Thank you for your patience, ideas and support as we have worked through a world of shifting constraints and unknowns. 

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The following covers our 2022 Pricing and Timing. We need your help in finding a suitable location (details below). If we can't find a site, we can't ship our things!

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Please review and understand everything on this page. We have also updated our packing information and policies. Please make sure you understand and agree to them before you purchase any space, as they apply regardless.

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WHEN 

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We feel confident the following dates will provide enough buffer to ensure timely on Playa delivery on Monday of Build Week, August 23, 2022.

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DC LOAD-IN

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ART PROJECTS & LARGE CAMPS

Saturday, August 6, 2022 

10:00am to 6:00pm

 

MAIN LOAD-IN

Sunday, August 7, 2022

10:00am to 6:00pm

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BRC LOAD-OUT: 5:15 & D

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Advance Teams Container

Monday, August 22, 2022

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Additional Containers

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

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BRC LOAD-IN: 5:15 & D

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All Containers

Saturday, September 3, 2022 through

Monday, September 5, 2002

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DC LOAD-OUT

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ALL ART PROJECTS, CAMPS & BURNERS

Saturday, September 24, 2022

10:00am to 4:00pm

 

WHERE: DC TDB: Help us find a great new location!

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The National Capital Area Park Police headquarters is no longer able to host us, but we are grateful for the 5 years they were able to give us. We are looking for locations where we can host the load in and load out the containers.

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 Find out what makes a great site and how you can help us find one. We need everyone's help with this! 

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WHERE: BRC

 

DC Containers will be located at 5:15 & D 

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COST

 

OVERVIEW

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We can offer everyone the same things at a 27% average over 2019 rates (not the 40% or more, as it was looking like for some time, and less than the overall national average). Bike pricing needed to change, but given the limited bike rental options available on Playa this year, we are offering a less expensive boxed bike option. Well organized regional cities, camps and projects can take advantage of bulk pricing. And as always, Playa-bound regional art is prioritized for discounts.

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A lot more research, conversations and consideration went into our pricing rationale, especially given other changes happening at Black Rock City. If you want to know more about this you can do so here.

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REGULAR SHIPPING

 

$95 per Bin (27 Gallon Black & Yellow)

$16 per Cubic Foot (How to Calculate)

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BIKE SHIPPING

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Bikes require extra work and planning to handle, to say nothing of the loads of unusable space they cause. Taking off pedals and turning handlebars helps, but bikes still occupy around 15-20 cubic feet ($240 - $320 this year if we fully charged for the volume they take up). Even with blankets and strapping, bikes can still get bumped and nicked. Other BM Container cities won't take assembled bikes at all. 

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We will again take bikes as we have in the past (assembled, handlebars turned, pedals off, etc.), are offering a boxed bike option*, and now require e-bike transportation to be determined by their awkward volume.

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$235 per assembled bike (turned handlebars, pedals removed, like normal)

$135 per boxed bike*

E-bikes need to be estimated by their volume.

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* Boxed bikes are the way to go. This means a bike is disassembled (wheels, seat, basically how a bike arrives from the factory) and put into a bike box. You can usually get bike boxes for free from a bike shop. The $135 price is based on a 9 cubic foot box. We need the boxes to fit together as tightly as possible, so no handlebars or seats or anything else sticking out of the box.

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BULK SHIPPING (~16% discount) FOR CAMPS, REGIONAL CITIES, AND PROJECT TEAMS

 

Bulk loading means more efficient space use for everyone. We offer this to well-organized camps and project teams bringing camp set ups and infrastructure that will all be loaded at the same time on the same day, could be loaded into a large single cubic volume (i.e. does not use shelving units), commits to loading and unloading at specific times, and places an order for more than $2,500 worth of space.

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We want to expand bulk shipping regionally. We had a super successful collaboration with Norfolk / Tidewater, VA Burners for Love Burn this year. They self-organized and operated as a unified team, much like larger theme camps and art projects who do bulk loading and shipping. We spoke with them about doing another collaboration for Burning Man and we want to work with other regional groups to do the same. If we can fill 3 containers, or even a fourth container, this can help hold the line on price increases. 

 

$80 per Bin (27 Gallon Black & Yellow)

$13 per Cubic Foot (How to Calculate)

 

Is this you or someone you know? Please contact us and let us know about your well organized camp, regional Burner crew, or art / project team. Once we work out logistical details and agreements we will provide your crew with a specific discount code you can use on the order page.

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ART SHIPPING (~33% discount)

 

As always, we prioritize discounts for Playa / Org and regional facilitated art and installations. Art shipping DOES include tools and construction materials, but DOES NOT include things for your own camp such as camp lights, fire pits, air conditioning units, camp decorations, kitchen infrastructure, pillows etc. Some exceptions are made for furniture, shade structures, and other items that are specifically going to Black Rock City with the intention to be a gift for all participants. Please note, however, your art support camp can still also bundle a discounted Bulk rate as well. To make this all work, art teams need to collaborate with us in the same way large camps, regional cities and project teams do, which you can learn more about here.

 

$60 per Bin (27 Gallon Black & Yellow)

$10 per Cubic Foot (How to Calculate)

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Note: Some art projects receive small amounts of free shipping space, as donations come in through the ticket system. Those donations are passed on directly to art projects. 

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READY TO GET YOUR SPACE?

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Help us find a great new location

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HERE'S WHAT MAKES AN IDEAL CONTAINER LOAD-IN SITE

 

• SIZE & LOCATION: Like previous years, we need a large parking lot big enough to allow for:

  • 3x 53' containers to be parked.

