Is Killington for sale?

[Pedro]

To be fair I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that charging $20 for 100 people is not a money grab.

Remember when you would buy a ski pass and you got a plastic pass with your picture and name? Now they cost $5 and the are in no way as cool as the old-school passes.

That is to encourage not to lose or forget it and it saves you and Killington time in a long line. I only 1 out of 4 family passes when they came out and I have never had to pay for the few replacements we needed.

[Skid Mark]

To be fair I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that charging $20 for 100 people is not a money grab.

It is when it has been FREE for 65 years. Sure, it's only 2k . . and they are donating to charity(the rumor has it on Kzone)

Why not just donate the 2k and not try to squeeze your clientele for the donation ? Lame shlt. . .

Why not donate Fast Tracks to Vermont Adaptive?

Remember when you would buy a ski pass and you got a plastic pass with your picture and name? Now they cost $5 and the are in no way as cool as the old-school passes.

“We can’t bust heads like we used to—but we have our ways. One trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to Morganville which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So, I tied an onion to my belt which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel. And in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ‘em. ‘Give me five bees for a quarter,’ you’d say. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah! The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones"

[twilkas]

Restaurant industry streamlining offerings partly to make it easier to train new people. wouldn't read too much into that, other than functionality (and profitability... ducking now, go ez asher, )

IMO its about cutting labor costs to look good on a spreadsheet. if training people was a problem they wouldnt of started the season off offering the product... after all every season its mostly new J1s running the back of the house.

and i hope my tidbit about pub food isnt coming off as whiny, i just find it strange to not serve food in a bar full of hungry people willing to pay because the mountain wants its spreadsheets to look good. why, if not trying to sell?

disagree. those same J1's were likely re-deployed around the resort as needed. if you know different, please tell. k may have had hopes for f/b sales there, yet if only a fraction of expected customers were showing up, axe it. that's just good management. unlikely any pertinent spreadsheets reflecting this for a sale would be timely enough at this point anyway, if k is up for sale at all. not whiny on your part, not in imo anyway

[twilkas]

To be fair I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that charging $20 for 100 people is not a money grab.

'to be fair' - could be insurance related, simply taking a small bite out of increased premiums. not many events like this are free
anymore. 'money grab'' a little harsh is all, so may be plenty more behind the scenes. as much as i wish it were still, what? 1970something? just not
the case. i know that i don't know how much k eats on these 'fun' events, but i do know insurers take a look at it.

[Bubba]

Good lord this place is so unhinged about everything right now.

No wonder Mike won't come here and clear the air...

Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner!

Seriously, if they are for sale Mike wouldn’t say a word. If they’re not for sale he and everyone else in the admin building is laughing their asses off about this thread and this discussion.

[Bayfive]

It’s not just this place , it’s everywhere , everyone knows something is off with this year and no one knows why , so that is why you get all these conspiracy theories.

[twilkas]

fine bubba, but skid mark gets the win with the simpons grandpa quote. kzone is also noted for some good humor too.
'now where were we...'

[Bubba]

fine bubba, but skid mark gets the win with the simpons grandpa quote. kzone is also noted for some good humor too.
'now where were we...'

I wouldn’t know a Simpsons quote from a quote from Ulysses. Carry on…

[easyrider16]

How about the easy answer? They got clobbered with weather damage during the summer, spent a good chuck of the fall recovering, then had a lousy Christmas. They're managing to meet their preset annual financial goals, resulting in cuts here and there that mostly midweek regulars will take note of.

This definitely seems like the most likely answer. Add to that weird inflation spikes in some things they use a lot of, like various food products, fuel, electricity, machine parts, etc, and it's not much of a mystery as to why there might be some penny pinching here and there.

[rogman]

The difference this year is that POWDR appears to be doing a lot of micro managing, where in the past they deferred to the local decision makers (aka Mike and his team). For example, I have been told the decision to drop midweek bar food came from POWDR. That’s a weird flex, even for them.

[Skid Mark]

How about the easy answer? They got clobbered with weather damage during the summer, spent a good chuck of the fall recovering, then had a lousy Christmas. They're managing to meet their preset annual financial goals, resulting in cuts here and there that mostly midweek regulars will take note of.

This definitely seems like the most likely answer. Add to that weird inflation spikes in some things they use a lot of, like various food products, fuel, electricity, machine parts, etc, and it's not much of a mystery as to why there might be some penny pinching here and there.

"Weird inflation spikes"

[hillbangin]

The difference this year is that POWDR appears to be doing a lot of micro managing, where in the past they deferred to the local decision makers (aka Mike and his team). For example, I have been told the decision to drop midweek bar food came from POWDR. That’s a weird flex, even for them.

So POWDR is for sale????????????????? Squeezing the lemon.

[easyrider16]

"Weird inflation spikes"

Yeah, as in, the cost of certain items went way up, but the cost of other things didn't change much. Example - PPI for machinery and equipment parts spiked by 5-6% in late 2023 - well above the average rate of inflation for that period. By contrast, over the same period, HVAC and commercial refrigeration equipment was pretty stable. I mean how much do you think they had to shell out for that special part at the Needles quad? And that's just one example - I'm sure there are others that we have heard nothing about. A couple of those things costing more than anticipated could easily blow up a capital maintenance budget and prompt cuts elsewhere.

Would also make sense for Powdr to order cuts to food service - food has had some of the highest inflation of all, and I could see some exec at Powdr deciding some company-wide cuts were in order after seeing a food budget balloon upward.

Sources:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU571
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCU3334133341

[Stormchaser]

I mean how much do you think they had to shell out for that special part at the Needles quad?

And how much did they save on not running and manning the lift all year? Gotta be a wash.

[easyrider16]

I mean how much do you think they had to shell out for that special part at the Needles quad?

And how much did they save on not running and manning the lift all year? Gotta be a wash.

I doubt they saved anything on labor - those lifties weren't fired, they were probably just repurposed. Kinda hard to fire people and then rehire them a month or two later. Energy savings, maybe some. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether that's a wash.