ben919 said:
No, I'm not in the industry but I'll be blunt does it occur to those part timers that by underpricing the product they'll find that when they go full time they may not be able to make a living and have they thought about what impact they may be having on the professional trade at the moment. By profession I mean people who make their living solely from bushcraft and/or its related products.
Ben
Ben, I'd be interested to hear what you define a underpricing?
Surely everybody who runs a course prices their course up according - anyone with any sense takes into account all their overheads and expenses and then calculates this against their profit and off sets this again the minium they expect to run the cost for ect ect. Personally I'd say theres no such thing as underpricing maybe there is some more realisitc pricing going on, BUT not underpricing - but again its down to overheads, if one school has free access to a site that will lower there price while another school might have to add £10 per head per night for the site, similarly insurance costs vary incredibly so why shouldn't course costs?
Another thought, surely if you have nothing to do with the industry you should be rejoicing in the fact you have such choice. More so in fact because by shopping around you can get greater value for money, you can find a shool which suits your learning style and outlook on live - or are you really interested in paying more for a product?
Are you the only person in the world who would gladly pay as much money as he can afford for something?
Personally speaking if I won the lottery tomorrow I would by some woodland and build a school there and run courses for nothing, I'd have inner city kids on courses, I'd make course available to schools, to average guys who work hard for a crummy minimum wage but who would love to be able to afford to go on a bushcraft course, bushcraft isnt about eliteism, it isnt about out pricing average guys so only the rich or stupid can afford it..
This has nothing to do with malice and everything to do with the simple fact that bushcraft skills belong to us all, they are our inheritance and something that should be shared freely and not horded to be sold to the highest bidder!