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Re: [RC] LD and Placings now awards & expenses? - Joe LongTrailrite@xxxxxxx wrote:I'm missing something here. Joe, Are you saying that LD riders are getting half the product meaning half of the trail use or half the prize? Well, obviously they are getting half as many miles of trail to ride, and about half as much time out riding the trail. They are also in a distance that has fewer awards programs, although that's more an AERC function than an event function. Prizes are determined by ride management, I'm not addressing that. I suspect most people ride for the trail, not the award. I find with some of my rides like the Git-R-Done rides that I have to have an extra Vet just to be back at base camp in time for the LD - finishers & BC judging. I can't have my ride back up with regular services of the continued riders so that is an extra expense for me just having an LD distance. Then I need an extra Volunteer for handing out completion awards for those "I need to go home now, LD riders".... Other than that, all of the other fees are the same costs as any other rider. My Git-R-Done ride is a 25, 50, 75, 100 mile elevator and FEI ride 2 times a year. I charge the same price for the 25 & 50's then the same price for the 75 & 100's and all get the same completion award. The other awards are a little more fancier as the distance increases like the BC award, etc.. That's part of the problem, you're basing your fee strictly on your base costs. Most businesses don't do that. Take my theater example -- the cost to the theater for a front-row-center seat is exactly the same as for a balcony seat, but the price is greatly different. The theater prices the seats according to their desirability, and bases its profit on the aggregate of all tickets sold. It may even be that balcony seats are sold at a LOSS if you just divide the cost of the production by the total number of seats in the theater. But if those seats aren't sold (and no one will pay front-row-center prices for them) the show will have a net loss instead of a profit. Or consider the airlines, where the same seat will have a much different price depending on when and how you buy the ticket. They don't just divide the cost of the flight by the number of seats and charge for all of them the same. No matter what the ride manager's fixed costs, the LD rider is getting LESS for his entry fee than a 50-mile rider is. To have fair pricing, that must also be considered in the price. I believe that LD riders have been getting a short shrift with this "it costs me the same so I must charge the same" argument -- and that is a lot more real than this "second class citizen" feeling that some say they have. Myself, I like to use LD rides to start new horses, but I won't attend one that charges the same, or nearly the same, as the 50.
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