No thru hiker discounts!

imported
#1

At many hostels/hiker outfitters/eateries and what not all along the full length of the Appalachian Trail, there is often a 5%, 10%, or even more, discount for thru-hikers.

I don’t know how honest you all are, but when I’m section hiking, if I can save 5 bucks here or there, I just might do it — but that’s for another thread.

My point is that the ATC and various volunteer-run clubs are always in need of funds, for innumerable legit reasons, including updating of trail maps and guidebooks, fixing the trail itself, preserving the lands around the corridor (like the wind tower issue near Saddleback/Sugarloaf).

What if some of these hostels and outfitters gave discounts to members of the ATC or AT maintenance clubs only? Like, no more thru-hiker discounts, just discounts to those supporting the trail (through clubs and conservancy) itself?

I know that, if you did it trail-club to trail-club, you’d probably spend much more than you would save. Others might think that I’m asking that we adopt a ‘pay-to-hike’ program or somesuch thing. Nonsense. That’s not what this is at all.

Maybe to make such an ambitious (or drastic) proposal actually work - well, first hostels and others would have to willingly go along. But secondly, if trail clubs like PATH, MATC, or GMC offered a ‘no-frills’ annual membership for those attempting a thru-hike, it might make it slightly more feasable, and more attractive. Or maybe something similar could be offered by the ATC, since you’re hiking the entire length of the trail.

Since this deals with money, I know some may balk at this. FOR THOSE OF YOU that DO balk, at least come at me with some real facts. Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: go through your own hike and list all the places where you were offered a thru-hike discount - then add those discounts up, as though they were never offered at all. Take that sum and put it up against current membership rates at your local trail club or the ATC itself. I’m just guessing, but in most cases, I think it might be a wash, meaning that you haven’t lost anything at all.

For those of you that just want to complain, remember - BOTTOM LINE - this is a proposal that will DIRECTLY benefit the trail and just maybe your thru-hiking experience as well.

Kineo Kid

#2

A “no frills” discount thru hiker membership in a club is not analogous to a trailside business offering a thru hiker discount. Doing that would reduce the incomes of the clubs and further undermine their abilities to do good works.

Businesses offer discounts as a way to increase sales volume. That’s basic business practice 101. For trail businesses to stop giving hiker discounts would be stupid from a business standpoint. Every hiker who stops in a town supports the trail, not just those who join the multifarious clubs. My being a member of the ATC didn’t get me squat for discounts on the trail and I paid my way. I didn’t expect special treatment or discounts.

Not all hikers are willing to lie, as you seem to imply that you are, about their status as thru hikers. Business owners who cater to thrus aren’t dumb…they know a scammer when they meet one.

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) is that

If you want to rant about pennies here and there, you need apply your socio-economic engineering plan to the AMC huts in the Whites. I paid to camp evvery night in the Whites, unlike anywhere else along the Trail. The whites were the only place I saw human excrement ON the AT itself. Lots of good the AMC is doing in that area. You have to be a member of that club, too, to derive “benefits.” the net effect of your plan would be that trail clubs get less money and businesses have to begin giving special treatment. Nonsense.

Your proposal, whatever it is leading to, seems to be fixing something that ain’t broke, or addressing an issue that exists primarily in your mind. The AT is not an exclusive property, whereon those who are a member of certain clubs get special member bonus discounts and sippy cups. Take your marketing nonsense and put it up your AMC.

Alienation is the result

#3

I believe that a thruhiker would be very likely to give back to the trail in the years after his/her hike. I would think that the experience that one would get from an adventure like this would make them want to give back in one way or another. One example I can think of is trail angels. Most trail angels I have met, and heard of, have been former thru hikers, or at least attempted to thru hike. Trail angels give SO much to the trail community, and NEVER ask for anything in return, except a good attitude, and an appetite on occasion.:cheers
I don’t believe that joining a club to recieve discounts would be needed. Especially since, a lot of people don’t live quite a far distance from the trail, and joining a club for them would be pointless, and they could serve no real purpose.

Hammock PhD

#4

Did you just tell me to put it up my ___?

Woah!

Let’s back up here.

I put the part about “when I’m section hiking, if I can save 5 bucks here or there, I just might do it” because, ultimately, I’m a penny pincher. To further that argument here, as you have done, would be against the point of this thread, but consider this:

A thru-hiker and a section hiker each spend a night in NOC. For a night’s stay, the thru-hiker rate is $10 dollars less than the section hiker. Thing is, the section hiker is going all the way to Duncannon, say, and the thru-hiker is off the trail before the Smokies. This happens more often than you - whatever your REAL name is - would care to admit.

It seems that you replied heatedly to the TITLE of the thread, more than the POINT of the thread.

Here it is, plain English - every business would still offer discounts. All I’m suggesting is switching the REASON WHY. Instead of the discount being because you plan to hike the whole trail, give the discount because these folks have DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTED to the welfare of the trail. It’s benifits the trail and the business AT THE SAME TIME - sorry for the caps, rest of the world, but I thought that was plain the first time I wrote it.

