Discount Labor Rate

When it comes to trade show labor and exhibiting in general spending the least amount of money for the maximum amount of exposure is usually our number one priority. Hopefully this little bit of advise should save you a few bucks on your labor.

First off, always place your orders before the discount rate. The discount rate is usually a rate that is less expensive than the standard rate if you place your orders (labor, carpet, etc.) early. The date is different for every show and can be found on the top of your order forms. This should be a given unless you got a late start.

My advise to you is to schedule more labor than you need. Yes, I said schedule more than you need. If you think your display can be setup in 4 hours schedule 5 or 6. The reason being that if you have some unforeseen problems, like slow labor that you don't have the heart to fire, then you can keep your labor for that additional half hour or hour at the discounted rate. If you were to only schedule 4 hours and it ends up taking 5, you certainly don't want to have to pay the standard rate for that last hour that wasn't scheduled.

Now there are a few things that have to take place for this to work...

You have to supervise the setup and dismantle to ensure that the labor does not milk the clock because you ordered extra hours. As the on-site supervisor you should make sure your labor is not on the phone, talking or anything other than working. After all you are probably paying this stellar worker who is supposedly a specialist in setting up trade show displays, ha yeah right, around $ 60 to $ 95 an hour. As soon as your display/booth is up you can release your workers and make sure you keep track of the time. Another thing is that you should check your rules and regulations to ensure that there is no issue releasing your labor early. Typically you only run into a problem if you schedule your labor for an additional day rather than hours. If you feel your display will take 8 hours to setup, do not schedule an additional day or labor. Additional days of labor canceled with less than 24 hours of notice will constitute a minimum of one hour of labor per worker. However, you could schedule 2 or 3 workers instead of one for that 8 hours and if you are ahead of schedule you can release the extra 1 or 2 workers you have at lunch or after the carpet is laid down. This usually works out really well because you have better odds of getting at least one good laborer and can release the others as soon as you are confident the display will be up.

Last little bit of advise is to review your labors hours at the end of the show to ensure they didn't "forget" to remove the hours unused. Oh and keep in mind that you are allowed to setup your own product at the show. So to save even more you can setup your product yourself instead of having the union labor set it up.

I hope this advise helps and as always consult your custom or portable exhibit house to double check that you will not run into any issues and if you feel nervous about scheduling extra hours, no problem, don't and you can pay the standard rate which is only a few bucks more per hour per worker. This method usually works best for larger custom exhibits.