You may not have confused your argument, but I am confused by it. Do you just enjoy faceless corporations making obscene amounts of money from the work of poorly paid employees? I don't really see any upside to the status quo for anyone except shareholders.
Seems like you are talking out of both both sides of your mouth. Is it your opinion that we should look at each department individually, or the resort's profit as a whole?
I haven't made any value judgements, I'm just explaining how things are vs how we might wish they were.
Depends on what question you're asking. In general though, unless you know how the company allocates administrative and general overhead type expenses, you are flying blind making comments about an individual department's profitability.
So you're basically saying with all these high prices they're making money hand over fist everywhere. Sure seems like it based on the high prices of day tickets, food, and lessons. However last year Vail's income was 1.91 billion, and net income before taxes was 125 million. Thats a margin of 6.5%. So even though the margin on an individual product might be higher, or an individual department might be higher, the overall rate of return on each dollar of sales is 6.5%. 2019 was better year, and Vail achieved a 17.5% pre tax margin. Skiing is a volatile business, it depends on the discretionary dollar of its customers, it is subject to bad winters, and economic downturns. Car insurance for example is comparatively far less volatile, and can live on lower but more steady margins.
You just answered the whole thing. It’s a highly controlled “market”. So controlled, it’s not a “market” at all.
This is the best summary of the whole VR thing. My reaction to the word "market" when spoken by corporations like VR.
Maybe in a global sense. You really have to wonder how their centralized Politburo meetings make decisions for local areas. Hardly a response to the needs of the micro market of the actual individual ski area. “Economies of scale” can often waste or lose amounts no previous local manager would tolerate. Meh, another meeting, another idea that sounds good. Fail up.
Helps explain why 12% of the French population skis (and triple that for Switzerland and Austria) compared to less than 5% in the US.
Yes they are a monopoly, and it doesn't matter how you allocate the cost, when ski instructors get about 15 percent of what ski areas charge consumers
Even if you could afford to do so financially it appears to be more difficult to arrange than one might think. Today I ran into an old pal who was free-skiing at PCMR. He worked as an instructor here for more than consecutive 20 years, LIII with a decent list of private clients. He’s married to a Kiwi and spends our summer teaching in NZ. He didn’t return to the US last season because of Covid and so, despite his long history of employment at the resort, had to reapply from scratch to instruct this season. He put in his application early in November and as of today’s date has not heard back from the ski school mandarins. Yes, he has been in contact with them on multiple occasions but no one seems to be able to make any progress. This while Vail continues to moan about staff shortages and the impossibility of hiring skilled staff! The reality is that the company is run by inept, clueless and venal shitbags.
I mostly agree with you.
Sure it is. You are free to sell your labor to whomever you choose. The higher bidder might not be a ski resort. It might be an accounting firm. It might be a night nurse position at the hospital. It might be an electrician.
Of course. If it was worth it, they'd do it.
I have a business background.
