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This still leaves an opening for scalpers who have no intention of actually going to the park, just charging people to use their reservation. A different alter

by 8note 4y ago

This still leaves an opening for scalpers who have no intention of actually going to the park, just charging people to use their reservation. A different alternative would be to make those spaces an auction, and somebody can pay more to take over your reservation. At least then the park gets the money

dfadsadsf 4y ago
They actually check ID at many campgrounds and make sure it's the same person as the one reservation is made for. Generally they accept photo of reservation holder ID if (for example) you say that the person that reserved the campground will arrive later or got sick. Still pretty hard to impossible to scalp at scale - you can't change name in reservation, only cancel it (for fee). They do not want to do auction because it will defeat purpose of camping be accessible to regular people. Outside of small number of highly popular campgrounds in prime season, you can book most campground in advance - very few campgrounds sells out in seconds.
- chrischen 4y ago
  This is the fallacious thinking that somehow market forces can be defeated at will. If they wanted camping to be accessible to regular (poor) people then they need to dole out those subsidies to them directly. If they sell permits below market rate then they are just randomly handing out subsidies.
a5seo 4y ago
No, it’s illegal to resell a reservation. I posted a joke scalper ad on Craigslist (forgot to take it down) for a national park reservation (this was right after they were introduced and I was salty about it) and they got a grand jury subpoena for my account info and investigated me for reselling government property. They didn’t charge me once they realized I didn’t do anything more than post and ad (and in protest at that), but scalping permits is highly illegal.
- Mistletoe 4y ago
  This actually makes me feel better about things.
ahepp 4y ago
I think there are better anti-scalper methods. It probably won’t be 100% effective, but making it hard to transfer permits can help prevent a secondary marketplace from forming.

by 8note 4y ago

dfadsadsf 4y ago

They actually check ID at many campgrounds and make sure it's the same person as the one reservation is made for. Generally they accept photo of reservation holder ID if (for example) you say that the person that reserved the campground will arrive later or got sick. Still pretty hard to impossible to scalp at scale - you can't change name in reservation, only cancel it (for fee). They do not want to do auction because it will defeat purpose of camping be accessible to regular people. Outside of small number of highly popular campgrounds in prime season, you can book most campground in advance - very few campgrounds sells out in seconds.

chrischen 4y ago
This is the fallacious thinking that somehow market forces can be defeated at will. If they wanted camping to be accessible to regular (poor) people then they need to dole out those subsidies to them directly. If they sell permits below market rate then they are just randomly handing out subsidies.

a5seo 4y ago

No, it’s illegal to resell a reservation. I posted a joke scalper ad on Craigslist (forgot to take it down) for a national park reservation (this was right after they were introduced and I was salty about it) and they got a grand jury subpoena for my account info and investigated me for reselling government property. They didn’t charge me once they realized I didn’t do anything more than post and ad (and in protest at that), but scalping permits is highly illegal.

Mistletoe 4y ago
This actually makes me feel better about things.

ahepp 4y ago

I think there are better anti-scalper methods. It probably won’t be 100% effective, but making it hard to transfer permits can help prevent a secondary marketplace from forming.