After a trade fair, the stand builder's invoice includes the item for the storage of empties and full goods. Depending on the size of the stand, this can be one of the larger amounts of the trade fair appearance. Questions often arise in event controlling as to what this is for and how the invoice is calculated. In my blog post, I take a look at these costs in the event industry from several angles.
Once a trade fair stand has been set up, the packaging materials, Euro pallets and other items are stored at the trade fair forwarding company until they are dismantled. The temporary storage facility on the exhibition grounds then contains, for example, wooden boxes for furniture, flight cases for screens, Euro plates and much more.
Packaging for trade fair materials and equipment is referred to as empties. In contrast to full goods, empties are not stored insured in a trade fair warehouse. The full goods are, for example, ladders or lifting tools such as genies, which are used to lift trusses, among other things, in order to install them. These items are expensive to replace and are therefore stored with insurance. Empty and full goods are usually stored together on the exhibition grounds. The only difference in the storage of full and empty goods at the trade fair is the price. The following applies to temporary storage on the exhibition grounds during the trade fair: full goods are insured. Empties are not insured.
He could, but these costs are charged on the exhibition side and therefore the stand builder must already include these costs when calculating a stand. An alternative would be to add the costs to other items and their prices. However, this results in opaque and not clearly comparable offers and ultimately invoices.
The answer depends on how much price transparency is practiced by the stand construction company. Open and transparent quotations protect against unpleasant surprises and promote clear agreements and understandings. Although project managers are always required to explain these costs, cost transparency should be guaranteed at all times. Even if it takes a little more time for the customer to prepare the quotation and check it for more complex issues.
Of course, you can also take your own truck and store the goods there during the trade fair and then drive them back to the company. This saves the costs of storage at the trade fair. However, this has some disadvantages.
A stand builder should work with a specialist for trade fair transportation and event logistics. This creates price transparency, which is passed on clearly and unambiguously to the customer, and at the same time saves planning time, which in turn leaves more room for the core competence of a stand builder, namely the development, planning and realization of exhibition stands with a high number of visitors. I myself was surprised when we switched to external event logisticians years ago that our costs in this area actually fell. In the highly competitive exhibition stand construction market, this is something that you are happy to pass on to your customers and increases your chances of competing.
Every conventional exhibition stand is unique and there is always an estimate in the quotation. After the trade fair and invoicing by the organizer, you will only have the exact amount of the storage costs on the exhibition grounds during a trade fair appearance from the second set-up onwards if the exhibition stand remains unchanged.
The stand builder has no influence on the invoicing, as this comes from the organizer, the exhibition company, i.e. from third parties. This can take weeks or even months.
This storage would increase the fire load within the exhibition hall and is prohibited by the fire department and the trade fair. This also makes sense. Fire should not be underestimated. Anyone who has ever seen a video showing how quickly a fire spreads will be pleased with this clear no. Regardless of the legal requirements, the space is often used for catering, advertising material and many other consumables at the trade fair.