JoshandBaron
Well-known member
I would hazard to say most trails are maintained by volunteers, whether they be individual trail adopters or AMC members who have paid for the privilege.
SAR in Franconia Notch?
- Thread starter JToll
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I would hazard to say most trails are maintained by volunteers, whether they be individual trail adopters or AMC members who have paid for the privilege.
peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
I do challenge the concept that all food sold is leftover. I have been at the huts several times where the crew had deliberately cooked snacks for sale to dayhikers. I have seen sheet pans hot out of the oven mid morning that obviously were not left over from breakfast. On the other hand I have also seen obvious left overs from breakfast/dinner also being sold. Given Alex's confirmation that the hut snack trade is a non taxable gratuity direct to the crew, its pretty intuitive to me that some crews are going to supplement their income with sale of intentionally cooked snacks unless they are specifically told not to. Hard to beat tax free cash. The crews by default are given a lot of independence to run the huts and I could speculate that unless specifically told not to do so that the crews are going to stretch the limits. Realistically AMC is better off ignoring the issue so they can have plausible deniability and crews as scapegoats if there is a complaint.
The question in my mind is if this is allowed by the AMC hut permit given the past rollback of hut sales required to obtain the new permit? I guess it goes back to the controversial hut relicensing back in 1998 where the USFS and AMC were both under external scrutiny. Reportedly prior re-permitting cycles were far less formal or controversial. I seriously doubt any forest service employee does routine audits if the huts are in compliance with permits unless there is complaint.
The question in my mind is if this is allowed by the AMC hut permit given the past rollback of hut sales required to obtain the new permit? I guess it goes back to the controversial hut relicensing back in 1998 where the USFS and AMC were both under external scrutiny. Reportedly prior re-permitting cycles were far less formal or controversial. I seriously doubt any forest service employee does routine audits if the huts are in compliance with permits unless there is complaint.
This is an excellent summary. I would also add that retail sales according to Alex that even though they have been scaled back the AMC pockets the profit. I do realize that all nonprofits are not created equal. The AMC being a non profit how does this work?
David Metsky
Well-known member
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3304
They do it by following all the rules for being a non-profit, and apparently doing fairly well at it.
That is great info. Looking at revenue from retail sales would you think that would fall under "Program Service Revenue"? Only a guess on my part.
iAmKrzys
Member
I stopped by LOC hut on a day hike in July. I used their free bathroom and filled up my water bottle. I also gladly had some soup and a piece of cake for a fee that I found totally reasonable (perhaps my perception is a bit skewed by food prices around NYC.) Basically I was pretty happy with that visit and I imagine that if the weather were bad I would be even more appreciative. Also let me say that this place has totally different atmosphere than the summit building.
If you ever get a chance to travel to countries where there is a customary charge for bathroom use you may discover that all wooded roadsides are littered with toiled paper and are pretty disgusting IMHO. The point that I am making here is that unless visitor traffic is severely limited, there is a real need to address human waste problem and I think the huts are really helping here.
If you ever get a chance to travel to countries where there is a customary charge for bathroom use you may discover that all wooded roadsides are littered with toiled paper and are pretty disgusting IMHO. The point that I am making here is that unless visitor traffic is severely limited, there is a real need to address human waste problem and I think the huts are really helping here.
alexmtn
Member
Let's be clear here. I stated that revenues from the leftovers come in as gratuities to the croo. I did not state that the gratuities are non-taxable -- the same tax rules apply to croo as apply to workers in any service business, non-profit or otherwise. Alex
peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
Okay, theoretically the crew should declare their gratuity income per IRS and state regs. They are paid a weekly rate to work. I would speculate that little or none of the cash received for tips and shacks ever get declared. Few service workers do as cash is rarely traced.
alexmtn
Member
. . . and the insignificance of the monies involved with these sales makes it that much more difficult to discern a downside.
If they are making enough for it to be declared the downside is they are breaking the law. This is why some have disdain towards the AMC because they promote an air much of the time of arrogancy. Just my perceptions and opinions.
As of this weekend, croo stated baked goods revenue and tips are managed separately. I didn't inquire as to the ultimate destination of each, but all should take care to direct their monies into the proper stream.
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