What is your Troop doing about high cost of fuel?

[Eagle Foot 10]

We are looking at no charge under 150 miles round trip

Trips 150 to 250 round trip $10 per scout

Trips over 250 miles round trip $15 per scout.

 

Eagle Foot

[Lisabob 13]

Mostly hoping it doesn't go higher (not likely, I know).

 

We're doing a 1500 mile trip to/from summer camp this year. When we started budgeting 18 months ago $3 seemed like a reasonably high-end estimate and we built in a fuel charge based on that estimate. Now we're looking at charging an extra $5 per family.

 

 

[Oak Tree 15]

We have parents turn in receipts after the trip (start full, fill up upon return) and bill each Scout his per capita portion. We've thought about estimating up front, but haven't actually made any steps towards making that adjustment.

 

We've also contemplated planning shorter, cheaper trips, but the cost factor only seems to be an inhibitor for a few families, and it's hard to figure out how to balance that (and to get the PLC to balance it).

 

Lisa, at first I was admiring your troop for going halfway across the country to summer camp, and at $3 per Scout. Then I realized I must be misinterpreting something somewhere in there.

 

Oak Tree

[eagle90 125]

We will be proposing to our Committee a $20.00 per boy gasoline surcharge For all the scouts going to Summer Camp this year. It is about a 800 mile round trip. We have already charged a $25.00 fee, but need to increase that to just break even.

[Lisabob 13]

Sad to say we're not quite that good Oak Tree. Sorry for the lack of clarity - I meant to say we estimated that gas would be $3/gallon and planned accordingly. So much for that, with gas hitting 3.59 for the cheap stuff here this week.

[GernBlansten 10]

Dodgezilla with the Prudhoe Bay trim package sure looked good back in 2003. Today, not so much.

Loaded up with 5 scouts and towing the troop trailer, we get about 12 smiles per gallon.

Long trips like the one we just did to the Grand Canyon, I kept my mortgage papers and split the cost between the scouts riding with me and the troop donated a small bag of gold for towing. Short trips, I just weep myself to sleep in my tent.

[anarchist 10]

heck, after the election six years ago we just closed all of our scout accounts and troop accounts and invested in Exxon, B-P, Duke energy and Haliburton...the returns are great...ain't America grand!

anarchist....

[fotoscout 15]

Spending more money from the troop Treasury

 

Asking for more money

 

Spending more money out of pocket

 

Doing more fund raising

 

Gulping more often

 

Putting more people in the cars and trucks

 

Belly-aching, complaining and solving the problems of the world more often

 

I think that about covers all of it

 

 

[Beth 10]

We use the budget plan in my troop. A portion of the scouts monthly dues is put into the transportation fund. So far, this has covered our monthly camping trips. We do reimburse drivers, start full & fill up upon return, for any trip 1 hour away or more. For summer camp, we include it in the price we charge for camp. The budget is on the agenda for the next committee meeting to review the breakout of the dues, I'd hate to have to start charging the scouts more for dues, currently $8.00/mo or add a fee to the campouts.

[moxieman 11]

AS I'm only active at the district level, I can't answer this directly. However, some units in our LARGE (area-wise) district are going back to 'basics/traditional' scouting. They are backpacking (or bicycling) the 8 to 10 miles from their meeting place to their troop campsite (along town roads in uniform).

 

Some units are also putting off longer distance trips until they can do enough fund raising to cover the cost of the trip.

 

At the same time, there is one unit that will be traveling from here in the Maine Wilderness to the Alaskan Wilderness this summer, but they've been fund raising for that trip for a couple years now.

 

Talking to old timers and reading some of the older scout camp fliers I've picked-up over the years, it was not unusual back in the late 40's and throughout the 50's for scouts to hike from home to summer camp (some traveled over 80 miles each way in this area to do so!). I guess back then either they didn't need 2-deep leadership to do this, or leaders could take 3 weeks off or more from work. Then again, many scouts spent two or more weeks at camp back then.

[scoutldr 726]

I replaced by 1999 Grand Cherokee with a 2005 Ford Explorer about a year and a half ago. V-6, 4x4 with third seat, primarily for my Scouting activities. It is nice to have about twice a year for the trips to Home Depot. It is my daily driver to work, and I'm averaging about 17 mpg according to the trip computer. Every time I fill it up, spending over $50-60 per week, I think hard about replacing it with a subcompact econobox...my son gets 36 mpg on his 2005 Focus. It's costing me almost $10 a day just to go to work and back.

 

I'll just have to tell the parents to get their kid to camp however they can...I'll meet them there. We do have an 83 Suburban which was donated...we fold down all the seats and load that with troop gear to the tune of about 10 mpg (350 ci V8).

[GernBlansten 10]

Looking at the mileage computer on Dodgezilla as I drive the scouts, I do some mental gymnastics to help justify my carbon footprint.

If the computer reads 12 MPG but I have 4 passengers, that means I'm getting 48 virtual MPG. 60 VMPG if I squeeze another scout in the back seat. When filling up the thirsty beast, I mentally replace the unit of measure to quarts. Gas is still less than a buck a quart in my parts!

 

Its all in the perspective. Now where did we put that energy policy...

[scoutingagain 20]

We traded our '98 Durango,5.2L V8 15 mpg, family vehicle for an'06 Highlander, V6 24 mpg avg. (Sorry OGE couldn't sell HWMBO on the xB) So far based on our family's typical usage, there has been nothing we did with the Durango, we havn't done with the Highlander, including hauling a small utility trailer, scout trips etc. The Highlander is a bit smaller in terms of hauling cargo though.

 

My company has also purchased a number of Ford Escape Hybrids and I've driven those on occaision. They average about 28-29 mpgs and drive and feel like a larger SUV. However given the cost difference and all the technology that goes into the hybrid I don't see the point to pick up a few mpgs. I prefer the Highlander. The >50% increase in gas milage over the Durango actually helps pay about 20% of the loan I took out to buy it, not to mention the reduced insurance payment and lower maintenance costs. I'm done with the big SUVs, although I miss the throaty idle of the big V8.

 

So far the troop has not been affected too much. Most of our spring trips were planned relatively locally. Not to avoid gas prices, just turned out that way. Normally for trips of under 200miles RT we did not ask scouts to pay for gas, leaders usually just sucked it up. For longer trips we added a fuel surcharge. We will probably need to revisit the issue on the next trip we take that requires any significant driving distance.

 

SA

 

 

 

 

[packsaddle 753]

One solution is to cut back on the driving and discover the wonderful features many of us have right here at home. And if we need more, we get to work on making the features we have better.

For the long trips we use the method Oak Tree describes.

I think the price will have to pass $5 to $7 per gallon before we seriously start to modify our behaviors. To me, that bicycle doesn't look so much like a toy anymore. May be time to pull that motorcycle out of mothballs as well?

[Gonzo1 10]

Our PLC plans trips within 2 hours from home. There is a lot to do near home.