Museums can still charge a cancellation fee.  Somewhere I saw something
about a volunteer being worth $16.05/hr.  That could be a starting point.
Also, it's been my experience that if there's a fee, there's a greater
respect for the service.  Therefore, even if the visit is free, the
cancellation is not.  If you all joined together to make this a universal
policy, the authorities responsible for this ignorance would take a more
respectful look at these trips.  You'd be surprised at the sudden drop in
being 'blown off'.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deb Fuller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: Visitor Services Question (gripe)


> --- Full Name <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >        Reaching out to the schools and making our institutions
accessible
> > should be our main concern.  It distresses me that a museum professional
> > would advocate being "bitchy" to a school or other potential audience.
>
> Canceled tours aren't about reaching out, it's about professional curtesy.
> Doctors and people who provide other services charge a cancellation fee
not to
> be obnoxious but because missed appointments cost them money. Even if you
don't
> charge for tours, it is still costing you because your time has been
wasted
> when you and your volunteers could have been doing something else. And
above
> all else, it is rude and deprives another group of a tour.
>
> > If we
> > are constantly bemoaning the fact that museums have notoriously low
> > visitorship, it is in our best interests to pursue positive partnerships
with
> > schools and other entities that could benefit all involved.  Yes it is
rude
> > for a school to arrive late or to not show up without cancelling; but if
we
> > alienated every school that did this with a nasty letter or phone call,
we
> > would be left with no schools coming to visit at all.
>
> I doubt that. Having been on the school side, teachers always complain
about
> parents who are late for conferences, kids who are late for school and
other
> factors that cut into their teaching time. They of all people should
understand
> the time that goes into preparing a lesson regardless of what the medium
is.
> Teachers and schools who do not take museum field trips seriously really
don't
> need to be coming to museums. Yes this sounds obnoxious but would you
rather
> deal with 10 tours that you don't know are going to show up or 3 tours
that are
> reliable? Again, missed tours costs YOU money.
>
> And again, having been on the school side, scheduling a field trip is a
BIG
> DEAL! You don't just say "oh, let's go out on day X". Most trip plans are
made
> at the beginning of the year. You have to coordinate with all the other
> teachers, schedule buses (a nightmare sometimes) get permission slips back
from
> the kids and rearrange your whole teaching schedule. Granted there are
factors
> that are beyond a teacher's control when getting kids to the museum and
I'm not
> advocating being "bitchy" to them, but to people who don't take a minute
in
> this day and age of cell phones to give the museum a call and alert them
of the
> situation. Again, if you are late to a doctor's anointment, you can't
demand to
> be seen immediately, you get the time that is available.
>
> On the flip side, if you have teachers who are scheduling tours just to
hold
> the date and not doing any follow-through, that is also a problem.
Teachers
> need to know that a date scheduled is a commitment. You understand that
> sometimes you need to hold the date first and then check to see if buses
are
> available or what not, but that should be far enough in advance that you
can
> change or cancel without depriving anyone else of that tour slot.
>
> From personal experience, activities that are "free" usually have the
worst
> cases of no-shows. People don't understand that even though things are
free to
> them, they aren't to us. It takes our time and money to plan for them.
Charge
> even a $1/kid deposit or add on a cancellation fee and see if that changes
> things. All of a sudden, people start taking the tour seriously because
money
> is at stake. This happened with our planetarium shows at my museum. The
live
> lectures were free and audiences would be rude, walk in and out during
them or
> not even go because they thought it wouldn't be any good because it was
free.
> Tack on a ticket price and then people take it seriously. Same lecture -
> different mind set.
>
> >        The impressions that we give the public affect not only our own
> > institution on that particular day, but they will affect someone's
perception
> > of museums for the rest of their life.  I, for one, advocate making that
> > impression a positive one.
>
> I am too. But look at it on the flip side, what about the teachers who
want to
> come but can't because people book tours and then don't show up? What kind
of
> impression are they getting? That word gets out as well.
>
> All I'm asking is for people to treat museums like any other professional
> organization. If people miss appointments with other professionals, they
get
> charged or at least get a blunt letter telling them that they missed the
> appointment and that if it happens again, they can't schedule appointments
any
> more. Why should we as PROFESSIONAL museums be doing any different?
>
> Deb
>
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