The reform is very simple: “Payments must be postmarked by the Saturday after the tournament.”
The problem: “Payments must be postmarked by the Saturday before the tournament.” combined with the deeply unfair policy:
Forcing teams to pay before the tournament occurs creates a complicated mess – part of the reason that the circuit never moved to this payment model. Schools drop and add teams in the week leading up to the tournament, and pre-payment isn't going to change this behavior (nor should it, given the variety of legitimate reasons to drop or add teams). Schools drop and add buzzers in the week leading up to the tournament. Schools drop and add staffers in the week leading up to a tournament. All these situations necessitate sending more checks, whether from a school or from ACF, or a school getting stiffed.Paying for ACF Events wrote:We had to make last minute changes that affect our fee-schedule. Help!
Hosts will report any day-of changes that affect the payment amount. Except in special circumstances to be determined by the treasurer, teams must register all buzzers, staffers, etc. before the tournament to receive a discount. In short, you cannot receive an extra discount for bringing more buzzers or staffers than you registered. If you bring fewer buzzers, staffers, etc. than you registered, the tournament director will contact ACF and you will owe an additional fee.
Changing this policy would streamline the whole payment process (for non-school-mailed checks) – hosts report what each team actually brought with them, the ACF treasurer issues 1 invoice, and 1 check is mailed to ACF.