David; I don't wish to get into another debate defining a dealer vs. a collector. Let me just say that a "legitimate" dealer, or one who derives a large part of his/her income from the sale of chips and/or tokens .... and reports that income to the IRS ... has the availability of deducting most of his/her expenses you've mentioned from their income. The expenses are not as severe as one might think on the face of it. Right Jimbo??

True, for the purposes of table holders at our annual conventions all are termed "dealers" vs. the term "customers". Many table holders are simply club members (just like you) who book table space to dispose of many duplicates aquired over many years of collecting. To reduce their table expenses, they sometimes share the table fee with another collector .... who become a "dealer" for the duration of the show ..... then both resume being collectors again once the show has ended.

I don't think that registration fees will ever displace table fees. The registration fees that are presently being considered will simply be eaten up by other programs and activities that many club members are proposing be added to the convention line-up. I'm afraid that if too many activities are proposed we may be looking for another Convention Chairman before long. (NO <g>)