Fern is cheap compared to Freeman, although I would imagine in Vegas they're pretty comparable

I actually work in the industry (not in vegas) but I have friends who are teamsters that work the shows down there, if you saw what we pay for union labor, that 50.00 wastebasket would make a good deal more sense.

But blame freeman, about a decade ago they pitched a new business model to show managers (the people you rent the booth from), zero cost shows...so everything mgmt needs from graphics to pipe and drape, to equipment rentals are all provided at no cost, which means...you the exhibitor gets to pay for all that shit through higher kit prices.

I'm a pretty liberal guy, but when the company I work for was bought out by a company in which the union has more sway about 2 years ago my opinion of unions quickly soured, I'd fire all of them and hire the crew from the last non union company I worked for in a heart beat...hell I'd even pay those guys union scale...but of course the union fights tooth and nail any effort to bring in fresh blood....So I've got a bunch of 55 year old men, doing hard manual labor for 55.00 bucks a hour..its a fucking joke, my crew sizes have doubled and all they do is bitch about their pensions