The Problem with Rental Shops

[billski]

The Problem with Rental Shops | Skiing Business:

Interesting observations
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Sure, the gear is to blame. But whose fault is it? The rental shop employee, the shop manager or owner, or the skier?
Some shop owners say it’s all of the above.
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“The exact role of a rental shop is to bring new skiers into an expensive family sport,” Holliday says.
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The biggest failure in the rental industry, he says, lies with bootfitting, because many rental shop employees don’t take the time to properly fit a renter. That means the shop is sending out already-anxious first-timers who don’t know they’re doomed from the start."


Seems to me that if a shop invested in knowledgeable employees, from the start, you'd have a happy, repeat customer. This is mostly why the expertise lies in the shops closest to the mountains. They employ ski-bums who are knowledgeable,passionate and happy to stick around just for the season. Try finding that in the flatlands. From the chatter on these forums, I'll be you can find less than a dozen knowledgeable employees in an entire state.

 

[skiNEwhere]

Ski's are expensive. Boots are expensive. Poles are.....well not that expensive, but if the rental place is making a profit why go the extra mile to upgrade equipment every few years? They should but I can see why they may not, especially seeing as the novice skier doesn't realize that the closer you get to a ski resort the more expensive the rentals are.

 

[drjeff]

Lets be honest, most shops, either all rental or a mix of retail and rental need some volume to turn a profit and stay open. Most folks when they're going to a shop for rentals aren't going hours ahead of the lifts opening to even if the shop has a really good fitter there, to give them enough time to get properly fit. They want to get in, get some gear and get to the hill for what for many of them won't be anywhere near a 1st chair to last chair day

If a shop has 100 pairs, they'll be wanting to get a decent percentage of them out of the racks and onto the hill, and there's only so much time that folks will wait before they get impatient and go to the next shop so they can get to the hill. It's a bit of speed and in a sense customer ignorance that is at work, and given the overal circumstances, it works in this case

 

[lolkl]

I live at a destination resort where rentals are very important. From what I have been told, the revenue from the ski rental shop exceeds ticket sales, Food & Beverage, parking and ski school, combined ! I found it hard to believe but I have heard this from people who know.
Our rental shop is upstairs from my locker and I leave my boots on the dryers there. So I spend a little bit of every ski day there and my observations are that they try pretty hard to make things fit. I have also seen many other rental shops that don't give a shit.
And a rental shop that isn't slopeside better get it right the first time.

 

[ScottySkis]

I live at a destination resort where rentals are very important. From what I have been told, the revenue from the ski rental shop exceeds ticket sales, Food & Beverage, parking and ski school, combined ! I found it hard to believe but I have heard this from people who know.
Our rental shop is upstairs from my locker and I leave my boots on the dryers there. So I spend a little bit of every ski day there and my observations are that they try pretty hard to make things fit. I have also seen many other rental shops that don't give a shit.
And a rental shop that isn't slopeside better get it right the first time.

Sure the resorts charge such ridiculous prices for rentals and most people who are their for week don't realize how much better and cheaper the rentals are from a local ski shop.

 

[billski]

At Stowe, I stop by a nearby shop to rent equipment for some of my gang. Not only is it less expensive, I do it the night before, often at 9pm. We usually have the attention of two or three employees. There may be only one or two other rental customers when we are there. We've sat there for a half hour one time getting my daughter booted. I sometimes take out demos for a few bucks more.

In the morning, I'm a very early bird. I take all the skis and poles, park right up front, make three trips and everything is ready to go. By the time I get back, they are up having breakfast. We usually get on the lift by 10am which is good for my crew.

If we are there for multi days, I might go back to try a different demo or get a quick wax or repair.

Nothing beats an in-town shop for service.

 

[lolkl]

Sure the resorts charge such ridiculous prices for rentals and most people who are their for week don't realize how much better and cheaper the rentals are from a local ski shop.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by a local ski shop. In Big Sky, it doesn't get any more local than one of the 2 places at the ski hill.

 

[hammer]

All I remember from getting novice gear from rental shops is that they always put me into boots that were way too big. I'm not expecting a performance fit from a rental shop, just make it so that people have some hope of controlling their skis...

I also rented demos from a shop when I went to Utah and I would have appreciated more info on my options. Ended up in all-mountain skis that in the end were too unforgiving.

 

[drjeff]

All I remember from getting novice gear from rental shops is that they always put me into boots that were way too big. I'm not expecting a performance fit from a rental shop, just make it so that people have some hope of controlling their skis...

I also rented demos from a shop when I went to Utah and I would have appreciated more info on my options. Ended up in all-mountain skis that in the end were too unforgiving.

The one thing I learned from working in my college ski club rental shop (we had 50 pairs of rental skis) and ran both a friday night program for about 200-250 students per year and also Saturday or Sunday day trips, is that it's a way tougher job than it looks like it is. #1 - when it gets busy, and for most folks looking to rent skis/boots they all tend to show up within a very short window of time and want to be out of there with their gear about 2 minutes after they walk through the door, you tend to spend more brain time worrying about their DIN settings than if they're on the best ski in your inventory for their ability. Then #2 - most people if they actually can ski and/or have some ability will tend to overestimate their ability and as such if you try an match them to a ski that fits what they say their ability is, very often they'll ome back asking something like "when was the last time this ski was tuned?" etc. So I learned that whenever possible to put a renter on a ski slightly below the level they said they were. #3 spending a bunch of time with peoples feet, sometimes clean and dry, sometimes sweaty and dirty and then their usually wet boots at return time "cured" me of any potential foot fettish issues that typical college experimentation might have brought on! uke: :lol:

 

[ScottySkis]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by a local ski shop. In Big Sky, it doesn't get any more local than one of the 2 places at the ski hill.

