[pct-l] Guide Book Gouging

[Bill Batchelor]

Scott,

I think you pushed some hot buttons with the word Gouging.  It implies that
you have an insight into the "motive" of the PCTA organization.  Many people
take that personally because they know a lot of the people in that group and
know the good work they do.  As such, they are using their experience of
working with the organization and actually knowing some of these people to
proclaim that your conclusion is incorrect. 

Is the price higher, yes.  Is it higher than if you walked into REI, no.  Is
it higher than if you walked into Crown Books, no (Crown books is out of
business due to Amazons very aggressive pricing), is the book higher than if
you walked into Barnes and Noble, a little.   

There are many reasons for this.  The first is that the PCTA.ORG indeed
wants to make a few dollars more than standard operating costs to put
towards the trails.  This is their purpose in life.  Now I know what you are
thinking "A FEW DOLLARS" - of the roughly $9 difference in cost for the
books, the trail work only accounts for a portion of it.  The rest is
business model.

Amazon can received shipments without paying inbound freight (for the right
# of unites per year the publisher will usually eat that).  Due due to the
volume they have automated many parts of the fulfillment process.  With
automation they do not have to manually package up the outbound, no one
reenters the shipping information to print the labels, etc.  Due to volume
they pay pennies for their boxing.  They buy the product at less per unit.
Their business model is built on making very low margins and huge volumes
(that is HUGE volumes).  Huge volumes allow you to squeeze margins and still
pay all expenses.  Without the volume, all of those advantages go away.

I work in wholesale distribution, I can tell you with certainty that all the
factors make a big difference in operating cost and margin targets.

So, the end result is that Amazon is cheaper than other outlets.  Though
this difference in price in NO WAY reflects that the motives of the higher
priced are to gouge.  And in this point, people take offense.

As for myself, I have paid for membership to the PCTA.  I did not do it for
the sticker.  During the course of a day, I do not find myself proactively
thinking about financially supporting groups such as this.  I suspect I am
just an average guy in this regard. The days go by and I don't get around to
making donations.  So, when it comes time for me to buy something I take
advantage of that moment to think of what organizations I want to support.
In this way, my regular course of life gives me little moments to
contribute.  I find this more financially palatable (and funner) than
writing out contribution checks.  I do check for price differences even then
and decide if the difference in price is a fair and reasonable contribution.
In this case, the $27 over three books I thought was a nice thing to do.
Somewhere in the $1,000 in stuff I have bought for hiking is a $100 that
perhaps I could have saved if I shopped elsewhere.  That is money that went
to people I want to support; PCTA, Henry Shires, Lynn Weldon, Ray Jardine,
etc.  It never once crossed my mind that I was being gouged.

So, there is my opinion.  Collectively we walk on.

Bill B


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of stillroaming
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 9:07 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Guide Book Gouging

And that's precisely why there is a price on the cover. Otherwise, it could
possibly cost much more...still you'd sit there and tell me they're doing me
a favor.

Brick, I've slandered no one. Get a grip. Charging $30 more, in my opinion,
is gouging. I've expressed my opinion in an acceptable manner. You and
others are not happy with it. So what. Deal with it.

Scott Parks

> Is the PCTA they charging more than the list price printed on the
book? No. they are not

If they were doing that, then perhaps one could argue they are gouging, but
they are not.

There is nothing wrong with buying at a discount, but someone slandering a
worthy organization by accusing them of price gouging, simply for charging
list price, paints less than a rosy picture of the accuser.
------------------------------------
Trails : http://Postholer.Com
Journals : http://Postholer.Com/journal 

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