I am not suggesting making trail clubs rich. YOUR gripe seems to be with the AMC. I, too, have gripes with AMC, but for other reasons. Because you were unable to follow directions - I had asked that you come at me with FACTS, which you’ve so far failed to do - so I’ll spell it out for you.

There are 30 trail maintenance clubs. Annual membership dues range from $10 to $35. Let’s call it $20 per club. Membership for all of them would be well over $600 dollars. No, I have no interest shelling out that kind of dough, no matter how far I’m hiking.

So maybe membership with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy ($25) would be better. I’m not interested in the items that come with it - not with this proposal (I mean, hey, I’ll take the newsletter, but not all the way up the trail).

What is the total discount for every hostel/outfitter? That takes a lot of work, but if you spend 50 dollars in every trail town in Maine alone - that’s about 300 dollars (fairly accurate to $1 per mile, as Maine has 287 of them). Then put on a 10 percent discount - that’s $30 off. Right away, that money could pay for the ATC - or maybe ALDHA? - annual membership. So Maine’s a wash, but the discount still applies to every other business up and down the AT. The business owner still makes his profit, the hiker still gets the discount.

Wow. Can that be any more plain? This isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It is PRACTICAL and still, BOTTOM LINE, it directly benefits the trail.

Put that in your AMC and smoke it.

Kineo Kid

#5

“a lot of people don’t live quite a far distance from the trail, and joining a club for them would be pointless, and they could serve no real purpose”

RE: ‘no-frills’

Wow.:eek:

Kineo Kid

#6

Actually, I searched and searched for the point of your post and it remains elusive. You’re awash in generalizations and businesses don’t run on generalizations. A bunk costs $14 at the NOC, end of story.

Your title was “NO THRU HIKER DISCOUNTS!” Perhaps you meant “NO DISCOUNTS TO THOSE WHO INTEND TO HIKE THE WHOLE TRAIL” or “I’LL LIE MY WAY THROUGH A SECTION HIKE TO SAVE A FEW MEASLEY DOLLARS” Inever said anything about making trail clubs rich: you went there naturally when I mentioned the AMC. Guilt by unconscious association.

Switch THE REASON WHY they give discounts? Uh right. I’d venture that anybody who hikes the Trail for any considerable length becomes a trail advocate in some fashion.

Anybody can PLAN to hike the whole trail and anyone can INTEND to hike the whole trail. Discounts are elective behavior on the part of each business owner. Put your “proposal” to all the business owners along the trail and guage their collective response. How DO you know a business owner still makes a profit? Do you know all the margins of every item or service that every business sells or provides, from Georgia to Maine?

BTW, I have the ALL-Frills ATC membership and I love it (limo service to and from trailheads to restaurants, free medical insurance, etc.). :slight_smile:

The AMC charges for membership AND STILL charges its members for services right on the trail.

Pay your own way, Kid. They ain’t no free rides or lunches, 'N matter what your government or the media or your boss tells you. Perhaps you should change the reason why you posted this in the first place?

BTW, I LOVE the AMC. HAR HAR.

Alienation is the result

#7

Now some constructive observations:

Maybe what you MEANT to write was that you would go to all the businesses, say all the ones mentioned in the trail handbooks and guidebooks for the AT, that they offer discounts to members of the various 30-odd trail clubs?

Those businesses would have to be ones that don’t already, in fact, offer discounted rates to hikers, like Kincora or Miss Janet.

The first question they would ask would be, “Why?” You need to have that answer at your fingertips. You would need to specify “hikers” NOT “thru hikers” or “section hikers.”

So would the discount to club memmbers mean that intended thru hikers would become ineligible for thru hiker discounts simply because they weren’t members of a club?

Think these things through, Kid. Funny thing about market economies is that they tend to drive their own needs. Does the AT business community have anything to gain from giving discounts to hikers with trail club cards? Probably. But that would be at the expense of hikers without the cards. Word of mouth would spread and outfitters and other businesses could lose the business of those without the cards.

The AMC is a prime example of a club that doesn’t benefit thru hikers so much, if at all. I’m not a member and I tented all the way through the Whites at $8 per night, doing no work for stay.

I’m not in favor of (whatever) club card discounts because of the exclusivity it implies. Besides, any hiker could photocopy his ATC card and give it to friends to use to get the discount, right? But just to save a few bucks…

Alienation is the result

#8

We need some love in here. My apologies. I just had my second latte :wink: and I was in the zone.

Hammock brought up the point that some do return to the trail to do trail work. Others help to update guidebooks, and such. I have done so, and haven’t even thru-hiked. (In fact, I have never claimed to be a thru. I spent a night in Franklin, and gladly paid the same as everybody else. I stated that I might be willing to lie just in case someone reads the post and went - “oh yeah, so and so, like yer perfect, NOT” so . :rolleyes My heart was in the right place . . . )

Actually, I looked at Shaw’s. They don’t seem to offer any discounts of any sort, but let’s say they did.

