Hi, fellow yurt-fans -
I’m inquiring how many people would be interested in an organized,
large-scale yurt storage solution, with on-playa pickup/drop-off, for
year-to-year storage at Burning Man. After reading this email, *RSVP with
answers to these three questions if interested.* If enough people want
this, I'll go do it.
Questions:
1. How many yurts would you want to store as described here?
2. Would you be ok that the trailer contents are NOT insured?
3. Do you need transport to/from your camp on-Playa? And would you be ok
with one of the transport choices below?
Background:
I suspect a large number of yurts sit unused between burns. They take
up valuable space in sheds / garages, or sit on (& kill) lawns. Some
owners pay for storage near home. Yurts transported to/from the Playa get
beat up (by other camp gear or ropes), and reduce gas mileage for people
hauling them on cars. Plus, they're just a pain in the neck to plan for &
transport.
This seems silly. Lots of big BM camps put stuff in semi-trailers, haul
them on/off playa & store them in Gerlach between burns. Why not do that
with trailers full of Yurts?
Plan:
Here's my goals. (Read "GOALS"; this is an in-process plan, and is not yet
a firm offer. ;-)
- 1+ dry, enclosed semi-trailers 100% devoted to and optimized for yurt
storage. No camp gear. Period. (# trailers depends on demand. I'm currently
targeting 50-55 yurts / trailer.)
- Random access. A key planning goal is that nobody should have to wait
for the trailer to be unloaded to get their yurt. Show up, pull your yurt,
go to your camp.
- I’ve been using a 3D CAD package and have identified a loading
scheme that enables this.
- Available readily on-Playa for yurt pick-up & drop-off. Hopefully:
- Placed somewhere between 5:30-6:30 and F-H.
- Arrives at least Thursday before gate open (if not earlier), and
leaves Tuesday or Wednesday after the burn.
- Unattended, locked trailers. Those with yurts in storage would be
given the combination to a lock on the trailer doors. Burners GOTTA LOCK
THE DOOR behind them as they leave. :-)
- Dependability & quality. Your shelter matters.
Other details:
- Wrapping. Yurts must be package-wrapped in a tarp (use your floor
tarp), with straps to keep it tight enough to be dragged along the trailer
floor ON EDGE. Maximum 1/4” ply sandwich; prefer 1/8” ply.
- It'd be best if every yurt wrap also had the owners name stenciled on
the tarp. No matter what, there will be string tags that attach to every
yurt along the edge visible when stored.
- If practical, there'll be a chart showing where every owner's yurt
is packed once the trailer is fully packed.
- All fees paid pre-burn.
- Contents insured? TBD. I have no cost quotes yet; but I'm betting
trailer contents insurance will cost $thousands/year, which drives up costs
a LOT - maybe by $50/yurt.
Target cost: $200 / yurt / year for H12 with 1” foam (14" thick allowance).
Other yurt sizes TBD, but proportionate. E.g. 1-1/2” foam is a 50% price
premium. This price is still WILDLY subject to change.
On-Playa transport: Early discussions with people have revealed a need for
a way to haul yurts between the trailer & camps. I’m VERY early in thinking
about this. Single yurts can be transported from the trailer to your
camp on the roof of whatever car you came in - even without a rack. But
camps with many yurts may need bulk transport. I've started looking
for flatbed trailers that can hold 10 (or so) yurts, towed behind a pickup.
Like the semi-trailer, this needs purchased, and it's costly enough that
transport needs to be an incremental charge. Here's my early thoughts on
that:
- Bulk transport at pre-arranged times. ($20/yurt 1-way, $40/yurt round
trip). Camps with lots of yurts would pre-arrange for pickup (pre-burn!).
- Transport on fixed, scheduled route. ($25/yurt 1-way, $50/yurt
RT). Designed for people with one, or a couple of yurts, but no car, who
have friends. Use friends to carry your yurt a couple streets, and wait for
the flatbed, which runs all the way around the Playa on one ring street -
e.g. H street. Runs Saturday-Monday (both weekends), from 2:00(street)
&H and running clockwise to 10:00/H. Runs 2x/day (starts at 11am & 4pm).
- Single yurt transport on demand. ($30/yurt, $60 RT). This is the
biggest waste of resources, so comes at a premium cost. It should be
discouraged.
- Requires volunteers to drive the truck / trailer! Like pickup/dropoff,
nobody wants to spend their entire burn handling yurts.
- (Note: I'm looking at various cart ideas that can be pushed / pulled.
I don't want to complicate this thread with a discussion on that. Start
another thread. ;-)
RSVP by replying to this email. Please delete all the text other than the
questions / answers, to keep the thread readable.
Thanks
-jb
PS - Here's some other after-notes:
- I’m coordinating with Hal Muskat on this, since he’s been doing some
storage to-date. My aim is to dramatically grow the size / capabilities in
order to drive down costs & increase availability.
- I'm working on balancing this being a for-fee service in the presence
of a gifting economy. I'm comfortable with this proposal as-is for two
reasons:
1. Widespread precedent. There are already many vendors who charge for
transport on/off playa, and provide storage off-site. Lots of camps
already
use such services. The concept is already a fact of life in Burning Man.
BRYST becomes merely one more of those vendors, happily focused on yurt
owners.
2. I intend to set this up as a "public benefit corporation". (Google
that if needed, or see here <http://benefitcorp.net/quick-faqs>.) I
want an operating form that gives me the ability to operate quickly and
independently; lots of last-minute stuff needs to get done at Burning
Man,
and I frankly don't want to have to track down a bunch of burners
on-playa
to because some expenditure needs a majority decision.
BUT, my goal is NOT profit; I don't need money. My goal is to benefit
burners. The public benefit corporation structure works perfect for this.
I'll make the corp's stated purpose be to benefit burners who own yurts,
and will issue an annual report on how well it is doing. (Using, e.g. NPS
score, transparency in financial costs, etc. It needs to be lightweight,
but accurate & transparent.)
I'll aim to operate at roughly break-even. (Actually, I'll aim to be
slightly cash-positive to create reserves for unexpected future costs
like
trailer repair, etc.)
I believe this to be consistent with Burning Man ethos; I welcome
discussion on this topic.
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