fire wood

DiskDoctr wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
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.

IMHO, if you can't have a campfire while camping, may as well sit in the lobby of an air conditioned hotel and LOOK AT the outdoors :R

If you prefer your private CG to be a place without fires for your own personal convenience instead of considering meeting the expectations and enjoyment of potential customers...well, it's your business, just be sure to tell people upfront.

May as well reduce electric service to 15 amps only, eliminate that pesky water hookup and tell visitors to mow their own grass. That would be really convenient for the CG owner, which is apparently the most important thing? :R

Okay, I am being a bit sarcastic to make my point. If campers aren't allowed to have campfires or are being forced to pay gouging prices for something as basic as a campfire, why bother? It certainly isn't a camper-friendly scenario :(

Running a CG (state park or any other, not any one in particular) is more than amenities, it's the experience for visitors. More inviting and pleasant amenities attract visitors and result in good reviews and recommendations.

Personally, when we camp, we are there to enjoy OUR FAMILY time. Although we are courteous and respectful of CG owners, I couldn't care less about any whining and excuses WHY we can't have a campfire, just that we won't be back and we'll certainly warn others.

Vote with your dollar and patronage. Sometimes polite discussion on a forum isn't enough, some folks need to be compelled to consider campers' convenience by translating it into (their) dollars.

It'll work itself out. The smart owners will thrive, the others may not survive. Those who don't heed the customers' concerns and warnings will have to learn the hard way ;)

Back OT...we look for locals who sell firewood at reasonable prices and ALWAYS respect the honor system.

Of course I hide the fact we don't allow campfires, I am nothing if not unscrupulous and greedy. Funny thing is, we have had many, many of returning customers and new customers as well thank us for doing away with the smoky, smelly fire pits. Way more than we have had people grouse about not having them. We may not get your business, but our experience is there are more people either opposed or ambivalent to campfires than make it a requirement. To you a campfire may be more important than quality utility connections, sparkling clean restrooms and well maintained facilities but we are more than able to find plenty of people to fill the parks without campfires and we put the time and energy those campfires used to take and put it towards those other attributes I mentioned.