Local like at mount snow this year my cousin who skis a not much, rented with package from mountain it was like 30 dollars and the ski shops by the hill but not own by mountain snow advertise 15 $ rentals, i though he knew that but now he does.

 

[SIKSKIER]

I need the Scotty translater again.

 

[Abubob]

Local like at mount snow this year my cousin who skis a not much, rented with package from mountain it was like 30 dollars and the ski shops by the hill but not own by mountain snow advertise 15 $ rentals, i though he knew that but now he does.

Local as not part of the resort. Mt Snow Resort rental was $30. Unaffiliated ski shop rental was $15.

Scotty's friend didn't know. Scotty thought he did. Scotty's friend knows now.

...

How'd I do?

 

[ScottySkis]

Local as not part of the resort. Mt Snow Resort rental was $30. Unaffiliated ski shop rental was $15.

Scotty's friend didn't know. Scotty thought he did. Scotty's friend knows now.

...

How'd I do?

Great, thank you.

 

[steamboat1]

In the morning, I'm a very early bird. I take all the skis and poles, park right up front, make three trips and everything is ready to go. By the time I get back, they are up having breakfast. We usually get on the lift by 10am which is good for my crew.

I need this kind of service.

 

[madman]

Kind of hard to fit beginners for boots when they have no idea what a proper fit should feel like.

 

[hammer]

Kind of hard to fit beginners for boots when they have no idea what a proper fit should feel like.

I think if the rental shops took some basics into account they could tell customers what a proper fit should feel like and go from there. If the customer insists on a boot that fits like a shoe then I'd agree that the rental shop can't do much else, but they should at least try.

 

[drjeff]

I think if the rental shops took some basics into account they could tell customers what a proper fit should feel like and go from there. If the customer insists on a boot that fits like a shoe then I'd agree that the rental shop can't do much else, but they should at least try.

I think that most rental shops that deal with a high percentage of novices have come to expect that the customer is going to show up wearing either a mega thick pair of hunting/hiking socks or a few pairs of athletic socks and either a) won't have any interest in buying a proper pair of thin ski socks or b) not believe either the shop crew doing the fitting or possibly even the pre arrival web site 411 about what to wear and still have way too thick a foot covering to even allow something resembling a "decent" fit in the boot.

There's just so much that we as experienced skiers take for granted that I'm quite sure would seem almost counter intuitive to a person with very limited/no experience in a pair of ski boots and then out on the hill. I'm quite sure that on many days that the guys and gals doing the fitting/equipment distribution work in a shop aren't sure if they want to laugh or cry when they see and hear some of the sights and sounds that they get to witness day in and day out!

 

[hammer]

I think that most rental shops that deal with a high percentage of novices have come to expect that the customer is going to show up wearing either a mega thick pair of hunting/hiking socks or a few pairs of athletic socks and either a) won't have any interest in buying a proper pair of thin ski socks or b) not believe either the shop crew doing the fitting or possibly even the pre arrival web site 411 about what to wear and still have way too thick a foot covering to even allow something resembling a "decent" fit in the boot.

There's just so much that we as experienced skiers take for granted that I'm quite sure would seem almost counter intuitive to a person with very limited/no experience in a pair of ski boots and then out on the hill. I'm quite sure that on many days that the guys and gals doing the fitting/equipment distribution work in a shop aren't sure if they want to laugh or cry when they see and hear some of the sights and sounds that they get to witness day in and day out!

True...I never wore extra thin socks until I got boots fitted so I'm sure people show up in all kinds of socks. As a boy scout leader we ran into a similar problem, would always tell the kids to not wear cotton socks unless it was warm out and we would always get the scouts who would show up for winter camping with gym socks.

Just for grins I checked out a few links for beginners...they do mention wool socks but no mention of sock thickness or on how ski boots will/should fit.

http://www.killington.com/winter/lessons/first_timers/before_you_leave_the_house

http://www.crotchedmountain.com/what_to_expect.html

http://www.loonmtn.com/info/winter/beginner_1.aspx

 

[Hawkshot99]

As someone who has done way to many either seasonal or daily rentals for beginners, I HATE IT! They know absolutely everything and will not listen to anyone who just may have a helpful hint. Just because you wear your sneaker 3 sizes to big does not mean that you are a size 13 ski boot. The one thing that greatly helps out is that skiboots use Mondo sizing. Yes there is a direct size relation to American shoes, but they dont know that. So when little Joey comes in and tells me that he wears a size 13, I just have him step into the foot sizer and see that he is actually a size 28(American 10). I grab him boots that are the correct size and never mention the American size. 50% of the time I am still told how they are way to small. This isnt even going with a tight fit. I measure a 28 on the sizer and wear a 26-26.5 with no uncomfortableness. These people I put them in what they measure, which from working with many feet, is usually on the big side.