BOHICA!

[Frank P. Martin]

Yes, folks, it's BOHICA time again. For those who want to know "What does BOHICA mean?". It stands for:

Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!

Just when you get a break in fuel prices and think you're going to have some money available for camping in 2009, someone new comes along to help empty your wallet: The Pennsylvania DCNR

I was catching up on some bookkeeping today (using Quicken) and went to enter my Shawnee State Park camping fees for the three nights in October 2009 that I camp there for the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival. Normally, I simply find last year's transaction for this and copy it; changing the date after I paste it.

Last year's (2008) fee was $48.00. The fees (yes, fees) they charged me for 2009 was $80.00; only $16.00 more and it would be double.

A visit to the DCNR website's Prices and Services schedule has a new pricing scheme to nickel & dime you to death.

Gone is the simple schedule for a primitive or electric site, Resident or Non-Resident. Now, it's a charge for the campsite ($15.00/$17.00) PLUS separate charges for:

Electric: $5.00/$5.00
Modern (Showers): $4.00/$4.00
Designated Pet Campsite: $2.00/$2.00

There are other charges too, for water, water and sewer, and extra vehicle. There's also an interesting one titled "Premium- Fri Sat Holiday, Events" but it doesn't tell you which holidays (or events) it applies to.

All I can say is: HAPPY NEW YEAR

Personally, I'd rather been saying APRIL FOOL, but this is no joke!

[Frank P. Martin]

Yes, folks, it's BOHICA time again. For those who want to know "What does BOHICA mean?". It stands for:

Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!

Just when you get a break in fuel prices and think you're going to have some money available for camping in 2009, someone new comes along to help empty your wallet: The Pennsylvania DCNR

I was catching up on some bookkeeping today (using Quicken) and went to enter my Shawnee State Park camping fees for the three nights in October 2009 that I camp there for the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival. Normally, I simply find last year's transaction for this and copy it; changing the date after I paste it.

Last year's (2008) fee was $48.00. The fees (yes, fees) they charged me for 2009 was $80.00; only $16.00 more and it would be double.

A visit to the DCNR website's Prices and Services schedule has a new pricing scheme to nickel & dime you to death.

Gone is the simple schedule for a primitive or electric site, Resident or Non-Resident. Now, it's a charge for the campsite ($15.00/$17.00) PLUS separate charges for:

Electric: $5.00/$5.00
Modern (Showers): $4.00/$4.00
Designated Pet Campsite: $2.00/$2.00

There are other charges too, for water, water and sewer, and extra vehicle. There's also an interesting one titled "Premium- Fri Sat Holiday, Events" but it doesn't tell you which holidays (or events) it applies to.

All I can say is: HAPPY NEW YEAR

Personally, I'd rather been saying APRIL FOOL, but this is no joke!

[NLOVNIT]

Yikes, now I'm worried. ODNR is gonna change their reservation system to model PA's. If they follow suit & tack on all those extra fees like PA has done, it'll be a real hit in the pocketbook! I think I'll shoot off another email to Mr. George @ ODNR & see what I can find out. I might just have put in a sewer connection where we park our coach (already have w/e) & just stay put for the season!

Jim, did you notice all the increases when you made your PA reservations for '09? I'm suprised you didn't mention it.

The state pk fees for KY are lookin' pretty good to me right now.

Lori-

[Frank P. Martin]

To add a little more fuel to the fire, I have not been able to determine what charges made up the $80.00. If I divide $80.00 by 3 (the number of nights) I get $26.66... which, of course, makes no sense at all.

Using their table of charges and being a resident of PA, I calculate:

Base Price: $15.00
Modern Campground: $4.00
Electric Site: $5.00

Total Per Night: $24.00 Three nights: $72.00

So, what was I charged $8.00 for? Is there now a service charge for reservations?

[NLOVNIT]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">So, what was I charged $8.00 for? Is there now a service charge for reservations? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, that's it.

OH state parks have the same thing. When I asked Slif if he asked Chris George (ODNR) if the OH $8 reservation fee would go away since OH will be going to a PA-style res system soon (I thought PA didn't have one since I never actually saw it, even though both OH & PA use Reserveworld as their res system), the answer was no. OH's charge will stay & PA charges it, too. Chris said the $8 reservation fee is "hidden" in the PA system, whereas, in OH, it's itemized (i.e. on OH's reservation website, the page with the Reservation Total has a line for "Reservation Fee"; PA's does not. But if ya do the math, you'll conclude it's in there).

