Originally Posted by
crewdawg
I wouldn't put much faith in a % bid and I definitely wouldn't be measuring with a micrometer. Categories have to potential to go up and down in size pretty fast around here. My category peaked in size on the AE I was awarded it, and has decreased ~30% in the last 2-3 years. I've only recently gotten back to my original relative seniority. A good friend just bid over to Captain and a few months later they announced their plans have changed and his category will be decreasing in size. It's all a crapshoot.
Yup...CR does tend to change their mind a bit, especially after the scrolls are delivered from Network/Marketing. Unfortunately, there are no certainties, only best guesses on how things will progress. NYC777 was an awesome category back in 2008....but fairly short-lived. Let me know when you find the perfect category that doesn't go up and down (or get closed).
However, if you want to get crazy and actually bid for a posted vacancy, and if you want to use qualifiers (rather than the ol' "I don't care...just get me into the ATL777B"), then I would always recommend bidding based on "Low %" rather than Low Nbr" (unless you want to be, say, top 10 or better in the category). "Reg Only" is a moving target with more guesswork than the first SATs completed by Lori Laughlins' daughters. This is especially true with a new category where it will take time for the bid packages to mature.
"Low %" protects you if the company decides not to award all of the posted vacancies which is not uncommon when they post for a new category. Let's say they post 40 vacancies for SEA220A and you want to be top half. Put "50" in the Low % column rather than "20" in the Low # column. If the company only elects to fill 30 of the 40 posted vacancies, Low # (20/30) just put you at 66.7% rather than top half.