I work in a smaller (16 table) card room, and our daily tournaments usually run between 40-60 players. Since January, we have allowed late entries to start with a full stack of chips regardless of when the player bought in. Even though it is at a player's disadvantage to come in late (because their relative chip stack is smaller) our players kept showing up later and later, thinking they were at an advantage. Furthermore, several players complained about the late entrants getting a full stack as well, even when I explained that the average chip stack was higher than their starting stack at the point the late entries came in.
Beginning this Saturday, we will start putting out dead stacks on the table for the first 20 mins. After 20 mins we will pick up the dead stacks and balance tables (if neccessary). Late entries will still be allowed until the first break, but they will have the equivilant of 1 BB and 1 SB taken from their stack, put in the dealer's rack, and the dealer will put the equivilant of 1 SB back into the pot at the end of each of the hands until all the removed chips are back in play. Alternates have their chips penalized at the same rate, and is based on the level they are seated.
The reason we are going to this change, is that when you have 20 players at tournament start and up tp 60 players by the end of registration, it becomes difficult to start the tournament on time, knowing you will need at least 5 tables but only having 20 players seated (5 tables of 4?). With dead stacks we will be able to start all of our tables on time, as all tables will essentially be 10 handed (for all intents and purposes). It should encourage our players to show up earlier, which makes the tournament more appealing to those on the fence about buying in or not. It also still gives players a chance to buy-in for only a slight penalty should they not be abel to avoid being late.
I used dead stacks at my previous card room, and having experienced it both ways, prefer dead stacks for the start of a tournament. To me it allows more flexibility and ease for late entries. For events of the size of the WSOP I completely understand giving full stacks, as they have more flexibility in staffing, but this to me is easier for smalll daily fields such as ours.