The HabForum

I missed out on a advanced space academy patch on ePay while I was out of town, and it's the only one I've ever seen. Did they make many of these and are there any ever made for the other programs? I'd love to have a normal space academy one...

Space Camp, space Academy patches i'm sure they still make and even if they dont they show up on ebay a lot. The advanced academy patch i thought was still around i know it was available for many years if it is not. Aviation challenge patches are also out there for sale

You used to be able to buy them at the Space Camp Store: www.spacecampstore.com

They don't appear to be there any more. However, I have had excellent service from them in the past over the phone. Give them a call, ask if they have the item you want, and they will ship it to you!

It would be a real shame if they got rid of the ASA and AC patches. I doubt they would, as I know they were hot items for trainees to buy to add to their flight suits.

SpaceCanada wrote:They don't appear to be there any more. However, I have had excellent service from them in the past over the phone. Give them a call, ask if they have the item you want, and they will ship it to you!
It would be a real shame if they got rid of the ASA and AC patches. I doubt they would, as I know they were hot items for trainees to buy to add to their flight suits.

I was quite surprised how little camp stuff they really had. There were no camp logo pins at all other than the 30th anniversary ones when I was there last month and no patches other than the general SC logo one (without "Huntsville" at the bottom, oddly) and the red/blue NASA visitor center one (who'd want one of those anyway?). If I can score a Space Academy one, I'd swap it for the SC one on my flight suit in a heartbeat!
There are some serious marekting opportunities that SC is missing, I'd love to sit down with their marketing people with some ideas someday...

I got the Advanced Academy patch years ago and did just that. Also the regular Space Academy Patch. I think that was the first one that I swapped out on my flight suit for the Space Camp patch. It would be a shame if they got rid of the patches. The first time I attended Adult Academy, my assignment as Mission Specialist was repairing and refueling the Hubble Space Telescope. This was in 1988, before it had been launched. I was able to buy a Hubble Space Telescope patch in the gift shop and added it to my flight suit to commemorate my mission.
I also miss the special team T-shirts for Aviation Challenge. The first time I attended, my team was the "Pukin' Dogs" and I got a "Pukin' Dogs" T-shirt. The second time I went to Pilot/Copilot and we were the Barracudas and got a Barracudas T-shirt. The third time, Adult again I got a "Gunslingers" shirt. The last time I went to Pilot/Copilot, the T-shirts were all the same, with no team names or colors, and just said "Check Six". I still have my t-shirts from all of those programs. I really enjoyed getting them as one of the special benefits of Aviation Challenge, but no more.

I dn't know if the lack of patches and other camp items in the gift shop is because they no longer cary them or if its the time of the year. The summer i worked there i left in mid august to return to school. By the time i left the gift shop was looking a little bare in areas they were either out completely of some things or in very short supply especially in popular clothing sizes. Not sure when they restock things following the summer season. I know when i first arrived in May of that year only the main gift shop was even open the others opened as things moved into the busier part of the year though the gift shops have all changed now too so i cant tell you how that works anymore. Best solution if you cant find something is call and ask. Next step ebay its probably cheaper there in many cases anyway.

Boomerang wrote:Next step ebay its probably cheaper there in many cases anyway.

Yeah, you're not going to find any of those patches there. I've bene looking for the better part of a year now and only have seen one advanced academy patch (which I missed after being outbid and away from my computer) and not one general academy one at all, for any price.
Oddly, the early black square space camp patches are comparatively easy to find, I just picked up the second loose one for a couple of bucks on ePay...

I'd say just keep looking they pop up still otherwise keep trying the camp gift shop

Or put in a saved search in Ebay, so you will be notified as soon as one comes up. I have had success with saved searches in the past. Even for items that almost never show up.

Or you could have someone at Camp look and ask at the gift shop. I'll try to swing by there this afternoon.

street wrote:Or you could have someone at Camp look and ask at the gift shop. I'll try to swing by there this afternoon.

