I'd like to request that we be allowed to pick spots once we enter according to our order in
line. I want to be next to my friend so that we can guard each other's spots when we go on
bathrooms breaks or take a few minutes to browse and shop ourselves.
Seconded! For the exact same reasons mentioned above.
My friend and I have been fortunate to get a spot for as many swap meets back as I can remember. Even when we had the 10'x10' spots, what seems like ages ago, we've managed to have enough stuff to make getting two separate spots worth it, which is why we don't opt to share a space. Last year, we somehow still managed to wind up with spots more or less within view of each other on both Thursday and Friday, so we were somewhat able to keep an eye on the others' items during a bathroom break or shopping lap. Being able to request (and understandably not
guaranteeing) neighboring spots would allow us that small piece of mind that we don't have to remain there for the entire duration should the need arise for us to step away for a minute, lest we risk leaving a bunch of anime goodies unattended. We have some pretty great folks that attend Fanime, so while theft is always a possibility, what I noticed last year were people walking away upset if there wasn't someone there to answer questions or even take their money for something they wanted to purchase.
Besides having too much stuff to squeeze into a single space, it's also usually just the two of us who attend Fanime. We could mark each other down as a secondary seller for the other space, but we don't have anyone else to help out Having more than two people per space hasn't been an issue, as we can't even
get that second person to begin with.
We are definitely
not considering combining our powers to form one massive, all-mighty swap meet singularity. The concern of vendors using swap meet rather than the dealer's hall or other sellers otherwise monopolizing space is definitely a valid concern, but I think this can be mostly addressed through clear communication of the rules and the consequences of breaking them before hand, followed up by monitoring by staff. For the vast majority of us sellers asking to be allowed neighboring spots, if not where specifically on the floor our spots are, is a reasonable request that shouldn't be overly difficult or disruptive to grant.
Assuming we don't use that random-number method from last year again. Please don't do that to us.