fire wood

westernrvparkowner wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
You have it in writing that the NPS knows one of their employees illegally took wood into a campground, for that campground to sell? Since the campground is making all this money off wood sales, and you know for a fact that your neighbor the NPS employee willfully violates the law, since he personally took wood into a national park when it was prohibited, don't you think that your neighbor is also getting a huge kickback from those wood sales. I smell a scandal of national significance. You do know that a whistleblower can collect up to 10% of recovered monies in these types of cases. You should turn your neighbor in to the local authorities, the IRS, the FBI and maybe the NSA. You have more than enough evidence with your letters from the NPS and the like for a slam dunk case. You could parlay your reward either into a cabinet level position as "decider of fair firewood prices" or use the money to buy a private Island, just like us firewood tycoons.

^^ Sounds like you don't have a source that sells wood by the truckload and are bitter about it? Buy it by the truckload for $100, sell it to 50 campers for $5 each = $150 PROFIT per truckload. No conspiracy needed ;)

I agree some (most?) unscrupulous CG operators (including SPs, etc) are OVERCHARGING for firewood. THAT single factor is what sabotages any firewood control efforts.

I would rather buy firewood at a CG than haul it, but like most people I don't like to be ripped off.

It isn't a matter of not caring, being cheap, or anything of the like. Unfortunately, some people direct their anger at the intelligent campers who are crying foul, rather than at those who are GOUGING campers out of greed.

The greedy are those who deserve your ire. Those who exploit any tragedy for excessive profits deserve our contempt.

Stop the gougers and you'd be surprised how quickly the complaints go away ;)

I have plenty of sources for truck loads of firewood. I could even get a firewood permit and go into the national forest and cut it myself. But I have no interest in storing, bagging and stacking a truck load of wood to make a lousy $150.00. For the record, a couple of years ago we stopped campfires altogether. We were more than willing to give up those millions upon millions of dollars we earned, $5.50 a bag at a time. Wasn't worth the time or the effort to buy the wood, unload the truck, sell the wood, clean the fire pits and deal with the complaints about some people's smoky fires and that was pre-bundled wood which was much easier to handle than a truckload of firewood dumped on the ground. Even if we could have tripled the price without a single complaint about price or a single sale lost, we would still make the same decision. The money made from firewood sales was just insignificant in the big picture. There is a reason many national park and national forest campgrounds allow the camphosts to sell firewood and keep the profits. That reason is, there isn't hardly any profit in firewood by the time you figure in the transportation, storage and cleanup costs.

I've bought wood at KOA's, at State & Federal CG's. Typically paid $5-10 a bag. Gouging? Think it's called capitalism. You're out in the sticks and that's the only firewood available and you want a fire......... I've also used Pine Mountain or Dura Flame fire logs. Can bring them from home without importing bugs and cooties and a smokeless fire. Talk about pricey, though. My plan B is the Lil' Red Campfire.:B Not cooking anything over a campfire anyway.........