Re: Private Campgrounds
Happy - I have trouble with this concept.
o You are going to save maybe $20 per night. That means you have to camp 100 nights just to make up the initiation fee.
o Then, in addition, you have to camp 12 nights per year to cover the annual fee.
o Beyond that, you can only go to member campgrounds. What if there is no member campground where you want to go?
Do you camp out as much as 30 nights per year? If so, it takes the first 12 nights just to pay off the annual fee (12 nights @ $20 per night = $240). The other 18 nights go toward the initiation fee, meaning that it will take almost 6 years to get even, and that's only if you camp all 30 nights in member campgrounds.
I am under the impression that most of the member campgrounds are in tourist-trap areas - think Colonial Williamsburg. If that is how you camp, and if you stay 30, 40, or even 50 nights per year, then this may be a usable plan. Otherwise, put your money in a 2% certificate of deposit, and you will come out ahead.
Without putting too fine a point on it, this is how these people make money - they sell you something that they don't expect you to use. Then they get to sell the campground space twice - once to you, when you buy your membership, and once to the guy who actually drives in the front gate and pays cash.
Just my 2 cents worth ...
Bill
|