| Why spend the money for 4 days of Roo when I can go for free... and spend the week there.
I don't mean for this to sound rude, but what you said is incredibly naive. And again, it's not to be rude, it's just you have yet set a price for yourself of what YOUR time is worth. And this is something that comes with a little bit of age, but, I think you should really consider what I'm saying here. Now, if you enjoy volunteering, then that's a different story. Then all power to you. Totally cool. Totally fine. And that is why I separated your comment with ellipses.
But the part where you said 'go to Roo free' is like that Simpson's clip where Homer is dreaming of a land of chocolate, everything is made of chocolate, animals, lamp posts, everything... And then he sees a store that is advertising chocolate in the window at half price and he's like WOOOOOOOOW lol.
K, the first year you got lucky and I wouldn't give people the impression they get off early. Yes, that happens, and quite a bit, but you have to go into it thinking you'll be honoring all your hours. And like I said, if you've been to several Roos, volunteering for a lineup one does not resonate with much is a decent idea.
As for the second year you volunteered, and pre. Look...
You gotta leave Saturday to get there for Sunday (assuming you're not local... which most people are not). I won't use Wednesday cause you gotta leave Wednesday to get there for Thursday as a regular GA patron.
So Saturday to Tuesday is 4 days.
You'll be working hard, in the sun, so you need to eat a lot, and, well. Unless you're like man vs wild, you're not making all your meals. In fact you're probably buying all of them. This is low-balling it, but at $20 a meal taxes, tip in, that's $60 a day. 60 times 4 is 240. We're at 240/250 and we haven't touched any other cost yet. And that's assuming you only spend $20 per meal.
Now add in just 2 days of the 4 days you could be working your already familiar job, presumably indoors like a grocery store, or retail, or a restaurant. At MINIMUM WAGE (which very few Bonnaroo attendees make... They may not make much more than minimum wage but that's not the point, I'm low balling everything to really highlight the bottom line) and at 16 hours, you're making roughly $150.
150 + 250 gives you? $400. That's the HIGHEST tier of Bonnaroo ticketing with taxes and fees in. So at this point, it would make sense to buy the most expensive ticket. Which means, if you got presale price, you'd be ripping yourself off! AND... AND... AND this is A) Only two factors included (food + day job) B) Those factors are low balled to mother effin shit, C) not factoring in booze for those 4 days (cause you're not going right to sleep right after work), car rental (if you're renting), and other surprise costs, AND D) The energy it takes out of you leading into the festival.
So when you start to factor in eating more food, consuming booze, higher wage at your job, the real cost of volunteering is like YOU'RE PAYING Bonnaroo to work LOL. You're absolutely not getting a free ticket, and you're not even breaking even.
Sorry if this sounded rude, but I feel as though as an older citizen it was my duty to share this information. It would be rude and evil if I did not share.