US Forest Service campgrounds
Sorry, this is a bit of a rant, but I also have a question. In my explorations of fire trails and dirt roads within my home county, I've come across rustic federal campgrounds that demand payment. ...
Forum Discussion
caver wrote:
Check or cash. camping fee$ still have to eventually go to a bank no matter how remote they are.
Eventually. But how often do they go to the bank? If they are remote and have to drive a distance to a bank to make deposits, then they may not go very often. Then you will either have people complaining about how long it takes their check to clear or run into insufficient funds issues. Which I imagine they get hit with a lot. Ten they not only lose the $6 a night, but they get charged with a $20-35 fee on top of it. Then they have to have someone hunt you down for a money order or certified check for all the fees including the IF fee. A lot of hassle if they just required cash.
As far as checks go, they have dropped down the number of check clearing houses down to just a few across the country. There use to be many more, but with the big credit/debit cards, electronic banking and the check 21 system, the amount of checks have diminished. The Federal Reserve costs for operating all the check clearing houses was not cost sufficient. So they closed most of them, leaving only a few left in the country. Checks that were handled in smaller regions are now having to be moved across a further location, meaning additional costs.
Of course now comes the way of depositing checks via a smart phone. It's fast and simple and you don't have to drive to a bank. Maybe they will eventually go that route. But they will have to have some sort of reception.
