We are a week after the IFAI Tent Expo 2013 and one of the
main focuses this year was the new
ballasting study. How do you make the decision to weight your tents? The ever-escalating cost of doing business as it pertains to weighting tents often
drives business owners to make decisions towards “what they can get by with”. IFAI has spent a significant amount of
money over the years on studies about staking, and now ballasting. My question
is, how many people have or will actually use these tools to make the correct
decisions when it comes to weighting? Maybe it is the age old, "Well... I've been
doing tents for 20 years and I know what is best" or is it more a case of, “My
competition doesn’t use the correct amount of weight, so if I want to
compete, I can’t either".
Our thought on this… If you think you cannot compete because your competition is
cutting corners, We would say that your business cannot afford for you to do it
incorrectly. One accident resulting in
an injury or damage to property will cost more than taking the
time to ballast a tent correctly. A message to all of
us 'know it alls' out there... do you actually know better or have you just been lucky? If we do not
teach the next generation to perpetuate our industry in a safe and professional manner,
then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Tools
such as the ballasting study can be a valuable asset if the information is used as it is intended. Weighting tents is an on-going issue and should not be taken lightly… Get it?... lightly :)
Tell us your ballasting war stories!