  • Enough room for the tractors / rigs to be able to maneuver.

  • Enough room (about the same size as needed for the parked containers) for Burners to drop off and stage their art and gear.

  • Enough room and access for Burners to be able to drive in, drop off their things, then go and park at or nearby.

  • We would greatly prefer a site / lot where all other vehicles are gone as close to 5:00pm on the respective load-in and Load-out Fridays.

  • A gated site that we could have our own access to would be AMAZING.

  • Preferably close to a Metro stop.

  • Examples of good sites: Office complex parking lots, lesser used commercial lots.

• DATES AND TIMES: We would prefer to be able to use the same location for both Load-in and Load-out

  • Load-in

    • Container Drop: Starting Friday, August 5 at 5:00pm, later could work too.

    • Container Pick-up: Monday, August 8, early am (4:00am-ish) so we will be out of the lot before other normal parkers show up.

  • Load-out​

    • Container Drop: Starting Friday, September 23 at 5:00pm, later could work too.

    • Container Pick-up: Monday, September 25 early am (4:00am-ish) so we will be out of the lot before other normal parkers show up.

• BUDGET: We have historically been offered space for free, and this is one of the reasons that allowed us to limit price increases in the past. We would greatly prefer a free site (and we will find a way to thank our hosts) but have budgeted up to $500 to $1,000 per weekend, especially if it will help us find a site that ​​has most if not all of these wishlist items.

 

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HOW YOU CAN HELP

 

If you know of potential locations (either you have one, are connected to one, or just have an idea), please email: connect@itsallmadeup.org.

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PRICING BACKGROUND & RATIONALE

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Over the last six months we have watched vendor costs rise 20% to 40% above 2019 prices. This represents a total increase of more than 110% from our 2017 costs, which we have historically been able to stabilize due to new efficiencies and solutions, and greater experience and collaborations with you. 2022 is a very different year for everyone, everywhere.

 

Our goal had been to hold the line at 20% but in the end this was not possible. Happily, we are feeling better about our costs not staying at the 40% increase we were seeing a few weeks ago. We believe that we can hold the line at about 27%, especially with our new or expanded savings options like boxed bikes or  bulk orders for well organized camps and teams. This year's pricing is based upon our assumptions and the feedback we have received, which affords and allows all of us:

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• The DC Container Way

  • Scaffold Shelving​

    • PRO: Sturdy and flexible configurations we can customize based on individual, collective and project needs.

    • PRO: Less chance for contents moving around or being crushed. 

    • CON: Takes up space that could be used to just pack as much into each container as possible, as other BM Container cities do.

    • CON: The lost space (because we do not cram everything directly on top of everything else, forever) means we are collectively paying for our shared assurance and convenience.

  • Quick Center Isle ​Evacuation

    • PRO: We can generally have a center isle cleared within 1-2 hours of Playa touch down.​ Great for camps and art teams that need to jump on building as soon as they arrive on Playa.

    • PRO: Once evacuated, everyone can generally get to every part of every container. You do not have to wait until a completely stacked and packed container is fully emptied to get your things. As far as we know DC Containers are the only ones who do this.

    • PRO: Most of the container contents remain onboard until you come and get them. We do not have to remove, spread out and expose everyone's gear onto Playa until it is picked up just so people can get their things buried in the nose (front) of the Container.

    • PRO: Generally we are able to be more careful in our loading, with generally less total work for everyone involved.

• Price Stability in All the Unknowns​​

  • Everyone wanted to be sure that DC Containers were 100% happening. Some BM Container cities are not promising anything until a certain amount of sales have happened. We are assuming 2 to 3 containers for 2022 and our model means less strained uncertainty between these two options. Outreach to regional cities, camps and projects hopefully means we get to the 3 containers we normally field, and easier overall stability in doing so.

  • Our assumption was that everyone wanted stable pricing, and not have to worry about prices going higher later. Other BM Container cities​ are saying this may need to happen, and can more easily offer lower initial pricing, because they can sell more of the total container volume. This is because each container gets packed as tightly as possible (no protective shelving, no rapid evacuation, no total container access, etc.)

  • None of the BM Container cities were able to lock in costs this year (as we had the option to in the past) because our intermodal vendor was not able to lock in their own costs with their trucking or rail services. These costs would shift on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis due to historically high fuel prices and transportation capacity fluctuations. It's a mess.

• Some current ideas that helped us hold costs at include:

  • We no longer use EventBrite, which has reduced fees and thus your net costs by about 5%

  • Scale. If we can do the usual 3x containers, or possibly a 4th by collaborating with other smaller cities in the region we can potentially get a 2-3% discount, which helps buffer against needing to change pricing later.

• Some ideas we looked at that didn't work out, or might have under more stable logistics and supply chain environments.​

  • We explored smaller truck options but scale seemed to provide consistently better cost buffering, especially when you track the last few months of fuel costs.

  • We had also been exploring some larger scale solutions (i.e. non-intermodal / trucking), including potentially buying or renting our own 53' dry boxes (semi trailers) but fuel price fluctuations affect trucks much more than trains. Also the availability of drivers has been fluctuating quite a bit, for some time, because trucking and shipping companies and their contract policies have been pushing drivers to leave the profession and have been crippling to smaller, individual operators, who have been leaving the profession in droves. 

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We have learned a LOT about logistics watching and evaluating options over this last wild transportation year. In the end our ability to come up with ways to stabilize pricing came down to expanding the ways we collaborate with you, our communities. We thank you for your questions, ideas and research along the way. 

 

As always we are open to your ideas, and look forward to deliver all of our Waking Dreams together!

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