A recent news story reminded me of the high cost of some of my favorite outdoor activities. Vail Associates has announced the price of his 24/25 Epic Pass, which will be increased by his 8% to a whopping $982 for the top-of-the-line product. And Alterra also announced that it will increase the price of its season pass by 7.7% to $1,249. This is roughly in line with its competitors in this economic sector.
Summit Daily News readers are already hearing you. “Wait a minute, Tony,” they would say. “Considering the high price of his day pass at the ticket office, the season pass is a great deal, right?” And the truth is, if you go to the mountains or to different resorts often, you can do it. But if you’re like me, you may find yourself obsessing over dividing the cost of your season pass by the number of days you skied to soften the exorbitant price you paid. And when work schedules, kids’ extracurricular activities, and other issues start to erode your ski time, you realize that even though you own a season pass, you only have a limited number of days on the slopes, and you have to figure it out. may have to be abandoned. Not what I expected, he costs more per day than if I bought it at the ticket counter.
However, selling season passes is definitely a good deal for Vail and Alterra. These sales will ensure you gain muscle no matter how many days you ski during the season. After all, they’re the ones running the lifts and servicing the runways, no matter how often they’re on the slopes. But what bothers me the most about these price increases is how consistently these ski companies raise prices, seemingly in coordination with each other. In a true capitalist model, couldn’t Alterra keep season pass prices the same or even lower them, drawing some of Vail’s customers away to its own resorts and increasing its revenue in the process?
Well, that’s not what an oligopoly is. — the one in the U.S. ski industry — works.
Today, monopoly and oligopoly threats to American consumers are increasing.You can see this in soda.health care,Airlines and groceries Industry, etc. That’s really a problem. However, some Democratic governments are objecting. For example, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser opposes the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons., which he rightly argues would stifle competition and result in higher prices in Colorado’s grocery market. And the Biden administration is resisting the monopolistic tendencies of Big Tech.health care and airlines industry.Some, but not all, Republicans seem less interested in such integration. This practice is likely due to large corporate campaign and political party donations.
There are no easy solutions for consumers at the microeconomic level in dealing with these monopolistic tendencies. The ski industry is not alone in pushing consumers to the edge and adhering to economic constraints when it comes to purchasing products. For example, have you ever tried to unplug Comcast’s internet from your cable TV service? You’ll find that you’re paying very close to what you’re paying now, not half of what you were paying before. If you think about it that way, there is little economic benefit to unbundling.
We skiers may be able to combat these disturbing trends in the ski industry by skiing at small, independent resorts like Loveland Ski Area. and/or subscribe to a cheaper season pass alternative such as IndyPass. In the interest of full transparency, I subscribe to the Keystone Plus Pass offered by Vail Resorts. This clearly helps support the company’s market dominance. But in terms of cost, this pass is the cheapest for adults in Front Range/Summit County. IndyPass could ease the switch to its own product by moving resorts like Loveland and Eldora closer to the Front Range and Summit Counties.
When considering consolidation in the ski industry, I think we should keep things in perspective. After all, it’s a leisure sport that relatively few lucky people can participate in. But the monopolistic trends we’re seeing there are reflected in many important industries in the United States, and they should be of concern to all Americans.
Tony Jones’ column, “Everything in Moderation,” appears every other Thursday in the Summit Daily News. Jones is a veteran of the IT industry and has worked in the public and private sectors. He lives part-time in Summit County and Denver. Please contact eimsummit@gmail.com.