FAQ 1

Why is the passport $29.95?

A

If we were selling you only a paper passport you could think the price is a little high. However, that is not what you are buying. There is an extensive infrastructure that needs to be built consisting of travel, destination, retail and non-profit partners so that you can obtain a "visa" stamp for all the trips and activities you participate in. Accomplishing this and doing it quickly is no easy matter.

Then there are the practical considerations to make this program successful. The price must be high enough to make it worthwhile for distributors and retailers to participate. (We can't very well undercut our own retailers on price.) It is kind of the chicken and the egg. Which came first? We need lots of people buying the passports so business partners will sign up to issue stamps, and we need lots of business partners issuing stamps so people will buy the passport.

We are also signing up National and Regional Retailers who can issue "visa" stamps for events they are selling passports at, if the event organizer has not signed up as a business partner and is not issuing their own stamp. There are a number of ways we are approaching this.

The Gay Conch Republic will also issue some stamps and business partners can issue stamps for events that they have already conducted. Once you purchase your passport, please contact the businesses you've paid for past adventures and tell them about the passport and this site so they can issue you stamps. It is a great promotional tool for them.

Ask yourself, how much money did you spend going to a nightclub? How much was spent going to a circuit party? How much did you spend going on a trip or taking part in some other adventure? Did you buy t-shirts? What did you spend on those? Where are they now? Don't you wish you had something more to show for all that money? The Gay Conch Republic Passport is a souvenir like non-other and you will be able to use it, most likely, your entire lifetime. You will also discover it has many other advantages and benefits which will only increase over the years. Gee, we really should have sold it for much more.

We need to make some money on it in order to advertise, attend events such as the national conference of the IGLTA in Toronto to sign up business partners, and pay various costs associated with marketing.

There are direct production costs. There are materials and production costs. We use quality card stock and vellum paper, not cheap 20 lb. offset. The cover is plastic coated and the inside identification page is protected by thick plastic. There is an investment in equipment plus a big investment in time. The passports are assembled by hand and I don't have to tell you that nobody works for free, plus we have payroll costs like any other employer. We pay a 15 percent royalty to the Hon. Sir Peter Anderson, the Secretary General of the Conch Republic, for each passport sold. There are numerous overhead costs like rent, electric, water, permits and more.

The cost of mailing materials and postage is included in the on-line price too.

Gay Conch Republic Corporation
a division of Blue Planet Offices, Inc.
1107 Key Plaza, Box 306
Key West, FL 33040-4077

Office: 305-897-2593

Copyright 2009 by Blue Planet Offices, Inc.
Blue Planet Offices, Inc. is the parent of GLINN Media Corporation, which is the Gay/Lesbian International News Network serving the gay community since 1989.