup as an option, if not a requirement.

I don't get it. I can see it saving the race organizers time on race morning, but isn't that offset by having to commit more volunteer time before race day, usually during working hours?

As a runner, it makes no sense to go out of your way to make a special trip to pick up a packet versus getting it race morning when you're already on site anyway. It is NOT a convenience.

Help me understand.

Easy to say when you have never been a race organizer. Btw, I only know of 3 races that don't allow race day pick ups.

Dallas Marathon can suck it wrote:

Don't even get me started on the Dallas Marathon. I ran it several years back - of course they require packet pick up at their expo. After paying $10 to park at the expo (grrrr...), I then had to walk all over the Dallas Convention Center. Way over in this corner for the race bib, way over in that corner for the timing chip, way over in another corner for the shirt. All strategically laid out to parade you in front of as many vendors as possible. All I wanted to do was get out and get off my feet...because, you know, I was racing a marathon in the morning.

All major marathons are like this. Just go deliberately to the places to pick things up and leave. Avoid all the booths selling garbage energy products, the stick, miracle cures, and other snake oil. When they don't make money they will pull out.

I honestly don't care about this as if others are stupid enough to spend $$ then it offsets the cost of the event for me. The only valuable vendor I have seen at race expos are at Chicago, NYC and Boston where many of the other big races have good deals to sign up that day at the expo. I usually seek out the list of who is exhibiting ahead of time and wait to register if I see a race I want is going to be there.

ahwjddk wrote:

In the case of the marathons, it's all about the expo. Expos are big business for race organizers. If they can force runners to go to the expo to get their bibs, they can sell vendors on the fact that X people will be exposed to their products.

... and we have a winner! It's all about money.

It's all about money.

Try finding a marathon through a major city that has volunteer-only staffing, and which is not for profit (even though profits are slim).

Good luck :)

Avoiding buying useless junk isn't the issue. Being forced to pay to park and to walk inordinate amounts the day before a 26.2 mile race is.

From my perspective the big problem with pre-race day pickup is that it has dissuaded me from entering a number of races which were about 1-2 hours, more or less, away from me. Close enough to commute to the morning of, but far enough away to make it impractical to do it twice.

These were 10k or 1/2 marathons. They were also, best I can remember, on Saturday, which meant really scrambling after work on Friday.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

From my perspective the big problem with pre-race day pickup is that it has dissuaded me from entering a number of races which were about 1-2 hours, more or less, away from me. Close enough to commute to the morning of, but far enough away to make it impractical to do it twice.

These were 10k or 1/2 marathons. They were also, best I can remember, on Saturday, which meant really scrambling after work on Friday.

THANK YOU!

This is the issue. I am not driving 2 hours round trip, two days in a row to run a race...especially a non-marathon race. It's a deal killer. There are options that don't require this...those are the races I'll be running. Or I'll stay home and run alone.