[pct-l] Complaint about Red's Meadow pricing for packages--

[calliger@infolane.com (R.J.Calliger)]

Well-- here I go again...I jsut hate proce-gouging...sorry if this offends
anyone..
not meant to (Just Read's meadow perhaps <ha ha> but they should be
shamed into something reasonable...a LOT of  Drops/TA's on the PCT do this
for FREE!! or for $5.00 as you all know...

Rich


>Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 08:14:31 -0800
>To: RMPS395@aol.com
>From: "R.J.Calliger" <calliger@infolane.com>

>Hi- As we are not hiking too much now, it seems a good time to
>revisit this issue: I have received this justification below from
>Red's Meadow folks on why they charge $25 per package
>for pickup.  My answers and questions are interspersed
>within the text the sent me below as R1, R2, etc. Of course
>they are entitled to make a profit howevEr my analysis shows
>this to be really out of line and is price-fixing as the are the
>only game in town I think...anyway--- for those interested-
>this is quite long.
>
>But to cut to the bottom line- VVR on Edison Lake is TWO (2)
>hours from the PO --yada yada yada - and charges $6.00
>for their package service!!
>
>And- there are other drops so Red's Meadow is not really
>critical...just convenient.
>
>Rich
>
>At 12:02 PM -0800 9/25/00, RMPS395@aol.com wrote:
>>Dear Rich:
>>
>>We appreciate your concerns regarding package pick up charges and the high
>>cost of living in the Eastern Sierra. The following are a variety (but not
>>limited to) of reasons as to why we charge $25.00 per package. Since you are
>>familiar with the Mammoth area, you realize that the price of regular gas is
>>$2.25 / gallon. \
>
>R1- Having lived in Mammoth for half-a-year and continue to visit there
>and climb/hike 7-8 times a year, over the past 20 years- I feel qualified
>to answer this and hopefully persuade you to change your fee to
>something reasonable, say in the $5 range, or free, as the positive
>publicity you would reap from that would be worth more than
>the negative attention you are getting now and also one seasons'
>grubbing of $25 per package. I say "grubbing" because it sure
>seems it is an emotional response to charge $25 and not a true
>cost analysis per package, which I come up to be about $1.00 per
>package of actual costs assuming you go to the post office to pick
>up your own mail anyway!
>
>R2- Gas has/is not always $2.25 a gallon; that has only happened recently,
>however your $25 per package preceded that price .. So this statement
>does not make *any* sense. Here is a computation:
>
>R2.1- If you say it is 30 miles, and you average 20 MPG
>in your vehicle (and if you don't then you don't have a
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