jd-train posted:I honestly don't understand what there is to debate on my original comment.
The dealers don't care if their sales were made to TCA members, TCA guests, or the general public. They look at the bottom line to see if sales justify their costs to attend.
........
I'll apologize since it was my first reply to your comment that keeps popping up.
My point was just that the addition of the public may not have "made it worth the Dealers' while to come" since several did not come to this most recent meet.
My main point was that if the public didn't all go to a previous York meet before this one (how many times have you heard of something and said "I'll try to do that one day when I can fit it in my schedule..." vs. "I'm going to do that the first time it happens, regardless of what else may be going on in my life at the time"? I'll bet some people heard that "oh the public is allowed in now" when it started a few meets back, but maybe didn't attend right away. If any of them went for the first time this meet, they missed seeing Lionel, Atlas, OGR, and CTT (at least - maybe others). If the public shows up and says "What do you mean Lionel(Atlas/OGR/CTT) isn't here? They've always been here before?!", They'd possibly be a little upset that they bothered, depending on their interests, of course.
So some dealers gave it only a few meets with the added public before bailing on this April's meet (and presumably future Aprils - but I don't know if any have officially declared that yet). Those dealers will likely tell you the "public admission" ball got rolling too late and they were losing money coming to the meet for quite a while before the public was admitted. Which may in fact be true. But now any public that did come got to see a few large empty areas for the 2 importers and the 2 largest paper publications in O gauge. (as well as the other empty spots not specifically mentioned - I am not trying to compile a complete list here)
The point brought up in other posts about people who bailed on their membership since they can now get into the Dealer halls without being a member is a good one, though. Some may claim they mostly shopped for new items in those 2 halls anyway. I suspect some probably used to at least take a walk through one or 2 of the Member halls, and who knows maybe one of 10 people like that bought something from a member's table.
So possibly the Member halls suffer a little from people who say "If I can get into Dealer halls without membership, I can't justify the $50 membership to just walk through the Member halls on the low chance I may buy something". So the Member halls may indirectly suffer from the public admission, but not as much as TCA National does from the lost memberships.
My 4 cents (too long for just 2 cents 
)
-Dave
