> Well, I think as long as concessionaires are charged for access (through
> licensing fees), their passengers will be charged for access. It's
> impossible that they would not pass that cost on. It's the nature of doing
> business.
If I understand Ben's proposal correctly, he's not really concerned
about any NPS access fees that are passed through to customers.
What worries him is the fact that the outfitters can jack up their
prices and collect additional profits just because the customer has
only a limited number of companies to choose from. If the customer
doesn't want to pay, the company can just wait for another (richer)
customer to come along. Paying for this additional profit is really
like buying access from the company.
Under the current system the NPS has to approve the prices charged by
the outfitters, so the "access surcharge" should not get too out-of-
hand. Ben's point is that under free market competition, this
component of the price of a commercial trip should disappear
completely because the companies wouldn't have any access rights
(allocations) to "sell".
I'd be interested in learning the extent of this problem. But,
funny thing, none of the outfitters seem to want to reveal how
much their profits are.
Dave Kehs
====================================================================
To subscribe, send email to majordomo@songbird.com, with "subscribe
gcboaters" as the only line in the message body. To unsubscribe send
"unsubscribe gcboaters". For further information send "info
gcboaters", or see http://www.songbird.com/gcboaters
====================================================================