What To Do About Stolen Props
This is a difficult one. Sooner or later, and many
times unintentionally and by drunk guests, some of your props are going to
disappear.
There are ways to limit the loss. The best way is
to have adequate staffing for the size of the event and to maintain effective
control over your booth. There are many reasons why you should not lose control
and let the inmates run the prison, for lack of a better analogy – lol, but
holding on to your props is one of them.
Also be very careful with drinks. I try to have a
table nearby where the guests can place their drinks while they are at the
booth. I am very vigilant in not allowing guests to put drinks next to the
props and will remove the drink placing it aside if necessary. The risk of
losing props to spilled alcohol is in my experience an even greater risk than
losing them through other means. There is nothing worse than a box of props
that smell like an old stale bar, and well, I don't allow that to happen, but
have seen that with other photobooths I had nothing to do with where I happened
to be either a guest myself at the party or the DJ.
There are some who have suggested charging the
client for lost props and making that a part of the contract. While I don't
completely disagree with that approach I won't use it myself for a number of
reasons. First off, if you are running the booth properly in the first place,
the losses should be both infrequent and relatively minor, so I write them off
as a cost of running the service. Secondly, it leaves a bad taste in everyone's
mouth and puts you in an adversarial position with the client – the $20 you got
for the props may end up costing you a future $1000 booking. Third, it is a
logistical nightmare. I keep a relatively good inventory of my props and add
and subtract effectively where necessary, but in order to charge a client for
the props, you must first completely inventory and have the client sign off on
what was delivered, and then re-inventory again at the end of the night, at a
time when you most likely want to just pack up and go home. All in all, its
just not worth it for me to do all this work for the sake of a few props here
and there. I have generally lost more props just due to regular wear-and-tear
than to theft.
Toy Guns and Weapons
This will create some controversy (sorry NRA) but
as a general rule I do not include any sort of weapons (toy guns, knives and so
forth) amongst my props.
The following story didn't happen to me directly
but for one company I was working for and I can assure you it was a true story.
There were a couple of dollar store toy guns in amongst the props at a school formal.
Well, they were well used but a few days later we get a call from the school
board.
It appears that one of the parents was very upset
that these toy guns were in the props. They went so far as to try to call the
police and tried to get us arrested. Well, the police said since they were toys
they really couldn't do anything but suggested they call the school board. So
of course the school board was called, as was the principal of the school and a
few others as well.
In the end, nothing really happened. We continued
doing photobooths for this particular school board but they did ask us to
remove any and all weapons which we did.
We quietly removed all toy weapons from all the
systems and I understand to this day they still have a box of “confiscated toy
weapons” in the back corner, saved just in case anyone does want them in the
props.
Was this an over-reaction? Maybe, but I will tend
to err on the side of caution when it comes to possibly upsetting people. With
all the violence that goes on in the world, maybe it would be better to leave
the weapons out of the prop box.
On the flip-side, my policy is that if a client
insists on using guns and weapons I will allow them but I generally will make a
note on the contract that they had asked for them to be included, and where
possible I will make them initial it.
On a similar note I also tend to be careful when
it comes to the signs used. I love the party signs at Party City (and
especially the $2.99 price) but I generally remove the “Hoe” and “Tool Box” signs.
I have never gotten in trouble for using them on the couple of occasions I did,
but why take chances.
Buy Props Off Season
Right after July 4th (or your nation's
holiday) is the best time to buy patriotic props.
Right after October 31st is the best
time to buy Halloween props.
Right after Christmas is the best time to buy
Christmas props.
This past Halloween (Nov 3 I think) I bought a ton
of props both at Walmart and Target. At Walmart I got 90 percent off, at Target
it was 75 percent, but at both stores I scored some great deals.
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