They could offer the discount for any reason at all.

The point of my first post - and this thread - is that to offer a discount to those who, by supporting local/trail-wide clubs, might be the best reason. Nothing elusive about that, other than no body want to consider it objectively. That’s the only thing elusive so far.

(So much for love . . . :D)

Kineo Kid

#9

You asked me to put in a lot of thought, as though I were about to go charging off into the sunset and down the trail waving my flag, going “Support the ATC!”

That is not my intent.

I just had what I thought was a cool idea. I have no ambition to rave about this to every stop on the way - although, I’m pretty confident that more than a few trail clubs look at this and say “He’s onto something there.”

I don’t have the time for such a crusade. I’m waging my own at the moment, a much more important one, involving permanent conservation easements for an as-yet-undeveloped trail here in the north woods of Maine.

Besides . . . I’d much rather be hiking. :smiley:

Kineo Kid

#10

Hey Kid, I figured you were speeding on somethin…:slight_smile: But seriously…keep up the good fight. I went after your idea, not you.

It’s better to keep trying to think of better ways to do things, keep thinking of new ideas and ways to improve our sad and mediocre lots, than to sit on our hands.
Evil triumphs when good people do nothing.

That’s the thing, though, we’re all off on our own crusades. So to speak. Now gimme my love discount! :slight_smile:

If I let people know who I really was, there’d be a hubub and an uproar.

Alienation is the result

#11

Just for the record, I´m not so sure all these thru-hiker discounts exist. At least when I thruhiked, I can´t really recall times when I got discounts, other than being able to work for stay in the huts. This wasn´t much of a thru-hiker only deal, as all the section hikers going thru the whites at the time were lying to get the work for stays too and none of the thrus ratted them out.

I believe there are a few places on the trail that accept discounts for ATC members, or members of other clubs. When it comes down to it, there aren´t many discounts and the amountof money to save is miniscule (sp?). You can save lots more money by not buying expensive gear, sending maildrops, staying in motels, and the list goes on and on,

A-Train

#12

Don’t discount the love. Ever.

Can’t you feel it, baby?

Tyger

#13

Ok, you were saying that section hikers get the shaft even though they are doing the exact same thing that thru hikers are doing, just in a different way. I agree, section hikers should get discounts too, maybe you would like to start up an initiative to have a registry for section hikers, and lobby for discounts along the trail. That would be a good idea, but the way I see it, the places that give discounts are the ones that would most likely benefit the trail in the first place, and they can have a few extra from me.

But a registry for section hikers would be something I would support.

Hammock PhD

#14

Yawn:oh .I can’t believe you people are arguing over a few bucks.I’ve been Hiking since the 50’s[thats the 1950’s],nobody has ever given me a discount,ever.I’ve hiked many long distant trails and never would ask for any discount.Is that why you hike,to get a discount?give me a break.Maybe you should take up another sport.Kineo Kid:stop whining,go hiking.:mad

old&in the way

#15

Just wait until Redford shows up at the NOC and says he’s a thru-hiker. Think they will give him a discount?

JAWS

#16

I think that the trail should charge $1 a mile, I hate hiking with people who use plastic for rain gear.
we could have a ticket booth at every trail head.
we could have around the clock cleaning service.
the shelters could have running hot water.
we could even afford to pave some of those rough spots.:wink:

Ritchie Rich

#17

TYGER! He did it. But he’s selling cheese in kandahar now. :nerd

Tyger

#18

the suggestion to add “creature comforts” to the shelters brings back a practical joke I saw a hiker play one time.

When he started his through hike at Springer, he carried some of those plastic faceplates that are screwed over the electrical outlets in walls. To those faceplates he inserted something fake that resmembled two electrical outlets. Finally, on the reverse side he attached some two-side tape.

Whenever he arrived at a shelter early, he would put up one of the faceplates on a shelter wall. It looked as realistic as the real thing. Then he would just sit back and watch the arriving hikers who quickly saw the “electrical outlet.”

Some of the comments were things like: “I could have brought my portable TV,” “I’m gonna buy a space heater,” and “how in the hell can the ATC put in electricity to the shelters - it will ruin the trail.”

In the morning he would casually pull off the “outlet” and hike on down the road.

JAWS

#19

Just a thought…
How many of us have stayed at hotels that offer a AAA discount and passed by those that don’t take off the 10% for AAA? The idea of discounts for card carrying members of the ATC could promote business for those who are willing to show support for the ATC by giving the discounts. At the same time it would increase the funding for the ATC by giving the members an additional reason for becoming members. Without giving it too much deep thought, it seems as though it is a win/win.

wayfarer

#20

How about discounts for thru hiker AARP members?:smiley:

old&in the way