Minutes of Special ISTA Board of Directors Meeting on April 16, 2022 via Zoom
President Charlie Bickle called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
Southern Zone: Dennis Baker, John Kravanek, Ned Meyer, Frank Payne
Central Zone: Steve Carver, Mike Dennis, Bill Maiden, Kevin Wunder
Northern Zone: Charlie Bickle, Patrick Haskins, Bill Huhn, Stan Systo
Others: Joan Davis, ISTA Secretary, Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate, Michelle Mueller
SPECIAL NEW BUSINESS
White Flyer’s Price Increase/State Shoot Target Price Increase – Mike Dennis reported on Friday, April 8th around 5:30 PM, he received an email from White Flyer announcing a target price increase. They jumped the price per case $1.55. Mike looked back on past increases. Since March 2018, their price has gone up $3.40 a case. In December 2021, there was an increase of 60 cents and in July 2021 they increased 70 cents and this time it is $1.55 a case. Mike reported one truck load will be at the current price because delivery was moved up. The three other loads will be at the new price.
Charlie Bickle asked how much shipping will be. The last Mike knew it was $4.05 a one way mile. They added a charge of $100 if it takes an overnight stay to deliver targets. Michelle Mueller said they tried to project what shipping will cost, without the potential $100 added charge, and they came up with $600 more in shipping charges. It was later discussed that mileage is only charged one way. Mike reviewed last year’s invoices and shipping was $1,134.00 per truck load. Lauren had indicated it is 299 miles from the warehouse to Brittany, so Mike figured shipping will be $1,211.00 per truck load – $67 more per truck load.
Denny Baker asked Mike if anything was said about expecting further increases. Mike read part of the letter he received from White Flyer to the board:
“Effective at the end of business today, April 8, 2022, pricing on all Blackout and Pitch targets will increase $1.55 per case. White Flyer will honor all pricing for orders on the White Flyer books prior to today’s letter and shipping before May 9, 2022. All new orders and orders currently on the books but scheduled to ship on May 9, 2022, and thereafter, will have the new pricing.
Due to the volatility of the raw material pricing, White Flyer Targets finds it necessary to reduce the number of days that we can guarantee pricing. Effective at the end of business today, April 8, 2022, pricing for all new orders and orders currently on the books shipping after May 8, 2022, will be guaranteed for ten business days.”
Denny Baker suggested maybe anticipating other increased costs should be covered. Kevin Wunder suggested taking care of the State Shoot and if we need to make an adjustment in 6 months, then we do it then. John Kravanek said that is assuming it doesn’t go up between May 8th and the State Shoot, or when delivery is accepted. Mike said it could go up. Bill Maiden asked if there was anything we can do to get targets shipped sooner to avoid extra costs and Mike said nothing can be done to change it now. The orders had to be on the books and shipped before May 8th. He said we have one load coming May 24th, and two loads coming May 26th.
Mike said he and Ned Meyer talked after he received the price increase email and said he made a knee jerk reaction without doing any analysis. He said he thought $4 was about right at that time but after talking to others about it, he did some calculations. The increase is $1.55 a case. A case is 135 birds which takes care of one round of an event at the State Shoot. So, 4 rounds in an event will cost $6.20 increase in targets, assuming 10 birds are wasted out of every case. Divide that by 5 shooters on a squad is $1.25 per person per 100 birds plus with shipping increases of less than $100 per load ($400 total), he said he now thinks a more adequate amount would be a $2 increase, since we have already accounted for the January increase of minimum wage.
Kevin Wunder asked Michelle if a $2.00 increase would keep her at the same profit margin she had figured for this year and she said if this is the only thing that goes up she indicated yes, $2.00 will do it, but if other things go up, which they probably will, even though it’s unforeseen at the moment, then no, it will not be enough. Michelle also said she thought the costs should stay in the same ballpark as other states and asked if anyone had checked on prices.
John Kravanek said Missouri is charging $47 for first 100 and $42 per $100 after that. Iowa is charging $40 but possibly going up to $41. Michelle said the President of Wisconsin said Minnesota is going up to $37 and Wisconsin is $39 for targets plus fees. Mike Dennis reminded everyone those other states own their own clubs/property and are using money to pay for their ground upkeep, property taxes, etc.… He went on to say he’s aware Brittany has those expenses too but what we need to try and do is keep the same profit margin that Michelle had figured up for this year before the increase.
Denny Baker expressed his concern if Mike receives another letter raising target prices again before we take delivery of our later orders. He asked if it would be better to anticipate other increases and raise the price higher now than to only raise them a couple of dollars and have to raise the prices again at the window.
