[pct-l] Tipping

[Pea Hicks]

Slyatpct at aol.com wrote:
>  
>  
> I wouldn't bother playing games and just charge $20 per night upfront.  
> I'd also charge for shuttles, atleast enough to pay for gas.  What you 
> offer is a bargin in anyone's book. 

true, that would be a bargain relative to the sort of rates that a 
business would usually charge, but i think there's some subtleties of 
experience that would be missed by operating a trail angel stop on a 
business transaction model, even if there's no profit being made and the 
money simply covers the basic costs. maybe i'm just a bit too much of a 
romantic about these things, i dunno, but to me the facade of a business 
would set up a sort of formal relationship to the possible detriment of 
the purely human interaction...

but this is a complex issue, and it works two ways... while i would find 
it off-putting to see a trail angel operating as a "business," at the 
same time, some of the services i found on the pct that i was most 
grateful for were businesses that turned out to operate more like trail 
angels. the store at trout lake immediately comes to mind- they clearly 
were running a business, not a trail angel stop. yet the room they 
offered me was one of the best motel rooms i stayed on the trail (at any 
price), and they only charged me $20!! AND they gave me free pie, free 
laundry, hooked me up with a ride back to the trail, and were very 
friendly and helpful in general!! so in the end, i considered it a trail 
angel stop, even though technically it was a business transaction... 
ultimately i found it to be a rewarding human interaction, because i had 
no expectations of any sort of good samaritanship, so when that 
happened, it was a very pleasant surprise.

well anyway, don't get me wrong- i'm very thankful for WHATEVER 
kindnesses are offered to me on the trail, in whatever guise or 
paradigm, trail angel or business. i just personally would find it odd 
to see trail angels operating on a business model, even if they were 
only charging the same amount that i would have donated anyway.


gs