Steve looked for me over the weekend (lucky guy, he only lives 2 hours away by car) and they said no such thing.
I scored off ePay a grouping of camp stuff which included a Camp logo lapel pin, something they don't have anymore, either. I can't see why they don't make a general pin for camp. There are so many things they could sell that people would buy. I was shocked how little camp stuff there really was other than t-shirts...

I have resources I can delve that someone walking off the street cannot. Unfortunately, the Academy patches haven't been available for sale for over 2 years, according to the gift shop manager. There are also none left in the stockroom (it happens occasionally). Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

The stock in the shop is driven by what sells. I know there are a few folks here hot for some particular pieces, but you have to take into consideration the average customer. Take the tie-tacks, for example. I don't know very many people who even wear ties anymore, much less a tie-tack. They're cool, but to sell them they'd have to be purchased in a large quantity and would sit on the shelf for years.

street wrote:I have resources I can delve that someone walking off the street cannot. Unfortunately, the Academy patches haven't been available for sale for over 2 years, according to the gift shop manager.

Such a shame.

street wrote:The stock in the shop is driven by what sells. I know there are a few folks here hot for some particular pieces, but you have to take into consideration the average customer. Take the tie-tacks, for example. I don't know very many people who even wear ties anymore, much less a tie-tack. They're cool, but to sell them they'd have to be purchased in a large quantity and would sit on the shelf for years.

I know all about supply and demand for marketing, I've worked with a few museums on stuff like that in the past. But often, gift shop people really don't get the target market and wind up ordering stuff the fans really don't want. And they keep on ordering them for eternity, even when the sales are slow, because they think all gift shops everywhere should have them.
Take a look at the red/blue "visitor center" patches on the flightsuits that are for sale in the gift shop. Seriously, who'd buy one of those?
For example, my team had 12 people. I know for certain that 4 out of that number bought pins. I saw that happen. That's not counting the people I didn't see buy them. They only had the 30th anniversary ones and I asked around on that part. Nobody bought them just because of the 30th, either.

p51 wrote: Take a look at the red/blue "visitor center" patches on the flightsuits that are for sale in the gift shop. Seriously, who'd buy one of those?

In all fairness, since they have to order those anyway for the flightsuits, the incremental cost of ordering a few extra ones to have for sale in the gift shop probably makes them massively profitable (margins-wise) on the rare occasion someone does buy one.

One more thing, they really should make SC logo stickers. It'd be a cheap item to make and would sell strong, I'd think.

Vincent wrote:

p51 wrote:Take a look at the red/blue "visitor center" patches on the flightsuits that are for sale in the gift shop. Seriously, who'd buy one of those?

In all fairness, since they have to order those anyway for the flightsuits, the incremental cost of ordering a few extra ones to have for sale in the gift shop probably makes them massively profitable (margins-wise) on the rare occasion someone does buy one.

If that's the case, then why would they make a totally different patch that has the SC logo but not the Huntsville location at the bottom? That's clearly not an overrun.

I've worked with a few museums over the years on things like this (mostly re-designing their t-shirts and certain items like that) and you'd be surprised how out of touch even large museums are. Very rarely do they consult any marketing people and almost none do surveys to see what would sell or not. Some even buy the same lame, low-selling items year after year because nobody knows any better. I was in a RR museum right before camp and they had some items in their gift shop that were over 20 years old! Imagine something sitting in any store's stock for that long! In the past, I've suggested a few items to museum gift shops and been met with an empty stare for a moment, followed by, "now, why didn't any of us ever think of that?" Most never get any suggestions from anyone so they simply don't have a clue what'd sell.
That's why I was wondering who to talk to. It could be that it'd never occured to anyone there to sell certain things...

you'd be surprised how out of touch even large museums are. Very rarely do they consult any marketing people and almost none do surveys to see what would sell or not. Some even buy the same lame, low-selling items year after year because nobody knows any better.

Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong. All of this is true!

p51 wrote:I've been looking for the better part of a year now and only have seen one advanced academy patch (which I missed after being outbid and away from my computer) and not one general academy one at all, for any price.

Well, I can't say that any longer!