US Forest Service campgrounds

The problem with cash is the odd amounts you have to constantly carry on a long camping trip if you use a senior 1/2 price discount pass.

You have to carry a lot of quarters, dollar bills, fives, and tens with you in order to pay cash at these campgrounds, hence checks are much better. Of course credit cards are the ultimate in convenience ... but require a sophisticated Internet access kiosh to deal with them.

ReneeG wrote:

trailertraveler wrote:
Iron Rangers in remote unstaffed campgrounds are pretty notorious for being emptied by other than the Park or Forest staff. On two occasions, I can recall a Ranger coming through the campground telling folks that if they paid by check they might want to put a stop on the check and alert their bank to watch for someone trying to use the routing number to empty the account. No one was asked to pay a second time.

Again, another reason why we pay by check! Thank you for sharing this.

This sounds more like a reason NOT to pay by check. Now a low life miscreant has your account and routing numbers and no one asked you to pay twice. How hard is it to carry a little cash? :h We don't carry a lot of cash but always have enough small bills to make change for the Iron Ranger if needed.

Lots of places prefer or even insist on cash theses days. Stop for fresh produce at a stand along the highway, buy some firewood from a local or even some of the mom and pop shops won't be all that happy to see you try and plop down a credit card. We've never been anywhere that cash was refused. :C

trailertraveler wrote:
Iron Rangers in remote unstaffed campgrounds are pretty notorious for being emptied by other than the Park or Forest staff. On two occasions, I can recall a Ranger coming through the campground telling folks that if they paid by check they might want to put a stop on the check and alert their bank to watch for someone trying to use the routing number to empty the account. No one was asked to pay a second time.

Again, another reason why we pay by check! Thank you for sharing this.

Iron Rangers in remote unstaffed campgrounds are pretty notorious for being emptied by other than the Park or Forest staff. On two occasions, I can recall a Ranger coming through the campground telling folks that if they paid by check they might want to put a stop on the check and alert their bank to watch for someone trying to use the routing number to empty the account. No one was asked to pay a second time.

wbwood wrote:
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.

Whether it be a ranger type or CG host they will have to go to town for groceries, propane, mail, prescriptions etc. and to deposit that pile of fee cash that is building up. Hosts and rangers that I have talked to, in remote locations, go to town at least once every two weeks. Checks that I have written at remote sites often take up to a month to show up on my account. Do I care? No. Do I like writing checks? No. Do I like carrying a 100$ in singles in my wallet? No.

At the treasurer's office in my tiny little county, they no longer needs to take checks to the bank, the bank gave them a scanner, they can sit at their desks and deposit the checks. Then the checks get mailed somewhere to get returned to their owners. Surely if a small county such as mine (less than 35k residents) has access to such a marvel of technology, the federal government does too.

Paying ahead through recreation.gov would be nice, and I think the USDA is making progress there... I see several rustic USFS campgrounds near me are on the website now. But paying ahead requires planning ahead, and sometimes its more fun to just go about without a plan.

I concede that I'll carry some small change cash in the camper for paying the fees if the situation looks good, if not, I'm sorry Uncle Sam, but here's a check.

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.

Last time I used cash in an iron ranger at a city park (with envelopes that were provided to list details of who paid), the next day, I ended up with a note on my truck stating I need to pay up or face trespass charges, so it was a lose/lose. I've always used checks ever since, no issues.

Maybe instead of checks, perhaps the government should consider making a universal app/website... log on, purchase a pass via credit card, get a code number or code word, scribble it on a form and drop that in the iron ranger with one's license plate no. That way, the only thing that goes inside the box is just physical proof that someone paid; the money is safely (well, safety is a relative term when it comes to banks) stored in an account somewhere. Plus, there are multiple places showing proof of payment.

teejaywhy wrote:
What are these "check" things everyone is talking about?

;)

What are these "cash" things everyone is talking about? :?

LS

Check or cash. camping fee$ still have to eventually go to a bank no matter how remote they are.