I find it funny that people, even some crew people think that being a merch person is only about selling shirts at a show. The few crew guys, bus and truck drivers that I have used to help me vend at some of the larger shows have totally change their perception of merch people. As much as I hate it, the perception of a merch person with some crew guys is, “All you do is sell shirts”, So every moment I can I take the time to explain what is that we do. So here is a small list of some of the things we do.

1) Before a tour has even started, merch people have to determine how much merch to do according to the sales you’re expecting a band to make, with larger bands and merch companies they have people in the office that focus on sending deliveries to the road merch guy. (a good merch guy or office guy can make a difference on how much merch you will have left over at the end of the tour, one miscalculation and there you go throwing money out the window)

2) We advance merchandise: Yep, just like a production manager advances his stage needs and sound etc. Merch people email the venues and send them a product list, tables needed, how many stands, vendors, expected sales, credit card fees, confirm merch deal on merchandising and cd’s and in my case argue with venues trying to lower merch deals as much as possible. (yes I’m a hustler)

3) We deal with organizing deliveries to the venues using logistic to know if your delivery will make it on time, taking your time to think ahead will save the band money on deliveries instead of waiting and having to rush merch over night. This may not seem like much but rush delivery can cost a band on a big tour thousands of dollars.

4) Merch people have to deal with the truck/trailer space, some bands dont understand that if you want to sell merch you need space to store it. I cant begin to tell you how frustrating it can be for a merch person to get a huge delivery on the 1st show of the tour and tour mangers not taken in consideration merch space. That is why as soon as I get confirmed a tour my 1st call goes to the tour manager to know how much space I have for merch. Because most time Tour managers are busy dealing with the bigger picture (Pro Tm’s will know and understand the importance of merch)

5) Inventory: The most important thing for a merch person to know. Every shirt that is either lost, stolen, comp has to be accounted for. A good merch person sometimes can tell you what they have in the truck no matter how much merch they have in it (not the exact number of shirts but they know items they are low on) merch people are always looking at their inventory on their sales sheets.

6) Cash money and credit card machines: Merch people have to deal with a lot of cash, we have to make sure to have change (Bank) for the shows, we have to go to the bank to make deposits, deal with supplies for paper for the dumb credit card machines that all merch people hate! We also do our own accounting. You can’t have a disorganized merch person dealing with your cash, well unless you sell only 2 shirts a day.

7) Show day: Merch people have to deal with venues that dont cover their side of the deal, from not sending you tables, trying to cut down on the vendors, to not even giving you a decent merch area. They still expect you to pay the % on the contract. A good merch person makes sure to get what they asked for or get another merch deal on show day. I can tell you I’m known for screwing over venues by lowering the merch deal to those that try to screw with the bands or artist.

8) Vending: Before you start selling you need to know what you brought in the building, so you do your inventory for the show. Here is were the selling shirts thing comes into play, did you realized all the crap a merch person has to do to finally get to sell shirts?

I have skipped a lot of stuff so you dont get bored, like crew shirts, crew pricing, display equipment and other shit. Doors open, start selling and answer the “How much is that?” question 1000 times even with signs up.

So as you see there are a lot of stuff that merch people have to do just to sell a shirt, so now you know that the easiest part to be a merch person is selling the shirt part.

This is my opinion and only an opinion.