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Brochure-grabbing has its limits
Welcome center discourages brochure-grabbing, but area tourism centers ready to distribute materials
Date published: 7/6/2009
BY KELLY HANNON There is an unwritten policy at Virginia welcome centers. Guests at the state-funded tourist offices can help themselves to a few brochures about local attractions. Just keep it to two brochures or fewer. Maria Sutton, 26, of Spotsylvania County ran into this limit when she stopped at the welcome center on I-95 in Fredericksburg. Sutton, who works at Marine Corps Base Quantico, was putting together conference packets for a group of visiting Marines and their spouses. Sutton stopped at the center on a weekday afternoon in June. She began perusing the brochures and taking handfuls. A welcome center staff member approached Sutton and told her she was limited to two brochures for each attraction because the center stocks a limited supply. "They said they get a lot of event planners who stop and clear out their racks, and real estate agents," Sutton said. Sutton assumed the welcome center was the natural place to go for such materials, since it's on a public highway and funded with taxpayer dollars. "I think it's ridiculous to have brochures for free for people to take but not let them take them," Sutton said. "It's kind of counterintuitive." Sutton left and went to a local Hampton Inn, where the staff encouraged her to take as many tourist brochures as she wanted from the kiosk in the hotel's lobby. Virginia welcome centers are usually located within interstate rest areas. The Virginia Department of Transportation pays to maintain the rest area--the restrooms, the parking--but the Virginia Tourism Corp. staffs and funds the welcome centers, where the tourism brochures and maps are located. Richard Lewis, public relations manager for the Virginia Tourism Corp., said the state agency is happy to provide pamphlets in large numbers when people contact the Richmond office to request them. "We have people call us quite frequently who are planning events and they say they need 20 of those and 50 of that, and that's wonderful," Lewis said. Welcome centers are different because of the high volume of traffic passing through, Lewis said. "They see hundreds and hundreds or maybe even thousands of people a day, and I bet the things just fly out of those brochure racks," Lewis said.
Date published: 7/6/2009
Just ask
(posted by
summer1
, July 6, 2009 11:44 am)
I would have asked permission before taking large numbers of brochures. As it turns out, it is possible to obtain the brochure amount wanted - there is just a system in place for everyone's benefit. People are too quick to get upset before finding out just what the facts are. The sub-headline text is a little misleading. The article says all the centers discourage brochure-grabbing, not just the I-95 state center.
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