I assumed (based on what Chris told Slif), that PA has always had that $8 res fee - ever since they went with Reserveworld - it just isn't listed separately. Can you look back on your past reservations &, breaking down the math, see if that fee was there before?

Lori-

[ISLAPP]

Never noticed the difference in pricing when I made my reservation last month. I am not going to use their restrooms, so I want a 12.00 credit!!! And if I dont bring the dog, I want another 6.00 credit for that!!
Nice price increases, huh??!!
MIke

[Frank P. Martin]

Oh, and BOHICA! again. The PA Turnpike tolls are being raised by 25% in January too!

Welcome to Pennsylvania!

[Joe-K]

Oh, and let's not forget the gas prices are usually 5-10 cents higher in PA than Ohio, not mention diesel prices are about 30 cents a gallon higher.

[NLOVNIT]

Ok, that does it! We need to protest by boycotting PA campgrounds in 2009.

Come on over to OH, where the gas is cheap & state park campgrounds don't have any "hidden" fees.

Now, the OH tnpk is supposed to raise rates 32% in Nov 2009 (& again 10% in 2012). OTC reasoning: "declining revenue due to decreasing traffic because of high gas prices". With gas prices down now, maybe they won't have to raise the prices....oh, wait, we're dealing with a commission agency with 4 governor appointed members. What was I thinkin?!?! Need it or not, they'll raise prices.

Lori-

[Superslif]

Your right Frank. Back on Dec. 12th in part of my posting in the "Memorial Day 2009 rally" thread I had posted about how the PA. parks fees went up. I few days later George emailed me and asked why I deleted that post. I said I didn't delete it. He happened to copy & paste it before it was removed. It went as: <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">~FYI~ For you PA. State Park Campers (That includes me too) Get ready for a BIG fee increase. This past few years a 7 night (non-resident) fee was $102. This was the 07' rate because George and me reserved before the 08' increase. So we were able to lock in the 07' rate. So calling to make my 09' reservations I knew I was in store for a fee increase. But when the lady said that will be $173 please, I almost fell off my chair....WOW The new fee schedule starts with a base rate $15 for residents and $17 for non-residents. Then you add $5 for electric, $4 for showerhouse service, $4 for a weekend premium and $2 for pets. One twist in the pet fee is even if you don't have a pet and you camp in a pet loop you are charged the fee. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I called the PA. main parks office and talked to the #2 person under the director / chief Keith Taylor who heads the reservations and revenue department. I wanted to confirm that the price I was quoted was correct. Playing dumb, I asked if I didn't want to take the $4 showerhouse option was there going to be an attendant at the door to only let people who paid for that add-on. She said nope... About all the add-on fees, I said I had a problem with the new rule that said that even if you don't have a pet, but camp in the pet section, you will be charged the pet fee. She went on to say they are thinking about dropping the pet fee all together. That was up in the air when I talked to her about Dec 12th. In a nice way I said what was with the 70% fee increase over 2 years. Is the state that close to bankruptcy? She went on to say we all know that they have not increases fees for a number of years, so they were just playing catch-up. Hopefully this will be it, but you never know. The new fee structure is going to deter people from using the parks. Like you said Frank, A simple weekend outing is going to set ya back a good chunk of change. I told her maybe you think people with multi-100k RV'ing units wouldn't flinch at the new fees, but for me on a limited vacation budget your telling me we really don't want you Ohio folks spending your $$$ here. I actually talked to her for a good half hour about this and that. Her name was Melissa Winter Email

m.winter@state.pa.us or 1-717-772-0234
The main PA. parks phone number list including the director can be found at PA.Parks

B O H I C A
Frank I think you should get a patent on that phrase because we are going to see more of it because of our country's tailspin. With PA. $2 billion in the hole and Ohio $1.5 billion in the hole our states are coming after the working class. If ya wanna play you'll pay

[NLOVNIT]

Wait a second, back that up a bit. If you didn't delete that post, who did? I sure didn't read anything in it that would be offensive or controversial.

You should ask about it in the technical support forum & see what Hitchhiker or Kablewizard say. They're the mods, so they should know what happened to it. I know I'd sure like to know who deleted your post.

Lori-

[Oldrtrcr]

Just when you thought it was safe to come out again!

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090101/gas_tax.html

[Superslif]

Well, with more gas tax increases in the future it's just another B. O. H. I. C. A.

[Joe-K]

Jim,

I sent a message to Richard about the missing thread. I recalled reading it myself and wonder where it went.

I know on that thread a couple days earlier I inadvertanly messed up and rearranged a post, but that should have had no impact on a post several days later unless there was some software glitch. We'll find out what happened.

Joe