The “Vendor Run Spiral” and How to Stop It

At some point every Vegas program hits the same moment: someone says, “Can you just run and grab—” and suddenly the day becomes a series of errands.

That’s the vendor run spiral. It’s expensive, it pulls key people off critical tasks, and it’s how small issues turn into client escalations.

Why it happens

• Teams travel lean, so there’s no buffer person.
• Items arrive late, wrong, or incomplete.
• The plan assumes “we’ll figure it out onsite.”
• Nobody owns run prioritization, so everything feels urgent.

How to stop it (without being the bad guy)

• Create a run owner. One person approves runs. Everyone else requests.
• Sort runs into three buckets: must happen now / can happen later / shouldn’t happen.
• Batch when possible. Two runs together beats two separate emergencies.
• Set a “no surprise” rule: new runs require a quick scope check (time, location, access, cost).
• Use a local operator to execute the runs so producers protect the floor and schedule.

Field Notes rule

If everything is urgent, nothing is controlled.

If your program needs last-mile support to keep runs from eating the day, that’s exactly what we do.