Mike said he went to the Southern Grand, Florida State Shoot and the Southwest Grand and all of those shoots were down in numbers. The only one that was up was the Spring Grand. The Southwest Grand was down 11%. They were down enough that they are getting out of having that shoot in the future. Florida State Shoot was down 10 – 12% and the Southern Grand was down 15%. He said we can pretty much count on the fact that our state shoot will be down, and we need to be careful with everything going up -- shells keep going up, primers are $55 a 1,000 and fuel is going up. He asked Michelle how pre-squad was looking so far, and she said it was about average. She said she has a lot of new names on her camper waiting list, but she said people make reservations and then they don’t show up so that’s not a good gauge to use. She said in the grand scheme of things, she doesn’t want to go crazy and does not want to out price ourselves with everything trapshooters are up against during this time. She said $2.00 will cover this increase – but with everything else going up, she said she would be more comfortable with a $3.00 increase and $4.00 was a number that was talked about so you wouldn’t have to go up twice. She said there is a lot of logic behind everyone’s opinion. She said it has to be a minimum of $2.00, she would prefer $3.00 and $4.00 would be asking for the moon and that would put Illinois above what some of the other states are charging and she said she would rather be on the lower side of what others are charging yet she doesn’t want to price herself too low. Ned pointed out that a $4.00 increase would not be higher than the other states. The only other state nearby that is lower than $38 is Minnesota which is $37.00 per event.
Kevin Wunder said he is not in favor of a $4.00 increase. He said he heard a lot of feedback from people who had heard of a possible $4.00 increase and a lot of people are upset. Two or three people told him they will not go if targets go up to $4.00. For a couple who both shoot that is $8.00 more per event for two people. If they shoot all the events it comes to a pretty good price tag for them, and people are not going to do it. He said we could take the price to $50 but if you don’t have shooters, Michelle will still lose money. He said we can’t keep raising the price to try to price ourselves out of debt – we have to have the shooters. Most everyone was agreeable to $2.00 but they don’t want to go $4.00. Kevin said he would go with the $3.00 but he said he would not go $4.00. Steve Carver said he agrees with Kevin, but he is agreeable to $2.00.
Michelle said this isn’t just related to the State Shoot, it’s going to affect all the clubs because they can’t eat it either. Bill Maiden asked Michelle if she is going to raise the rest of her shoot prices for the remainder of the year and she said she is going to have to adjust them with the increase price of targets. She said her last ATA shoot was $35.00 and she said she will have to see how much money she wants to give away for prizes in order to determine what the prices will be.
John Kravanek spoke about how the price of everything is going up and that the board is arguing about what Brittany is allowed to go up. There is no way we can argue with other vendors about them raising their prices, but we are wanting to punish Brittany because costs are up everywhere else. He said they have to make money to survive. Kevin Wunder said no one is denying that. John said it seems like we’re talking about everybody is allowed to make a profit, but Brittany isn’t. He said if Michelle’s happy with $3.00 then he’s happy with that too.
Dennis Baker made a motion to raise the target prices $3.00. Pat Haskins seconded the motion.
Roll Call Vote on Raising Target Prices to $3.00:
Southern Zone: Central Zone Northern Zone:
Dennis Baker – Yes Steve Carver - No Charlie Bickle – only votes if tie
John Kravanek – Yes Mike Dennis - No Patrick Haskins - Yes
Ned Meyer - Yes Bill Maiden - No Bill Huhn - Yes
Frank Payne - Yes Kevin Wunder - Yes Stan Systo – No
Vote Totals: 7 Yes Votes and 4 No Votes – Motion carried.
There was a discussion regarding finding labor. Bill Duncan made a suggestion about asking shooters if they wanted to help score to reduce target fees. Michelle said she liked the idea but there would need to be some sort of structure. It was suggested & decided a statement would be added to the price increase flyer that will be inserted in the program explaining the target price increase, stating if anyone would like to offset their target costs, they could contact Brittany for more information regarding scoring.
Mike asked Michelle if she has been able to find ammunition. Lauren indicated she has been playing phone tag with several people trying to secure ammo, but she hasn’t gotten any definite answers. Denny Baker said the manager at Sparta said he was getting AA’s in. She said she goes there three times a week to see what they have. Michelle said they will have some, but they are not sure what they will have and how much they will have. It was suggested they advertise they will have ammo and Michelle suggested maybe also putting that on the flyer insert.
Next ISTA Meeting – May 21, 2022, at 11:00 AM at Brittany Shooting Park
Adjournment -- Motion to adjourn was made by Pat Haskins; Denny Baker seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted by Joan Maiden, ISTA Secretary